The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1895-08-15
THE MORGAN CONTROVERSY.
Truth About the Ray Colt That Founded
Famous Family.

tIlt nay toiA
Famous Family.
In 17SS Justin Morgan sold his little
place in West Springfield, Mass. and
removed to Randolph, VT, where he
died in March, 1898. In the autumn of
1895 he visited West Springfield again
for the purpose of collecting some money
that was still due him there, probably
some deferred payments of his former
home, and as he was not able to get the
money he took two horses in lieu there
of. One was II 3-year-old gelding and
the other was a 2-year old bay colt en-
tire. He led the gelding beside the horse
he was riding, and the colt followed all
the way. The evidence that fixes the
date of his trip in the autumn Of 1895
and the age of the colt that followed
seems to me to be completely bombppoof.
This evidence not only embraces the rec
objections of Justin Morgan S neighbors,
but when he died the colt, in 1898, was
sold by his administrators us 5-year-
old. In all the changes of ownership
that took place through his life and at
his death, in 1921, he was represented
as foaled in 1898. He died from the eff
fects of a kick that was neglected, and
not from old age.
There are several incidents connected
with the life of the colt of 1898 that
fixed his identity and age upon the rec
objections of the neighbors and friends
of Justin Morgan. Solomon Steele, Ev-
ans, Rice and others who knew the colt
we'll all agree that the colt followed his
companion and playmate from West
Springfield to Randolph in the autumn
of 1875, and that he was not then hal
ter broken. They all agree that Evans
hired him for $l5 year to draw logs
in his clearing in the place of yoke of
| oxen. They all agree that Justin Nor
gan died in March, 1898, and that the
| colt was then sold as "a 5-year-old The
death was an immovable date fixer
around which everything in connection
with these events must be determined,
and when the horse died in 1921 nobody
had ever doubted that he was foaled
in 1898.
Justin Morgan. Jr., was in his tenth
year when the colt was brought home,
| and he was ~ years old when his father
died In 1912 Justin Morgan, Jr., in a
communication to the Albany Cultiva-
tor, says: Zone was 3-year geld
ing colt, which he led, and the other a
2yearold stud colt, which followed all
the way from Springfield. The said q
year-old colt was the same that has
since been known all over New England
by the name of the Morgan horse
know that my father always, while he
lived, called him a Dutch horse My IA
Their always spoke of him as Of the best
| blood. "
Did Justin Morgan know what he was
! saying when he said, "always, while he
lived, called his horse Dutch horsei"
And did he understand the historical
! meaning of his words, che always
spoke Of him as of the best blood?" To
answer these questions we must make
some reference to history. The Dutch
horses We're breed wholly distinct
from the horses of the other colonies
The colony Of New Netherlands New
York; received its supply from Utrecht,
in Holland, commencing in 1924 and for
a few years following. In 40 years they
had so increased that the colony was
well supplied. These horses were about
IA hands aud inch high, which was
about one hand higher than the horses
supplied to the English colonies, They
were not only higher, but they had
more bone and muscle, and, think,
more shapely necks. In every respect
they were better, except that they were
not so good for the saddle, for the rea-
son, as think, that they were not PAGERS.
The standard that determined their
superiority was the higher prices at
which they were bought and sold, over
the New England horses, as shown by
the official reports of the colony.
When the colony passed under British
rule, the first governor Immediately es
tablished race course at Hampstead
Plains, N. y, and there, in 1865, the
first organized race in this country took
place This was long before the Eng
lish race horse had reached the charac-
ter Of breed, and a round 100 years
before the first representative of that
breed reached New York The horses
that ran at Hampstead Plains were I'M
doubtedly Dutch horses, for the inhabit-
ants of New York and Long Island at
tended these annual meetings in great
numbers, and as they were nearly all
Dutch. they would not have gone a
stones throw to see an English horse
run. These annual race meetings were
kept up great many years by the sue
cessive governors.
In 1885 two shiploads of Dutch horses
from the same quarter, chiefly mares,
reached Salem, Mass, and We're sold at
prices enormously high as compared
with the prices of those sent from Eng
land to the same colony. These two
shiploads added materially TO the aver
age size of the horses of the colony of
Massachusetts bay, as shown by statis-
tics, as well as the other colonies getting
their foundation stock from that source.
John II. Wallace in Horse Review.