The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-08-10
1OLSTOI CRITICISED
For His Manner of Breaking a
Horses Back,
Y MANAGER ED CORRIGAN.
Ed Says that Nothing but the Necessity of the
Novel Could have Killed Horse as the
Russian Count Did.

Especial to THE HERALD-EXaminer Dispatch.
CHICAGO, Aug Big Ed Corrigan, pro-
prictor of the West Side race track, has
varied his big fight with Mayor Creg!er
and the horde of down town pool sellers
that are trying to close the West Side out
of business by coming forth fiat footed in
an interview ignoring all enemies here and
taking issue with Count Tolstoi, the great
Russii n novelist whose recent production
has provoked the wrath of Mr.. Wanna
maker. In Gamma Karenina' the Count
has steeple chase. The mare Frou-Frou,
ridden by Vronsky, is the favorite. In clear
ing the last obstacle in a race of four verts,
a trifle over two and one-half miles, the
author makes F'rou- Frou break her back,
while Gladiator, with the villain Makhotln
up, darts past the box, where royalty sits,
an easy winner. The exact manner in
which F'rou-F'rou broke her back is indefi-
mite. However, Tolstoi says: "Vronsky
began to urge on the horse by falling into
her motion and leaning far over her head
She cleared the ditch like a hind but at
this moment Vronsky felt to his horror
that instead of taking the swing of his
horse he had made a wrong motion in fall
| ing back into his saddle. The horse STUN
| bled and he had scarcely time to clear him
self when the horse fell on her side. BY
| the movement that he had made in the
saddle he had broken her back''
| Corrigan simply laughed when his atten
ton was called to this. He tilted his large
broad brim little farther back on his head
and proceeded to give his reasons why such
an accident would have been impossible.
"This Jockey Vronsky, who seems TO have
been riding the mare,n said Corrigan,
''must have been heavier aud bigger than
any two of the biggest buck Indians, be-
cause have seen two of them straddle a
| little rat of pony and go galloping off at
breakneck speed without saddle and it
never hurt the pony. During the war
saw them jump creeks, and the place was
| twice as wide as the ditch Tolstoi has in
his race; still the animal was never hurt.
The horses back is more powerful than we
imagine. Look at me. | couldn't ride at
welter weights. Yet in the far west
have taken common saddle horse and
cleared brooks and logs and often jumped
rail fences that are twice as high as the
hurdles in jumping race, and / never
broke a horses back.
"That motion of Jockey Vronsky's in
falling back into the saddle would retard
the speed of the horse perhaps, but as fo1
breaking the mares back, l can't swallow
that. You see that fellows business is
writing novels, while mine Is horse racing
l suppose he knows all about his business
and he had some reason for killing thai
horse right at that place. There was
woman in the grand stand in love with THE
jockey, and her husband was watching the
movement of her features when the hors,
went down. Probably Tolstoi thought tina
, good way to get the woman to betray he
feelings, but, as l said before, he is novel
! ist and am horseman, and, begging Mr.
: Tolstoi's pardon, l must say that he il
wrong in that particular point"
Manager Corrigan intimated that Toisto
might better stick to his go-as you pleas
marriage stories and leave horse racing t
John Splan or some of the other turf writ
, ers. This opinion from such au authorit
as Manager Corrigan, it is conceded at tn
West Side track, will go far to rob Coun
Tolstoi of his reputation as realist