Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1891-04-10
Continued from 9Th pdae.l

1feau anu ner DreeullS duu OIiSiu are
entirely unknown. But Amazonia, dam
of Abdallah, was not by imported Mes
ems Nobody that knows anything
about the matter ever pretended that she
was. The whole fabric rests on the
statement of T. L. Nissan that it was
represented to his brother, who, as he
says, bought the mare near Philadel-
phia, that she was by a son of Messen-
ger; but Mr.. Nissan evidently never
believed the statement, If made, and al
ways said the mare did not show any
resemblance to the Messenger family.
At best, what a man may recollect OF
what was said to have been told his
brother by some unknown person more
than fifty years before would hardly
seem very solid material to build a ped
igree on yet thisi is the exact extent and
mature of the evidence which Mr.. wal
lace had according to his own state
ment) when in 1871, in the first vol
ume of the American Trotting Regis
ter, he made the entry: "Amazonia, CHI.
m, foaled about 1910; got by a son of
imp. Messenger etc. Nissan appears
to have been amazed at the tremendous
effect produced by his casual reference
to what his brother had said. Mr..
Wallace himself tells the story in the
November, 1876, number of his Month
ly, as follows: "After the lapse OF two
or three years the question began to be
raised in different quarters, whether we
were justified in making the record of
Amazonia as it appeared in the Regis
ter. At first we could not understand
the reason nor the motive which prompt
led to this question. The Importance Of
this peligree, and this particular cross,
aras rery great rih all rho thought ana
krrote on the phlosophy Of breeding; and,
as it now appears, a number of gentle
men had written Mr.. Nissan for fuller
particulars concerning this mare. In
his replies, so far as our knowledge
goes, and we have several of them, Mr..
Nissan uniformly omits all reference TO
the very pith of his letter to us, namely,
that she was represented to his brother
to be by a get of Messenger; and in
PRODUCES instead his opinions that she was
of the Norman or some other coarse breed.
The truth then began to dawn upon
us that our critics had just grounds of
complaint, from their standpoint, for
ace had professed TO depend entirely upon
Mr.. Kissman. They had sought infor-
nation from the same source, and sup
posed Justly they had as full and COM
plete a history of the case as we had,
but they had nothing that would justify
or sustain our conclusions. Hence it
twas entirely natural they should think
we had forced a conclusion to sustain a
theory or a prejudice. CD Finding we
were a victim for the time being, we
Immediately published Mr.. Kissam's let
ter, as given above. and wrote him to
know if he still stood by that letter, or
if he wished to withdraw any declara-
ton in it, and the following is his re-
ply:
BERLIN, Sept. l, 1874.
81. III. WALLACE, ESQ,
Dear Sir:-I must apologize for not
aus WcIluS NOulS VI Z ulls OClOlC HIS
. | nave noticed both your letter and
the article from the Live Stock journal
as to AmaZonia's breeding. | have no
other knowledge than as communicated
to you in February, 1870. My name
having been brought before the public
in connection with her pedigree has led
to many inquiries by persons from diff
ferent parts of the country. In some OF
the answers may have given my opin-
ion as to her breeding, but no person is
justified in either saying or i%nsinuating
that | have authorized a contradiction OF
the account given you.
Yours respectfully,
TIMOTHY L. KIsSAM.'
''This clear and explicit reiteration ant
endorsement of Mr.. Kissam's original
statement, that the mare was represent
ed to be by a son of Messenger, settle:
the whole matter so far as the history
is concerned"
What Mr.. Wallace's idea may be o.
what constitutes a ''clear and eXplici
Federation and endorsement of a state
ment, we do not know. Captious persons
might insist that, having caught his sol,
witness telling two stories about thi'
matter, and having, under an implied
threat of public exposure, eXtorted from
him the declaration that he had no
''authorized a contradiction of the &C
count, Mr.. Wallace was in a position
to boast of having destroyed his onl,
evidence chad it been evi1ence) rattle
than to flourish about ''reiteration ant
endorsement"
Just here we should expect tn,
thoughtful reader to throw out the sup
posed line to Messenger that is said t.
have come through Amazonia. But
lie once let loose cannot be captured b,
armies nor oyertaken by the messag
which flies on the wings of lightning