Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-04-13

was there at the time, and traded plug
geldng for him. The mans excuse for
trading him of was that he was so cross
with his other horse that he could not
take him any farther. think that was
all fixed-up lie, for he was one of the
quietest horses ever saw. The man was
from the South, and have always had
the impression that the horse was stolen,
and that was why he was so anxious to
trade, but no owner ever came after him.
| never owned the horse, but knew him
from the time he came here until he was
traded to parties in Illinois by Mr.. John
Smith of Owensville. | think the horse
was five years old when he was brought
here, but he was a natural pacer-could
pace unframed in about 3 200. He left
some very fast PAGERS of his get. know
of four raised near here, namely: Tom
Crowder, kittie Crowder, Molly Crowder
and Glasford. They could all pace bet
ter than 2 $50, and all out of cold blood
mares, except Glasford, whose dam was
brought here from the South, so don't
know anything about her. | developed
Molly and Glasford myself. Molly could
pace in 2 20, and Glasford in 20, so if
you have a mare sired by Tom Crowder
you have a good mare to breed from.
Yours, a. c. WILKINSON.
CYNTHIANIA, Ind, March ), 1888.
Mr.. w. E. SPRoTT,
Dear Sir Your second letter is at
hand, concerning the Crowder Horse.
have been looking up the dates the best |
can. Tom Crowder, b. h., PAGER, about
lob hands, square built, heavy bone, no
white except a little at corner of one hind
foot, | don't now remember whether
right or left; was brought to Evansville,
| think in 1865, by a travelling man said
to be from Tennessee or Kentucky. He
traded him to Mr.. James Douglas of Fort
Branish, Ind, who kept him one or two
seasons, am not sure which, and then
traded him to John Smith of Owensville.
The colts were very common looking and
not thought much of until the first and
seconds sets were four and three years
old, when they began to show what they
were. Meanwhile Smith had sold him
into Illinois, when the third set came.
Glasford being one of them. As | said,
when the colts began to show speed, diff
ferent parties tried to find him and bring
him back to Indiana, but could never do
so. | had told different parties that if
old Tom Crowder could be found and
brought back, would buy him, although
he was old, for there was such an excite
ment about his first colts that knew |
could do well with him. So about the
18th of January | was at Princeton, and
my nephew, f. f. Wilkinson, told me he
had found out where sold Tom Crowder"
was-as we called him-and that he was
at Enfield, III. lie said, too, that he
could get him for $50. | told him that
didn't care what he could get him for,
would give him 5000 if he brought him to
me. E. E. Wilkinson then went to En-
field and brought back an old horse to me
Gas see by my diary of that year,, on
January 3lst, 1873, but he was not our
Tom Crowder, and sent him back to
Illinois. Shortly afterward some parties
at Owensville, Ind, who were selling
rights on patent stump-burner, went to
Enfield H., and traded a stump-burner
right for the same old horse, brought
him to Owensville and advertised him as
sold Tom Crowder," the sire of Molly and
Kittie Crowder and of Glasford, thinking,
of course. that announcing him in this
way would give him big boom. But it
was all stuff-he was not the genuine
Tom Crowder, which never could be
found after going to Illinois.
Since wrote you my first letter | see
your card in Dunton's Spirit of the
Turf; but you were wrongly informed
in regard to dates, and as to Z. +. Wiki
inson bringing the horse back. You
now have the facts of that statement.
You want to know if Tom, kitte or
Molly has public record of 80 or bet
ter. In regard to Tom, | don't know,
he having been taken away, but l know
he could pace in 80, for have been in
races with him when | drove Molly.
Molly's best public record is 2 81 and
Kittie's 20, though that of Kittie is to
saddle. have reason to know, however,
that Molly could pace in 2:25. AS to
Glasford, he has a record of 2:2G, made
the week before he made the 2 30 record
shown in Dunton's Register. The latter
record was made on muddy, one-thrd-
mile track, which l helped to measure
with Mr.. John Landrigan of Albion, H.,
in order to add lap of 100 yards that
was necessary to make it an absolutely
correct record. The day that Glasford
made his , :26 record at Princeton. Ind,
was a rainy one and the track was very
slick, but he was feeling fine, and was so
willing to go, that had to hold him back
from his full speed at least half the time.