The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-12-18

To be known of him is that he was
"owned by Mr.. Nissan, l.. Ip' 1t il
asserted that he was "oy imp. Mes
senger," and also tina he was "bv
Potomac, son of imp. Messengers" and
1t seems that man, dead before this
last statement was published, was pres
ent at the breeding. If Wallace is to
be believed, this same Jones was COM
monty sent for as a witness when any
mare of Messenger blood was to be
bred to any near relation of hers, and
he always blended; but in this case, as
Mr.. Jones in his lifetime forgot TO
name the breeder or given place, time
or circumstance, or how he knew il
was daughter of Messenger or any
thing else whereby his alleged state
ment could be proved or dis proved, it
goes for nothing aud Don Quixote
must stand, as he is, unknown. The
great apostle of Messengerism himself
would be the first to scout such non
sense and lash the utterer of it, if it
came from any other person and con-
cerned horse of any other blood.
We now come to Engineer I'd, sire of
Lady Suffolk, and again apply the test.
The name, not the residence, of his
breeder is given and we will therefore
say that he was probably, but not GER
talnly, got by horse called Engineer.
Breeder of dam not given, and we will,
therefore, under the rule, lay aside the
"Plato, son of Messenger" pedigree
that has been gratuitously donated to
this ebay mare that run WELL" and un-
der the rule state her blood is also un-
known.
Nothing is left now but the original
Engineer, and the only pedigree given
to him is the inevitable "got by imp.
Messenger" Again we apply the test,
aud, as his breeder is wanting, his al
legged pedigree also seems ABOUT to dis
appear-but hold, says the pedigree
manufacturer; there are circumstances
which account for bis breeders not be-.
ing known, and they are sufficient to
establish that he was son of Messen-
ger, 1t is fair to give these circum-
stances candid examination; possibly
they might be such as to afford rea-
sonable presumption that his sire was
the horse designated.
Allowing, then, that in those rare
cases wherein the breeder is unavoid.
ably lost sight of, and other evidence
must be resorted to to afford reasona-
ble"said to be- to the horses breeding.
What evidence is most pertinent and
satisfactory? Experience and reason
alike tell us that contemporaneOus adj
vertisements of the horse by his own
ers, if they then claimed to have any
knowledge Of his pedigree and history,
would afford the best evidence: con-
tempOraneOus declarations of his own
ers, fairly made and carefully proven.
The next; and, next to these, probably.
the build, quality and characteristics of
the horse might assist in forming some
uncertain conjecture as to his blood.
Among the things that would not be
considered evidence should clearly be
classed, in case of fine animal, the de-
claratiOns of those not connected with
the horse, but interested in a given
family, to the effect that such excellent
animal belonged to their special family.
Assuming that these propositions are
reasonable, and are generally accepted,
we will apply them to Engineer.
We have not seen any advertisement
of Engineer, but Mr.. Wallace has. Was
it of character to show that the horse
was son of Messenger? Let us see
what we can CLEAN from what Mr..
Wallace is graciously pleased to say it
contains, for he deals out evidence as
the Pope does religion, in such kind
and quantity as he thinks will not hurt
his weaker constituents. In volume
i. of the Register he says;
"For number of years this horse
was represented to have been Imported
into Canada by British officer, and to
have found his way by surreptitious
means, into the State of New York
about 1914. His advertisements OF that
period conveyed this tmprcSSion."
This volume was published in 1871.
In the May number of his MOnhIy,
1876, Mr.. Wallace, in an editorial, gives
us another nibble of these advertise
ments, saying:
"The advertisement contains the fol-
lowing very unsatisfactory paragraph
relating to his pedigree, viz: 'The
manner he came into this country is
such that | cannot give an account of
his pedigree, out his courage and activ.
ity show the purity of his blood, which
is better than the empty sound of a
long pedigree 1t Is here intim ted
that the horse was imported, and the