Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1886-02-26
BEING A TRUE HISTORY OF THE DAM OF
ETHAN ALLEN.

When we had finished our trip the
question was-what had been accom-
plished? 1t was pretty evident that no
decision was warranted by the testimony.
My own confidence was not destroyed in
Mr.. Arthur's statement. But there was
something peculiar in his present story;
il was not the same he or his brother
made to me the first time. 1t had
fallen from the clean, simple state
ment that this mare was brought in
to Hague as a colt in her dam, or fol-
lowing her dam, by some one living at
Hague, whose name was first given to
me a. Densmore. afterwards as Bevins,
and had taken on more gossipy form.
That first statement. with the manner it
was told carried conviction. But Mr..
Arthur's story had degencrated and he
could not produce the proof. The Rufus
Rising Vermont story had large amount
of currency. and among men claiming
more or less intimate acquaintance with
the facts. Its weakness was that it
ettIlttl IL IL II lllSnl IdNt CblHt tltlltlN
from lloyt johnson. an old man whose
memory appeared to he unreliable: and
in the further facts. which seemed to be
proven. that Rufus Rising had and
worked the mare that was supposed to
be the dam of Ethan from 1880 to 1891.
SO that she must have been foalcd a. ear
~ a. 1875 or e and appeared in Rufus
Ri>ing's hands long before he made the
Vermont trip. Again. the testimony of
Mrs. lIoyt johnson that the horse her
brOthcr-in-aw bought of Rising was
pretty near black, or brown; and that
George johnson never owned for any
length of time but one gray horse. and
that one he had when he died. went
to contradict this story.
On the other hand. the gray Bevins
flly seemed almost too old, nor had we
been able to trace her beyond her first
owner.
The following week was the meeting
of the State lIorse-BreederS' association
at Burlington. on the Monday after
which my friend drove back to III to see
again ,Justus Rising, another of our best
witnesses; Mrs. Clark, daughter of War
ner Cook, who had not been seen. and
especially to cross-eXamine Mrs. Hoyt
johnson on the color of that horse bought
by George johnson of Mr.. Rising: and
to seek other testimony as to whom War
ner Cook got this mare of. | drove to
Bread Loaf to attend to business there.
Wednesday night my friend returned.
He quickly said that he had not seen
Mrs. johnson; it was not necessary.
Mrs. Clark recOllected nothing about the
matter, but his interviews with Justus
that it was the George johnson and
Rufus Rising mare.
Mr.. Justus Rising was certain that the
Rufus Rising mare was the mare Warner
Cook had and afterward the dam of Eth.
an. lie knew her all the way down
knew her when his uncle, Rufus. haG
her; knew her when Warner Cook haG
her. and when IIolcomb had her: wa.
just as certain of it as that he was alive
Remembered his uncle. Rufus. bred ;
colt from her: he always bred his mares
that she came over from the farm ownet
by Rufus, Joel and Abel together to hi,
fathers place, and he set a dog on her.
This testimony was of the best ant
seemed to locate the mare with mucl
certainty in the hands of Rufus Rising a
far back as lS30-34, who raised col
from her asked if he testified tina
he knew her in George Johnson's hands
The notes showed that this question wa
asked and he could not say that he did
but always understood that she asse,
through his hands. On looking it ov
er my friend agreed with me tina
the weight of testimony was still decided
ly against Rufus Rising's having got tn
mare in Vermont; and that we SHOULD
have to begin again to find where Sh
really did come from.
remembered now of having received
letter once from Allen w. Thomson
Woodstock, VT, stating that he had in
formation about the dam of Ethan, locke
up number of years ago, that he woul
furnish at fair price to pay for hi
trouble and expense. | remembered
TOO, aud had thought of it before, that MI
Wallace had told me once that Mr.. Thon
son claimed to have discovered the sir
of the dam of Ethan; and, Mr.. Wallac
added: she told me that was right"
struck me that the next interview wOul
better be that of Allen w. Thomson {
Woodstock.