Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1888-05-18

Vail did !. the other may have been pub
lished.
We remember that the letter from Mr..
Martin gave description and pedigree of
the mare bought by Mr.. Ware and taken
to Illinois. The letter from Mr.. Vail was
an unusually long and complete one, Civ
ing both history and description of the
mare and also speaking at length of a
tracing made by some one whose name
we do not remember, but, we think, lived
in New York and was, at the time Mr..
Wallis letter was written, dead. Our i'm
preston is that this party was rather an
eminent and well-known horseman. The
letter stated that this party said he had
traced the mare to Rochester. n. Y,
where as four-year-old she was purchas-
ed of a party who had her in company
with Black Hawk stallion and exhibit
ed her as one of the get of this stallion.
We think Mr.. Vail will come to the res
cue of the public now in this matter and
give again the account of this tracing,
and the name of the man who claimed to
have made it. We hope also he will give
again description of the mare.
Whilst waiting for the lost letter to
turn up we have remained quiet in this
matter, though expecting to take it up
again and get the truth before publishing
the book on the Morgan Horse, for if
this great trotting and brood mare was
a Morgan we wanted her properly cred
tied in our work, whether she was a
daughter of Sherman Morgan through
Billy Root, or through Black Hawk, or
possibly a Morgan mare from some other
source.
In the meantime Mr.. Thompson of
Woodstock has taken this matter up
where we left it and got little addition
al testimony. which appears in the Mir
ror and Farmer of May 10, 1883.
We do not know that we have any spe-
cial objection to Mr.. Thomson or any
body else taking our material and selling
it to some other paper, if he would give
proper credit for it, But nobody knows
better than Mr.. Thomson that this kind
of work costs great deal of time and
money, and apppopriatng it without
credit is the dirty work of thief. No
honorable man could do it and no decent
man would. Possibly by accident this
time the proper credit was omitted
though Mr. L. did not forget to write us
several weeks ago for a description of
this mare, that is, for the contents of these
letters which, as we have stated, from
being lost we had not published
We notice that Mr.. Thomson in his
righteousness suggests that his attention
was led to this subject by ii remark made
in some letter to him, but we notice, too,
that he draws upon the REGISTER for all
his information about Mr. Vail getting
the mare from Geo. w. Bidwell and a
Mr.. Campbell, and also his statement
(Which is not warranted by all the facts
that it is now admitted by those who
gave the pedigree that she was by son
of Black Hawk, that it was not true.
But leaving Mr.. Thomson to consider
these points with himself we will now
consider the additional evidence that he
has obtained. He says:
The fact that Thomas Jefferson stood
so much ahead in his day of any of
his family as to speed and in transmit
ing it, shows that the blood of his dam
must have had much to do in giving speed
and bottom to her illustrious son, and in
helping him to transmit it. Every one
at all posted as to the trOtter knows
that Gypsy Queen, the great ten-mile
trOtter, was the dam of Thomas Jefferson,
yet no one knows anything as to her
origin and breeding, The first the pub
lie heard of this famous mare she was
trotting at Chicago, ILL.,, about 1858, that
she got record of PA to wagon, a
three-mile record of S.l7, won ten-mile
race against Oliver Rose in 3l.05. At
Louisville, KY, Oct p, 1860, she made a
dead heat in ten-mile race with Captain
MCGOWAN in $3.50; the next week she
was beaten by Captain MCGOWAN at Gin
cinatti, o., Nov. 3, in 2S.llt, she being
but short distance behind. 1t was at
this time she was purchased by Thomas
j. Vail of Hartford, Conn. Mr.. Vail
states that at the time of purchase she
was in charge of George w. Bidwell, who
was connected with a Mr.. Campbell,
who was her hacker; both told him that
her breeding was not definitely known.
One of the stable boys said she was by
Wagner, dam by Glencoe, and in support
of his statement showed steel engraving
of Wagner that did resemble Gypsy
Queen when in trotting form, so says
Mr.. Vail. The pedigree, as given by the
stable boy, was given at first as her true
pedigree. Some may believe she must
have been bred so to have been such a
laster; and, too, it was fashionable
pedigree at the time. In time it was
understood the pedigree was false; then
it was said that she was bred near or at
Rochester, N. Y, and was by son of
Vermont Black Hawk. 1t is now admitted
by those that gave the pedigree that it
is not the true pedigree; that his pedigree
at the present time is unknown. 1t was
the first of January, the present year,
that in one of the many letters received
ordering book (The Horses of Wood
stock was the statement that the writer,
G. w. Clark of East Brookfeld, VT,
could tell where Gypsy Queen was raised,