The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1886-10-21
GRAVES LUCK.
A Ono-Hundred Dollar Trotter That Won
Its Owner a Million.

Its Owner a Million.
s'Do you see that old man there with
big cane, a slouch hat and two CLASSY
looking eyes-the one who is just now
trying to buy an auction pool? That
man made more money ont of trotting
horse than any other man ever made,
and he did it right here in Chicago.
too. How much? Almost million.
Yes, sir; pretty Tigh a clean million
dollars. And he made it all off one
horse, too. The old mans name is
Graves, Henry Graves. Way back in
the forties he kept public house out
on the Cottage Grove road. His place
was a quiet resort for horsemen, and
Graves was horse-sharp himself. He
had as keen an eye for horse -flesh-I
mean trotting horses, for like all the old
time horseman he wouldn't go across
a road to see q running horse or rum
ming race-as any man l ever knew.
One day he bought horse right out of
a farm wagon, in front of his tavern, for
800. He had sized her up for a
trotter, and he made no mistake. Tie
mare turned ont to be a trotter of the
first water for those days, and with her
Graves won scores of good races.
''At that time w. F. Myrick had a
public house not far from Graves, aud
he was also a trotting horse man. He
owned Jack Rossiter, a crack flyer,
and great rivalry sprang up between
the two landlords as to which had the
fastest animal. They were not long in
making up race, which was won by
Lady Jane, Graves mare. Myrick
wasn't satisfied, and tried it again,
only to be beaten the second time.
But he wouldn't give up. He made
another match and lost, and still an
other and another, never stopping un-
til he had lost eleven straight races.
And he wouldn't have stopped then IL
he hadn't run out of money to back his
horse with. Those were great races, |
tell you-two-mile heats, most of them
-and lots Of excitement and heavy
betting. 1t seems to me we never have
any such races nowadays.
About Graves million dollarsp o.
yes Though he backed his mare with
all he could rake and scrape, he didn't
win million in money, of course. But
I'll tell you what he did-he won fifty
eight acres Of land lying just west of
Cottage Grove avenue, and between
what is now Thirty-first and Thirty
fifth streets. One story is that Myrick
used to own this land, and that he bet
it against $4,000 with Graves on that
| eleventh and last race and lost. Graves
denies this, but says that he had pur-
chased the land on time before he pur-
chased the mare, and that the mare
earned him the money to pay for it
with. How that is l don't know, but
it is certain that Graves made the land
with that mare. He held to the prop
erty until the city had grown all around
him, and few years ago sold it out,
excepting his own home, for sum
ranging between $500, 900 and 5000. 900.
''Strange as it may seem, Myrick got
rich out of those races, too. The eleven
defeats cost him nearly every thing he
had, and he was finally compelled to
sell his horse. The selling purse was
$1,000, and most of this he invested in
land, and the rise in the value of the
land made him wealthy man. 1t was
ON the site of Myricks tavern that John
b. Sherman, coming from the Bulls
Head, started the first South Side Chi
cago Stock Yards, and on Graves land
Camp Douglas was established. Each
tract is now covered over with hundreds
of Handsome dwellings. "-Chicago Her.
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