The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-10-30
Iorsc Department.
An Old Trap.

Mr.. John IL. Wallace, compiler OF
the American Trotting Register, has, as
is well known, inserted some conspicu-
Gus and unnecessary errors in that
work, such as locating Grand Isle in
New York, placing towns where given
horses have been bred in the wrong
State, referring to Vermont Black
Hawk as "Hill's Hambletonian" and
other little pleasantries of that interest
ing kind, When his attention has been
called to these inaccuracies, he has in
dulged in playful wink, and said they
were "traps to catch thieves" 1t APP
pears that Mr.. Wallace has had some
peculiar advice on the copyright law,
whereby he claims that pedigrees re-
corded in the Register cannot be used
except by his permission without in
fringement of his legal rights; which
leads to the pleasing conclusion that if
an unfortunate breeder sends pedi-
gree to Wallace, with fee for having it
luotTttu Ill tuO lSOS loIOiS ohu 'hOiO"i-
forwards publishes the same by stick
ing it on his barn door, he thereby be-
comes liable in damages to the outraged
Mr.. Wallace.
1t is needless to say that this erudte
legal proposition has never yet been
tested by the learned editor in any
court.
AS to the expediency of filling the
official register of the American Trot-
ting Horse with gratuitous blunders in
the hope of turning the laugh on some
confiding writer who might draw ma
terisls therefrom, there would seem to
be room for an honest difference of
opinion. To us it appears quite analag-
GUS to the case of the man who intro
duced the itch into his own family III
the hope that his neighbors too-fre-
quently-calling sons might catch it Of
his daughters. But it has afforded the
editor of the Trotting Register infinite
amusement, and when he hooked the
compiler of the Notwithstanding Stud
Book with bogus "second dam by
Tom Titmouse PAGER" ne was filled
with inextinguishable laughter, and
has ever since alluded to that work as
the "Tom Titmouse Stud Book" The
laugh went round and the readers OF
the Monthly became more than ever
settled in the conviction that Mr.. Wal
lace was, like Joe Bagstock, "sly, ex-
tremely sly"
We wish Mr.. Wallace all the 10y of
his "trap," but we can no longer per-
NIT him to wear the distinguished honor
of being its inventor. "There were
brave men before Agamemnon," and
there were craps" in horse literature
before John II. Wallace. 1t is fact
painful as the disclosure may seem
that Mr.. WaIlace's first knowledge of
the shining merits of this peculiar
trap" arose from his falling into one
set many years ago in book called
The Morgan Horse, by Mr. d. C. Lin
sley,to whom the glory of the invention
must be transferred. We will cite two
instances now before us, in which Mr..
Wallace was overtaken by this misfor-
tune. Mr.. Linsley gives "Stockbridge
Chief, foaled in 1915" Wallace has
copied the same into the Trotting Reg
lister. But the horse was son of
Black Hawk, bred in Cornwall, VT,
while Black Hawk stood at Bridport,
and everybody, except perhaps Mr..
Wallace, knows that Black Hawk did
not come into that region until 1874,
Again, Mr.. Linsley states that Flying
Cloud "was foaled the property of Gus
tavus Wickes of riconderoga, "and Mr..
Wallace in the Trotting Register saith
likewise, and thus our excellent friend
Gnstavus Wicker, esq, is to be handed
down to posterity under the unprepos-
sessing name and style of "Wickes.'
These are, without doubt, genuine
b"Po w NotOh lhlCNCs, anu IL is WIFI
unfeigned regret that we find the
worthy and honest Mr.. Wallace en-.
tangled in their meshes. We cannot,
however, refrain from observing that
while he is i'll this situation, any cruel
filings from him at the Breeders Trot-
ting Stud Book man are in bad taste,
being in the nature of the caustic OBJ.
servations formerly made by the pot
concerning the complexion of the ket.
tie.
A Correction.
We are pleased to observe that the
thoughtful compositor last week cor