Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-09-16
JOSEPH BATTELl
Nliddlebury, Vt.
THE DAM OF GEORGEWlLKES.


Since the publication of the evidence
in our issues of July 30 and August
last, there has been no real question but
that the pedigree attributed to Dolly
Spanker, dam of this famous son OF
Hambletonian, is a mistaken one. 1t
will be remembered that she is set down
as having been bred by Clark NJ. Phil
lps, Bristol. n. V, and got by Henry
Clay, out of Telegraph by Bakers High
lander. Also that this pedigree was
"discovered" by John II. Wallace in an
"investigaton" conducted by him in
December, 1877, and January, 1873. Also
that after some controversy, Mr.. Wal
laces "Board of Censors" gravely sat
upon this pedigree and pronounced it
good, since which weighty decision the
pedigree has been generally accepted
and used in all the registers and cata-
logues throughout the country.
The re-examination of the question at
this time was commenced by letter of
James Feek in the New York Sports
man, which tended to show that Mr..
James Gilbert and Mr.. Edwin Beardsley,
two of the three partners who first
owned Dolly Spanker in Phelps, n. Y,
(the other being dead) have all along
stoutly denied that the mare was bred by
Clark Phillips, and have always stated
and still state that she was bought by
James Gilbert on an unfrequented road
in Pennsylvania, of man entirely I'M
known. The evidence published by us
was the first public statement of these
two gentlemen over their own names,
and was so clear and circumstantial as to
leave no reasonable doubt of its substan-
tial accuracy, especially as both the
gentlemen are indorsed as trustworthy
and reputable citizens.
1t will be recalled that Mr.. Wallace be-
gan his investigation by writing to Jo-
seph Lewis of Geneva, n. Y, who had
purchased the dam of George Wilkes of
Gilbert Brothers and Beardsley in 1851.
From this point there never had been any
question about the identity of the mare,
or any trouble in tracing her. The pc
cullarity of the Investigation was illus
trated by the fact that, although the own
ners of the mare and the breeder and
owner of George Wilkes assured the in
vestigator that her pedigree was hope
lessly unknown, he did not deem it
necessary to communicate with the Gill
berts and this while the mystery had
stood for quarter of century, and
those first known owners were perfectly
accessible. In the very first letter that
Lewis writes to Wallace he writes !:
"When go to Buffalo, ,chere Gilbert nO,o
lives, may be able to get at more facts, "
etc. Mr.. Wallace apparently made no
e fort whatever to communicate with Mr..
Gilbert, but naively remarks: "We have
not yet reached Mr.. Gilbert. The
statement of Gilbert would make the
matter more complete. but we consider
1t fully established either with or with
out that statement" In the apprehen-
sion of people not entirely great, it
would seem that the establishment of
the matter might in some degree have
been affected by the question whether
Gilbert Brothers and Beardsley bought
the mare of Joshua Phillips Ito whom
the Clay filly passed from Clark Phillips
and who sold her to "sOme party in the
eastern part of the country') or whether
they picked her up in the woods in Penn
sylvania. This question would have
been solved by asking it, but it was not
asked. On the other hand, the investiga-
tor seems to have relied on a most ndef-
mite and unsatisfactory statement of
Lewis as to what some unidentified Gil
bert SAID to him, and which James Gil
bert, for his part, denies.
There was another fact that always
seemed to have escaped the eagle eve of
the Investigator. The Clay filly bred by
Clark Phillips is described by him and
everyone else that speaks of the matter
as having been roam in color. f. v.
Phillips, who bought her of Clark and
sold her to Joshua, described her to
John L. Ray as of ga ddrk bog color.
pih aohHe hair mired all hrough her
cOdt, making heF sort o. fOdh.' clark
Phillips, in his letter to John p Ray,
speaks of her as ga broacn roam my." On
the other hand, all who speak of the
real Dolly Spanker, say that she was
brown mare. Joseph S. Lewis, in his
letter to Wallace (Dec. ls77), writes /:
"Some twenty-six years since | bought
a brown mare of gentleman by the