Telegram-herald., 1889-11-05

IA Rstera - R>etsx asa sSe>sSe esns
toStaEas sua slisfuftaess

NEw NoKK, Cek 81 Leonard w.
jerome bas recently resigned TIE pFssi-
dency of tie New York Jockey club
ths rev rseiux oTEan izssien. which -
said b have The haest coarse tD tie
world-and ~as reelected president Il
the Coney island Jockey clgA AAa
thsrebs hangs = tale.
Leonard Jerome. brother ~ tae late
iArry Jerome-the greatest VII and
practical loker thls country has ever
procsced-and father Of LADY Randolph
Churchill. can fairly be termed the
father ~ ths American turf While OF
course, il esnnSt bs claimed FOR him
that he IS the first man 20 have started
running racing Ia America. vet II can
be justly asserted that when this great
est OF sports had lost is popularity
through ths chicanery which had de-
bauched il. il was he who, unalded,
lifted it again 10 the plane Of its former
rsspectablity.
For a period Of thirty years prior 20
the close of the civil war the turf was Ia
bOoed by decent people. Ii was the Gus
tom Ia those times - run races Ia heats,
and iI vas not unusual for those who
found that they had bet the wrong way
10 purchase the winner 81 the first heat
before le made his second trial.
For thirty years gentlemen sternly set
their face against racing. Two attempts
were made in New York TO revive this
sport as the pastime for respectable peo-
pie. but the recoliections OF the past
were too vivid, and two failures were the
only results. IL was whue this dark
cloud hOyered over the turf that Leonard
W. jerome. then a man of immense
wealth, and with the keen sporting pro-
cllvity of q true gentleman. determined
upon O resurrection. Ther- was no one
70 give him a helping hand and so un-
aided on the 2lst Of September. 1864, at
personal expenditure Of more than
$500 coo, he inaugurated the now famous
Jerome Park track.
His determination was 10 make it re-
sort for ladies as well as gentlemen. to
give it club house surrounded with all
the socig. rigidness Of the most exclusive
organization. and 10 make even the sus-
p!cion Of fraud in the racing of horses
not only 50 odious but so severely pun
ishable rs TO remove all possibility Of
the slightest attempt at chicanery. II is
needless now to narrate the successful
result Of that experiment. Doubling
friends ilocked around the master mind,
calculating only, 1--WE did not know YOU
were going TO do il this way" Fashion
smiled upon the project. Money rolled
into the new associations Golfers. Racing
was again made tho foremost sport Of
America.
Tie story Of its subsequent strides-a
tale the narration of which is only made
possible by Mr. Jerome's cTorts--is told
in New York having tracks at Mon
mouth park, at Coney Island, at West
chester. at Jerome park. at Brooklyn, at
Elizabeth, IT Linden, at Clifton and at
Brighton beach, all within easy travel
ing distance of the metropolis; a story
emphasized lsy successful courses at
Saratoga. ct Pimlico, at Ivy City, at La
tonia, at st. Louis, at Chicago, at Lex
ihgton, at New Orleans and Minneapolis;
a story that tells Of millions of dollars in
vested in hOrseilcsh, of millions OF dollars
wagered on horscnesh, and of hundrds
Of thousands Of people shouting and
gesticulating over the painting struggles
OK the noblest creatures God has made.
Fortune, however. has her whirligigs.
The Leonard Jerome of today is the same
true hearted gentleman and the same up
right sportsman of twenty-five years ago,
but he is not the same millionaire. The
story of his financial shipwreck can be
told in two words-Pacifc Mail. jerome
Park today is only Jerome Park in name,
for the foot Of the stranger is upon it,
1t is this condition Of affairs which
has made Leonard w. Jerome's yearly
salary of s., coo as president of the Coney
Island Jockey club an item in his fnan-
cial calculations which is not TO be de-
spised. That position he has occupied
for many years past. Recently he, with
many others. had good reason to believe
that the famous Jerome track will be
taken by the city Of New York as the
site for q new water reservoir The then
existing commissioners favored the con-
domnation OF the property.
To John \. Morris. who has made a
fortune Of many millions BY the manipu-
lation of the louisiana lottery scheme,
Leonard Jerome expressed his belief that
the Jerome track would be seized. and
that new track in that vicinity would
bo immensely profitable. Morris was
quick 10 act upon the suggestion, and
Sir. Jerome was made president of the
new racing association, which was
named the New York Jockey club
WoTl, was begun at once, and rs the re-
tuit ~ an expenditure Of between s ,30U,-
GOO and 81 10000 there was constructed
what good authorities claim 10 be the
Guc-t racing track in the world.
Bot .lr. John Hunter. enjoying year
lv salary al $4,000 IA tho president of
the r0me Park association. did not
look kindly upon the destruction 81 the
enterprise of which he is the we'll paid
( head. Mayor Grant appointed sew COM
mi sipncr8 with different views concern
ing tue reservoir site and. as result,
when thc new track was opened. Jerome
Par, s'ill fingered as q rival and an OBJ
sfacie to its financial prosperity. John
a. Morris is human. and consequently
john Is. Morris il vcxed. Rumor has it
that ha fooiishly LAYS 20 Nr Jcromes
door the blame % his non-paying iavost-
ment. and rumor stronger stiil Saws that,
IN return Tor more than a year II tie
most ariuous labor given up O. thc crea-
ton - the new track a work made moro
on. n.rola by tie accumulated years oi Mr.
jerome. the father of tho American tiuf
has received. 20 use the exact lanRusge
&C orc o. tho best Known racing judges
in this country. Not one dollar anJ a
hal."
Fact. however truthful rumor may BE-,