Omaha daily bee., 1894-12-17
KNEEBSst' SILENT PARTNER
Man Who statsd Old Bob on His Trip to
Germany Tells His Story,
ADxlTs GvNG THE WHOLE SNAP AWAY
Was to Haver Btcn sharer In the Iilgot
Profits but Turned Jnformer to
Get Even for Fancicd
eyD slight.
lniiUs

The Chicago 1nter-ocean prints the testi-
mony of orrln o. Hefner, late partner Of r.
! T. Kneebs, before the board of appeals of the
American Trotting association in Chicago on
Wednesday. Hefner is the man who is said
to have delivered up Kneebs to the German
authorities.
Nat Brown of Omaha and Charlie Allmon
were represented In the testimony, their
statements being to the effect that the mare
Bethel is not at Wakefield, Neb., nor at Elk
Point, s. d. Hefner's story is as follows:
O. o. Hefner, whose experience in ring
ing horses in Europe would fill volume,
was then placed on the witness stand. He is
a resident OF Paxton. ILL.,, his father moving
there when he was 16 years old. A number
Of years ago he engaged largely in the i'm
portation Of English shire and hackney
horses, operating in Missouri and later at
Nebraska City and Lincoln Neb He had
| known r. T. Kneebs by sight for three or
four years. He said that he did not know
Bethel. He did not know the mare that
Kneebs pointed out to him as Bethel, with
record Of 2:16A. He saw her first at the
farm in Nebraska by lantern light, which
was in December, 1898. He next saw her
at the Union stock yards in this city in day
| light, and described her as a light bay mare
with a slit in her ear and a scar on her
left foreleg. That was in January. He saw
the mare next in a stable in New York. r.
T. Kneebs and his son-in-law were in charge
of her, and spoke of her freely before him
as Bethel. He next saw her on board ship
enroute to England.
Kneebs up to this time had always re-
ferred to her as Bethel but finally began
calling her Nelly Kneebs The horses were
| unloaded at London and stabbed there. He
was at Manchester on or about February 12
and saw Bethel trot in race there She
was entered as Nelly Kneebs. He was not
positive, but believed that he himself made
out the entry at Kneebs' request. Mr..
Hefner then enumerated the races in which
the mare Bethel was started under her alias
of Nelly Kneebs at Edinburgh, Scotland,
March II; at Berlin in three races, at Ham
burg In the same number Of events, and
finally in her match race against Loro at
Berlin. The last was her final appearance,
and she was a poor second. galloping con-
tinualy Mr.. Hefner did not see her after
this match
| what were your exact relations with
Mr.. Kneebs in taking these horses across
the water?" was asked by Governor Cole
man.
'To answer that clearly allow me to go
back to the frsep replied the witness. "In
December, 1893, Invent to Nebraska to pur-
chase some horses to take to Germany. l
had made oneItr two trips with horses be-
FORE and found it profitable. / went to Ne
DTdShd Slty t9ltseeJ uuelpl, anu tnen
to Beatrice, Nebs to look at Idavan. The
latter had a bad leg, so that was ended.
While there D.ckI Tlden said to me, why
don't you go and see Bob Kneebs; he has
some good horses, ,tiand is broke?' The up
shot of it was wired Kneebs, and we met
at Omaha one9 Sunday and talked over the
transaction. He spoke of taking Jesse
Gaines, 2:15A; Bethel, 2:1GA; Dorothy, that
could trot between 2:20 and 2:25; Underwood
and others. An agreement was made that
he would takssst these horses to Europe, Il
to pay the freight and entrance fees. He
was to trot the harses and sell them, and
OF all the money! over a certain agreed price
per head I was to have half. The first
money earned was to repay what I had ad-
vanced. Then he was to take out the price
per head, and afterward we were to di-
vide equally
''Then you were partners?" was asked.
"Yes, I presume so. but Kneebs was broke
all the way over, and had to keep advanc-
ing him money other than had been agreed
upon After we reached London l be-
came satisfied from the way things were go
ing that / was not going to get a square
DEAL and 1 told him I wanted to get my
money out. i offered to give him $3.50 to
pay ME what / had advanced and he could
go his way and l mine He promised that
he would do it after the Manchester race,
and claimed that he was cabling for money.
q In the meantime he sold mare for $3.50 that
was listed at $500. ! should have re-
ceived part of the surplus, which did not,
nor any of the money he had won, he claim
ing to have lost about $500 on the Manches-
ter race. When we were ready to start
for Germany, ,Kneebs professed to have no
money, and again advanced enough to pay
the freight to Berlin. He was to pay me
rs per cent of all winnings until l got MY
money out. Instead he held out $500, claim
ing that he had to send 1t home"
"Did you ship. any horses of your own?'
asked Secretary Steiner.
"Yes, l shipped two horses; one named
Thompson A, that l purchased of Senator
Yeomans of Onawa, la. don't know that
they told me that was his name, but that
was what called him. traded two dia-
monds for this horse and mare, about ff-
teen and one-tenth hands-dark bay, one eye
Germany as Lucille. Since l returned
have learned that her name was Clara some
thing. and that she had record of 2:25.
My object was to trot my horses and then
| sell them"
When asked as to Bethel's speed, Eir. Hef-
ner said she was very fast. and that he him
self had timed her one lap of the grass and
cinder track, the turns of which were not
thrown up about 1900 meters, at 2:2l
gait to the English mile.
"Why did you not inform the authorities
that the mare Kneebs trotted Nelly
Kneebs was Bethel, 2:16A?" was the per-
tinent inquiry of member of the board
because Kneebs said, he had thinks SO
|
any assertion / might make. ] had no evil
dence except the fact that he had called the
mare Bethel. And then l had my money In
and wanted to get 1t out. / du not like to
lose 81, 900 without an endeavor to get even"
Further questions elected the fact that
Augustus Sharpe of Louisville, KY, the owner
of Lord Byron. and Mr.. Kneebs were able
to play the pools in very happy manner in
| the match race between Lord Byron and
Bethel in which the latter was beaten, for
as Mr.. Hefner said, "They had all kinds OF
money after the race"
Through Burdette Tappan the witness stated
he had heard that the mare Riga that Angus
tus Sharpe campalgned this year In Germany
was none other than Kittie Greenlander
2:23x. The certificate issued In New York
for expectation. he said showed both to be by
the same sire, out c the same dam. and foaled
the same year. NO record appears of Kittie
! Greenlander having twin sister.
"How did you core finally TO inform against
| Knesbs ?" was asked
prince Smith, or he spells his name
Smitz came to me ON the race track at West
| End and said he vas sure that things were
not al, right with Kneebs He asked ms
: to tell what mare the one called Nelly Kneebs
really was. | told hfm that came over with
the old man and did, not want 10 make hin
trouble. did say TO him, however, that Il
he would make good the money / had lost
q