The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1893-01-22
TRADITIONS |!|!|| [ Of 7R0TTERS.
1hs ARRIVAL of Messenger a, phila-
dslphia Over one Hundred
Years Ago.
nors That Exerted the Great
snt Influence Over the Amer
loan Trotter.
GasseS ~ Justin Morgan, Abdallah L,
lady Suffolk, Flora Temple and
Goldsmith Maid.

"A 1888 there was landed at Philadelphia,
xforn = sailing vessel, some English thor
ouAhbred horses. Several of them ex-
hausted By the voyage. were carefully taken
70 shsre. but one, a rugged gray stallion,
With = ringing neigh stepped briskly down
the gang planks md dashed away from the
pier. with two Qrooms holding him in, says
The Western Horseman. This was the
advent Of the famous Messenger, destined
80 exerta greater influence on the future
stock ct America than any horse ever upon
shs continent. A few of his descendants
In ths fourth generation still survive, Stam-
boul, 2;O711a, holding the stallion record of
America, il in the fifth generation through
his dam and the eighth through the dam
Sultan, while Kremlin, 2:07M, n formidable
claimant Of the standard record, 10 in the
sixth remove through the male line.
In 1875 . bay three-year.old colt was in
trodused into Vermont by a man who was
IN debt and who offered the colt in part
payment Of the claim at 500, which was
dscl1ned. He was then hired out for a year
Tor $l6 and used in clearing timber-land.
The little fellow. for he was only about
fourteen hands hioh, was a prodiRious
worker and could draw a log with ease.
which q more bulky horse, weighing 1900,
could not draw its length, and after q days
work he could run three or four eighty rod
races, beating all comers. He lived to a
great age and was the sire of a universally
popular strain Of horses, for he was Justin
Morgan.
A %raw-boned, rat-tailed horse, foaled 1922.
travelled under saddle from New York to
Nd 800 - Ma V-.L
after . not very successful season. So lit.
lie was thought Of him that his service was
free whom three years old, but he was sold for
$1,000 when II years old. At 81 years he
was sold for $35 to q fisherman, who either
TO aubdue his still untractable temper or
from brutal indifference. starved him. and
% he died, leaving a son Hamblstonian 10.
to show the blood of Abdallah l, was a
golden current, although he had shown his
merits in very good sons who trotted a
dozen years before he died of neglect.
Once upon a time Tin 1920, there WAS a
non OF imp-MessenGer, called TopRallant.
who waS spawned in both hind legs. When
he was IA years Did, it was discovered that
he could trots At % he trotted four four
mile heats against Whalebone. The sixteen
miles were trotted in 45:44. Two years
later old T~opRallant trotted against seven
good horses four three-mile heats. winning
fret place in one heat and second in the
last. Next week he won a race of three
mile heats from Whalebone. He was an
old fashioned ~trotter.
II seems that as one great race mare fn-
ished her career another appeared to- take
her place and eclipse her. In 1888 Lady
Suffolk, a fve-year-old inbred Messenger
mare. made her first trot in February for a
prfse Of 81. She was on the turf until
1853 and won lightweight out of 1873 races
and earned $685. oil. She was owned by a
hard and unrelentinR man who sold her to
Q better man to take care of her in her old
age. She won her harness record of 2:28 in
1884 and vi champion trotter for nine
years.
sunshine how j. A. Vielle on a June day in
30 was attracted by a rouRh-coated and
bob-tailed little mare tied behind a drov-
cru wagon. and bought her on the spot for
$175. A year before, as a fout-vear-old,
she had been sold for $13 as willful and I'M
month for $3.50 to a Mr.. Perrin, whose care
changed the crazy, fiQhty, hslf-racking,
half-trotsinG little mare into a true stopper,
with q long, low, locomotive t~rotting step.
She won races that year and was entered in
tho racing calendar as Flora. Perrin sold
her to his brother for 1915. She won other
races and again changed hands for $4.O 600.
In 1853. the year Lady Suffolk retired. Flora
Temple tied her time, 2:2S, to a wagon. She
raced quite steadily, showing herself a
great weight puller and invincibly game;
changed hands twice and was again sold to
MN. Mcdonald for So 600 in 1858. Next
year. IA years old, she trotted twenty-three
races against the best horses and won TWEEN
ty-two. beating Ethan Allen, Princess and
Geo. NJ. Patchen. Her lass race was in
1863. when she had been on the turf ten
years. Her last appearance was in q re-
view OF stock by Gen. Grant. Her record,
2:19sz. was made in 1859 at Kalamazoo.
She had won eiahty-six out of lob races.
Flora Temples successor. Goldsmith
Maid, was foaled in 1867 and by a grand
son of Abdallah ], out of daughter of the
same. She was wild, timid and unmanage-
able until bought by Alden Goldsmith in
1865. for $500 and a buggy, who made hes
quiet and gentle without loss of Shirt.
Her first race was at eight years. She went
into Doble's hands in 1867 and next year
was bought by Doble d. JackmaG. Though
very successful she lost five races to Amer
Jean Girl and five to Lady Thorn. In 1872
VIM. H. Doble drove her q second heat in
2:16A. She was IL then, but 10 when she
trotted six heats at an average of 2:175. !
She ttotted the same season three heats in
ZIG, 2:154 and 2:15, and in California in
2.141155. a year latsr. Her record of 2;l4 was
made at Boston in 1874.
Mr.. Jockey TO MIR. Edgerton.
To The INDEPENDENT: Mr.. Fdgerton's
---a. - A..