The new North-west., 1890-03-14
OLD HICKORY.


The Oldest member of the Old Guard is
Hickory Jim. No man knows his age. Years
ago, when the present generation of trainers
and jockeys were in their swadlllng clothes,
Hickory Jim was veteran on the turf. The
Oldest gnide printed records click ory lin
aged His life bridges the old and the new
turf. He goes back to the days when the
Bufords and the Blackburns and the Swig-
er,s raced their horses for pleasure on their
private tracks over the blue grass of Cen.
tral Kentucky, and discussed pedigrees
beneath the shade of their old oaks with the
aromatic juleps close BY.
Old Jim has no royal pedigree, nor were
his ancestors from the priceless strain Of
Western horse, and his dam is unknown.
His owner, D. D. Davis, who has had him for
eighteen years, bought him in the far West.
They have seen many strange sights, old
Davis and Hickory jim, and they have been
together so much that they have grown to
resemble each other in a manner half lud,
crous, half pathetic.
Davis, in quaint, halting way, tells how
for years he raced old Jim through tile Ter
ritories OF the Northwest. Scores of times
Jim ran against the best Indian horses, and
on one memorable occasion he baat the best
horse Of the Sioux. and every buck in the
tribe was bankrupt for n year.
The horse became so famous through all
that region that Davis could get no odds
against him. and he determined to change
his name. After much consultation he
thought heu Mike tue proper IltIe. ana Gun
nngly entered the horse by that name at
the thriving mining town of Butte, where
the miners had built a little track. AS it
happened, the miners were nearly all Irish
men, and the name, Red Mike, seemed to
recall patriotic memories to them. One and
all plunged on Red Mike and Davis could
not get bet. He left in disgust, aud sine,
then the old fellow has been called Hickory
Jim. After running him on every race track
in the far west, Davis went South with him
~
Indians of New Mexico and Arlzonn aud
he was always successful. After years o1
this kind of running Jim was taken 10 Gal
weston, New Orleans and Mobile and AT
length struck the big tracks
One day there appeared on the Lexington
track q weaLher-b beaten, ragged, angular OLE
horse, with hair all ever him two inches lpul
and altogether the most extraordinary spec
tacle ever seen on that ariStoGratic track Az
he galloped around the tack with wnasen
| faced little jockey on his back, such a roar o
laughter went up as never greeted bnrs.
before. Every one asked who the stranger
was and where he came from, No one knew
anght of him except that his name was
Hickory jim.
The old horse seemed to feel flat he was
not tit for such fine company, and when the
prancipg thoroughhreua came out, one by
Que, many of them with ribbons knottel in
their names, the gloom on his Scared old
| face became deeper and deeper.
He got of badly, aud as he passed The
SlaDu Ne Was several SlIuS ntHlnu tnH buNtl
and the crowd cheertd him deristvelv FL
| paid no attention to their insult, but contil
| ued on his way with his head down, giving
strict attention tn business.
AS they rounded the tnrn some one yelled
"Why, old Hickory Jim is winning" And
sure enough he was, With long, steady
| strides he had closed up the gap, and one BY
| one he had overtaken his rivals H. passed
| through the midst Of them like a rcSstless
| machine, and never varying his long stride
| as regular as a pendulum, he came under the
wire winner by half dozen lengths.
The crowd gave him great ovation. but
old jim, still wrapped in the deepest gloom,
hung his head down 1nournfuily aud went of
to his stable. His owner says Jim has rul
| hundreds of races, and the records show that
| this is true In nurses and bets Davis won
| with old Jim half million dollars. He has
won craditahle races at Monmouth and
Sheepshead Bay, but for the last few years
| he has only run at the Winter tracks, where
| now and Their, by his superior sagacty, he
| slips in through crowd of stupid youngsters
who have not had the vast experience o
willy old Jim.
There arc many humhler members of the
Old Guard about the Winter tracks--Tattler
| Ernest, Monogram, Young Duke, Tax Gath
| erer, compensation and scoras of others.
They are all great old boys, and every mar
on the race track, when one of them passe
| by, should touch his hat, for they are heroes
every one of them.