The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1895-08-30
enormous,


enormous.
1t rained at Rigby yesterday, and the
nj ght before, as it rained everywhere else
around Portland, so that morning found
the track in decidedly soft condition.
If the sun had come out warm and bright
in the early morning the races could have
taken place, but as it was yesterdays
trotting programme was set forward until
today, and today's will be continued to-
morrow, the fair not closing until Satur-
day night. The general dampness did
not prove too much of a wet blanket to
keep people from the grounds, and they
kept coming in large numbers until at
noon there was an attendance which
would have been creditable to perfectly
pleasant day.
There was one of the features of the
day which came off according to pro-
gramme, and created lots of fun. That
was the pulling matches between the
steers and oxen. There is always fun at
a pulling match, and there is no sport
except a base ball game in which the
spectators take so active part AS the
oxen strain at the great loads and the
drivers dance around and shout "Gee
STAR and "A-line there the onlookers
join right in and encourage beasts and
| owners with comments on the perform
ance. The matches take place away down
beyond the stables, and near the cattle
shed. First to occur yesterday was the
contest for matched steers, three years
old. On the wooden drag were piled
great slabs of granite. each SO heavy that
| it was all three or four men could lift.
When the men stopped piling on the
L. o;<rht tIn6 6l.or xryoC
pounds. B. +. Drera of Athens, came
out first with his pair of lively young
steers and hauled the drag SO feet, 10
| inches Then e. F. Wiggin, of Meredith,
N. H., tried it. Mr.. Wiggin had hitched
up the steers wrong, and they tried to cor
rect the owners blunder by climbing over
each others backs, until the judges al
| lowed minute to take them out and
yoke them up right. They then yanked
that drag along for 214 feet and 10 inches
as though a steam engine was attached to
it. The crowd had to run to keep up,
and as they scampered along behind Wig
gin and his New Hampshire steers they
| yelled to him,
ssTake em out on the track
''.They're running away"
"Put 'em into the races"
| But the excitement reached still
higher notch when J. E. Weston of Stark,
hitched on his three-year olds. Mr.. Wes-
| ton was nervous, SO were the steers and
| so was the crowd The steers began by
turning around and playing skipping
rope with the chain, while the owner
brandished his goad stick and executed
| a war dance alongside. Then the steers
decided to pull, and they carried the drag
| 80 feet or more. At this point the pair
attempted to leap the ditch and Mr.. Wes-
ton executed his dance again, accom-
panylng it by wild whoops and ssrecelving
T. r hn
The steers caught the fever, and there
was another rush ahead, another dance
and another chorus of yells. Then the
performance was repeated, until when
the five minutes was up the record was
246 feet 10 inches, and the steers from
Stark had taken first money.
The next match was for oxen glrtlng
6 feet 10 inches and under, and it was
very different kind of contest. for the
blocks of granite were piled on the drag
until the weight was 7,015 pounds
Henry Morrison of West Scarboro tackled
it first with pair OF twins, six years old,
girting six feet nine inches. They pulled
at if a moment climbed over the chain
and turned round to look at the noun
tain behind them Then they got the
chain back where it belonged and went
at il. do or die, while the crowd pressed
around and announced that the load was
too heavy. "Move back and give 'em
room, SlOuU6Q buc pOllC0Ilt1A'
~ guess we won't get run over, replied
bystander as the oxen succeeded in
hitching the dray along about foot;
Nevertheless every little helped and
the pair moved the 7,015 pounds Is feet
and four inches in their five minutes.
Geo. knights of Westbrook, tried 1t next
with smaller pair, glrtlng SIX feet,
eIght inches. "They wont run away, "
shouted the facetious man in the talka-
five clothes, as the oxen attempted to
walk around the drag. But they did
walk little way with it, leaving it three
feet six inches from where they found
it, and outdoing the pair OF Dig fellows
which came next These belonged TO
Frank Scamman of Saco, and began pro-
ceedings by turning around and attempt
ing to back off with the load. . That's
the stuff: let 'em back with it," shouted
the facetious man. But they didn't
back. Instead of that they waltzed
around like one of Myrtle Peek's trick
horses until they had tied the chain full
of knots and moved 1.-The drag ~ 1eet, y
inches.
II want ring, gentlemen" said Clar-
ence Hall who drove one of A. j.
Libby's yokes from Oakland. Hall got
his ring by diving his cattle about until
they had pushed the people out OF the
way. He needed the room, too. .for the
pair-grade Hereford and Durham-rushed
The drag along over 20 feet and five inches
of Rigby Park soil. They settled right
down to business and 11didn't lose much
time trying to walk the tight rope or the
chain. Hall encouraged ~them with re-
marks in that language intelligible only
to oxen and their drivers He salso used
the sign language, for when he called on
the pair for an exceptionally powerful
effort M he did so by dropping on his knees
and tapping.on the ground with his goad,
a proceeding which seemed to inspire the
| team to wonderful exertion.
Mr. Hall had two pairs entered and
brought out another, which proved bit
too large and was ruled of. | only want
"Hold on a minute, I've got another
pair, "but the other pair were, little fell
ows who did not succeed in doing much
with the drag and soon sgave up the at