Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1889-12-20
THAT FLYING MORGAN THEORY
EXPLODED BY w. Il. BLISS. ESQ
From the Mirror and Farmer

from the Mirror and Farmer.l
In view of the amount of the Mirror
and Farmers valuable space that has
been occupied by Mr.. Thomson in his
attempt to show that Ethan Allen was
a son of Flying Morgan and not of
Black Hawk, feel warranted in asking
for sufficient to state briefly the grounds
upon which we rely who hold the oppo-
site opinion. They are as follows
/. 1t is admitted by all that Ethan
Allen was foaled on or about the 18th
of June, 1919; that the dam of Ethan
Allen was bred to Vermont Black Hawk
on the 9th of July, 1913, and returned to
him with the colt Ethan Allen by her
side and again bred on the 9th of June,
1919; and that these services were regu-
larly entered at the time by David Hill,
then owner and keeper of Black Hawk,
in his owp hand, in his stud book regu-
larly kept for that purpose.
When one has stated so much it seems
idle to talk about questioning the pedi-
gree, for he has stated all the evidence,
and precisely the evidence required to
decide the highest wagers concerning
matters of this kind. When no fraud in
the book is suggested and no second
book is shown, the entry of the service
and the birth of the colt in precisely due
season afford not only the hest but the
only satisfactory or admissible testimony
of the paternity of any hol Sc. 1t is a
record and excludes all other evidence.
a CARLOAD of atlidayits of what parties
say or think they recollect cannot pre-
vail against it: if it could, every pedi-
gree in the world would be at the mercy
of any designing charatan. This is as
well and with as much reason establish
ed among horsemen as is in courts, the
principle that party shall not be adj
mittted to contradict the record; and
that testimony by word of mouth shall
not be received to vary or contradict
the terms of written instrument.
Life is too short for the full discussion
of every position that adroitness can
take and every theory that ingenuity
can devise. There is in all matters an
ultimate measure of proof, final and
incontrOvertible test of truth; and in
matters of horse breeding it is the entry
of the service by the breeder in his stud
book, in the course of his business and
without fraud, followed by due birth of
offs pripn ITntil tba uonuinouacc Of M
entry is disproven, or another of equal
conclusiveness shown, the question of
paternity ought never to be permitted to
be drawn in question. If those facts
are not conclusive, there is:no such thing
as a conclusion in the world
2. But if this were not so, and if all
things settled, as well as unsettled,
were fair subjects of discussion, it could
fairly be urged, what is also universally
admitted, that the breeder of Ethan
Allen always claimed him to be son
of Black Hawk, and had him so regis
tered; that his widow, who long out
lived him and was interviewed in the mat
ter as late as the fall Of 1885 (she also
having been an owner of the cOlt), said
there was never any question but that
Black Hawk was the sire; that Hol-
comb and Roe when they owned him
publicly advertised large wager that
they would prove he was by Black
Hawk, and found no taker; that all his
owners claimed the same, and that
there is not one of the old horsemen of
Ticonderoga, neighbors of Holcomb
when he bred the colt, but that laughs
at the idea of Ethan being by any other
horse than Black Hawk. All these
facts would then be fair evidence to
controvert any other theory. The fur
ther facts that Black Hawk was then
in his vigorous prime, fifteen years of
age; that he was a popular sire, COM
manding a high fee, while Flying Nor
gan was an unknown colt, very small
and not very prepOssessing, and that
Holcomb already had two very fast
and valuable young horses from this
mare by Black Hawk might be fairly
urged as making it probable that the
colt was got by Black Hawk, and that
Holcomb did not choose to pay the SER
vice fee for nothing and substitute the
service of "Snub," as the little bay
horse was then called, when by going
dozen miles he could have insured a
foal by Black Hawk. The resemblance