St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1885-03-27
NOTABLE TROTTERS.
A Collection of Fast TrOtters Owned
by Rockefeller, the Standard
Oil Man.
His Greatest Pair Stallion and Mare With
Double Team Record
of PIG 1-2.
One of the Finest Barns in tho World
The TrUtters and Their
Drivers.

has recently come to the front as the owner
of fast horses isl Mr.. Rockefeller of New York
city. 1t is not many years ago, says the Chi
cago Tribune, that the country first began
hearing of the Rockefeller family, the
with that of the Standard Oil company, of
which gigantic monopoly William Rockefeller
may be said to be the originator and organ
izer. Like most men who amass great for
tunes in Il short space of time and by other
than ordinary methods, Mr.. Rockefeller has
devoted vast sums of money to making him
self and his family as comfortable in this
world as it lies within the province of mau
to do. He has stately residence in New
York city, another one in Cleveland, and a
large and beautiful summer place in Con-
necticut, whittier the family betake them
selves when the hot months are at hand, and
if one is to Judge by appearances the Rookie
felers understand thoroughly how to enjoy
themselves, and are bent upon making the
| fullest use of this knowledge.
PALATIAL BARN.
| Mr. Rockefeler's barn is situated on Fifty
| fifth street, not far from Fifth avenue, hav-
ing a frontage of fifty feet on the street, aud
|
the most substantial aud elegant manner of
| brick and stone. On the ground floor the
entire front OF the building is occupied by a
harness room, which is lofty apartment
5Sx35 feet, and fitted up in the most luxuri-
GUS style imaginable. The floor of Georgia
pine is kept so clean that one might eat from
it, and the walls are finished in ash and
other woods, the decorations of the room be-
ing in similar style. Plate-glass windows let
in an abundance of light during the day.
time, and when service is required of the
horses or men after nightfall there is an
ella borate system of lighting by gas all the
different portions of the barn, this being
regulated by electricity, SO tnat the gas may
be used in or turned off from any desired
| portion of the building
| AS one enters the carriage room he sees on
| his left three or four carriages, they being a
portion of dozen vehicles which the Rookie
| Teller family use on state occasions, and
along of these elaborate affairs are four
road wagons with spidery wheels, all finished
| in the most substantial manner and built to
| carry weight with safety at high rate of
| speed Then there is a coach, village cart
| for the children, etc. On one side Of the
room is largeharness and bit case, in which
also are kept a number of saddles. Three
coach harnesses, three double harnesses and
| four single ones were in the case, and the
! display was certainly an attractive one. The
back of the case being of black velvet caused
the harness to show off to the best advan tage,
| and inters persed with them were over forty
bits of various designs, all polished to the
| highest degree. The harnesses of the oil
millionaire are hung on gold-plated brackets
which cost SO each, being manufactured to
| his order, and the saddles are disposed Of in
a similar manner. In fact everything about
| the barn denotes the presence of great wealth
and an evident determination on the part of
its owner that his barn should be bigger, and
better, and more costly than anybody else's.
The wheels of the carriages rest on strips of
carpets that would adorn any drawing-room,
and the robes that protect the million ire
and his children when they go out for a
| family drive on day that is cold are made of
the most expensive furs. Their are seaskn
| robes that cost $500 or $500 apiece, otter
robes that do not come much cheaper, and
afghans on which months Of high-priced
labor have been spent, but not buffalo
robe in the place. Buffalo robes are not ex-
| pensiye.
| INDEPENDENCE AND HIS RECORD.
Passing from the carriage-room towards
| the rear Of the barn one enters the stable
where the trotters and carriage horses are
kept. Eight boxes and six open stalls COM
| prise the equipments In the line Of accom-
modations, and each one Of the boxes is
filed BY trotter with fast record and that
cost its present owner NOR, for less thousands
of dollars. In one of them is Independence,
gray stallion that acquired his name be :
cause he was born on the Fourth of July,
and that has become famous by being one of
pair of horses to trot mile in 2:16T,
which was the best record ever made by a
double team until Edward and Dick
Swiveler. owned by Mr.. Frank Work,
whose barn is only few blocks from that
of Mr. Rockefeller, were driven by Johnny
Murphy in 2:164, and their perform
ance stood at the head until MaXev Cobb and
| Meta Medium, another New York team
turned the Fleetwood park track in 2:l5A
giving their owner cause for contentment
until some other rich mans team shall have
| beaten their time. The horse with which In
dependence trUtted such fast mile lis Cleora
| a black mare that was raised in Illinois and
for which Mr.. Rockefeller paid SIS, 900 after
she had acquired record OF 2:1S4, and the
two famous animals stand facing each other
in the barn. Independence is horse of
|
high and unlike most stations, moves
around in a sprightly, stylish manner. He
will be Il years old next summer, weighs
1850 pounds when in trotting condition and
obtained record of 2:214 in single har-
ness
CLEORA'5 CAREER.
Cleora, as stated before, is an Illinois bred
mare and belongs to the Ham bletonian
| h.
horse that was formerly owned by the Wads-
worth Bros. of this city, having been brought
west from New York by them. At one of the
sales on the Wadsworth farm, near Wauke-
gan, the dam of Cleora was sold to /. N
! Norris, a cattle dealer who lives at Lamoille,
Ill, and the following spring she gave birth
| to a filiy foal, which was named Cleora. At
| that time Menelaus had no reputation as a
sire of fast trotters, and the black FLY was
not thought to be OF any particular value, but
| after being broken to harness she showed a
| coed deal of natural speed, and when years
| old was put in the hands of one of Mr.. Norris
| hired men and trained BY him. She came
! to Chicago two years ago last fall aud
| started in race here againstya large field Of
well-known horses, beating them with case,
| and trotting the second heat in 2:21%. Five
| days later she took part in q race against a
| fast class of animals, and this time attracted
! the attention of Mr.. J. P. Gilbert an old
| time driver and trainer of trotters, who for the
] last four years has been master of horse for
/ Mr. Rockefeller. In the first race Cleora had
| trotted in all her rural sim plicity, wearing no
| boots or other appliances 10 prevent injury in
case Of break, but her owner, who came up
| here to see the performance, was so beset BY
| Ike WaiIel aud some other Of his Chicago
| friends to take proper precautions for The
safety Of the mare that he became alarmed
and purchased about ali the varieties OF boots
and pads that were known and puttb on the
mare before she made her second appear