The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-12-09
ANINTERNATIONALRINGE
TRoTTING BoNRD HEARS THE STORY
OF BERTHE R.'s TOUB ABROAD.

"
FurF Authorities in Anerica, RpEtaud aua
France Are Deceived by Outlaw Horse
men-Ed B1etcnir Crosses the Atlantic
to Testify = Other Cases Brought Up.
An International ringing case. quite az full Of
interest and adventure as the now celebrated
masQuerading tour OF Bob Kneebs. held tho at
tention of the Board of Review at Its daily sos
sion yesterday. Tho case is entitled The Ma
tional Trotting Association We. @. II. Wright,
Chicago; Ed Metcalfe, Warren, ILL.,, and G. w.
Dobler. Warren, III. Ono OF the defendants who
took the witncss stand came across the Atlantic
to tell his story of tho affair. He said at the
outset that his correct name was G. Edgar
Motcalfe. and he wound up. by saying TO Secre-
tary Gocher, who acted as prosecuting attorney,
"You don't mean to doubt my word, do you T.
Metoalfe 10 a tail, suaye young man Of rather
distinguished appearance. and he was easily the
star witness of the day. Ho asked the board to
decide his fnto for good and all at the present
meeting, without waiting to collect or hear any
further testimony. Not much had been heard Of
the case on this side OF tho Atlantic until Sec.
Rotary Gocher began to uncover his basketful OF
afidavits, letters. photographs, and other evi.
dence yesterday. The story is briefly this:
In tho summer OF 1896 big Bill Mckinney Of
Kansas City had the bay mare BERTHE r., 2:12h.
"a q race out at GAINESVILLE, Wis.,, when q stranger
came along and asked her price. Mckinney
4Nng Viz GUM thht Nv "oesN N-"Nf
the mysterious buyer counted out the money
and took the marc away without saying twenty
words or telling who he was, where he came
from, or where he was going. Mckinney vol
'unteered to throw in BERTHE RS boots.
blankets, and other trappings. but the buyer
wanted nothing more than the marc and q halter
to lead her Off to the cars. From that day to
this nobody has ever seen or heard Of the big
Missouri marc on this side OF the Atlantic.
Rut about tvo or three weeks after Bprtie n
was sold at GAINESVILLE one G. w. Dobler turned
up at the Export Inspectors Office in this city
with a trotter described as follows in tho pass
port which Inspector Frobisher subsequently,
issued to Dobler:
Adria, bay mare, foaled 1888. bred by c. Z. Met.
ealfo. Wisconsin. by Adrian wilkes, dam Nelly, by
Blue Bull. grandam by Daniel Lambert. 1917 hands
high, few white hairs an scar In forehead; on for
by Q. L. Metcalfe, 9 Rue DE- Scribe. Paris, France.
Registered In vol. IS. American Trotting Register.
No record.
Adria was shipped via Hamburg to Paris on
Sept. II, 1895, and soon after arriving there
trotters about Paris in a way that set the
French horsemen to guessing. She was entered
Q. 2; Hefner. the partner Of Bob Knoebs. who
had been ruled of ths turf pretty much every,
At length the ,Eumor got abroad that Adris
S %sS ssEsa0 The The " Compiler dEae s 81 Q 9Sss s had
book and tho export INSPECTOR eel oF II H. A n e CA r. ~. e
france suddenly, taking the mare TO England
end then to s%epiland. where hs eappaigned her
Polly. g. After u hearing in the matter the Ma.
tiopS Trotting Associatton Of France ruled of
Of the evidence in the case being taken in the
United States. 1t. was found on inquiry that
eofresponded closely with the description Of
BERTHE R.
Hefner %, 900 francs on the mare before the ex.
posure in France, and had then searched all
and there recovered possession Of her By On:
procured her reinstatement on ali trotting tracks
In Great Britain, regardless Of her true identity.
q match race, for 81 900 a side, at four miles,
against one Of the best long distance horses in
thas he had Nothing 70 do With the resistraaoa
ct ga I'm. mare or with obtaining st r tho export eertih-
:" cabled Dobler to buy a good green marc
for NJ. Meignon. and Inever owned q hair in her
tail until 1caught her In Glasgow last October
and took possession under my mortgage. i
knew nothing about her being BERTHE R., and
never authorized Dobler to heye the export GER
To THE sun reporter Metcalfe said after the
hearing: ,,,n.
this mare Il l had just, kept my mouth shut
concerning Baronaise. You see. I went over on
Iho bhtut UObI Wttu INC fTcnenmen VINO DaQ the
colt. and ] gave the youngster away to the boys
Iiis e st sWs sFsI hsT , &c " Rsi isisk y ssis T SisSl
70 receives ss na az abIioTan feot 81 200 2 rS SsrdS, o OF
and I believed they we're going to- to drive Sits:
him in on us as a French-bred one. It made the
this business about BERTHE R., for which we al
got ruled, off. About two-thirds Of the colts that
win In tho classes for native-bred horses over
there are Yankee %trotters struggled over on the
quiet from the United States. iii bet that
trotter was ever raised outside of this country
that could race with either one Of them" De-
J. F.LBarrett. a well.known breeder and turf.
man Of Deering; Me-. appeared before the board
ford. Me-. last September. A. J. Carl. Who was
e lsa II B siaea w WENT G oSsF e tR Rs b sss ta@s sh tsf, a !
every heat and had many congregations with
ccBarrett" written in the corner. and
ence. the buyer. whoever he was, having picked
out The losing horse. Barrett said he never
was not at the Biddsiorrd fair More than a
dozen a idavits were filed on each side, and the
sssiRst Barrett s . fns Of 500 SEe eHpa fisTs'a
set,to with the veteran boston turfman Waldo
7. Pierce over o disputed entry of the noted
represented the New England Agricultural So
ctety of Portland. Me-. OF which organization he
ts the Secretary. Pie &C admitted having made
the entry. but refused to pay the fee; He said
70 him. During the trlal Of The inc ea msstSl
Barrett produced q letter from Pierce
TO enter some horses conditionally in two
races at Portland, the purses being worth
5000 each. Were they accepted by yo6 n
Ssked Col. Edwards. The Maine SECRETARY
tries were accepted. Under the rules the ASSOC
citation may be fined for this offence twice the
amount of each purse. making $4,000 in ali.
decision.
A ringing case close ut home came up for re-
view when Secretary Gocher called out: The
Murphy" Murphy is a weIi.known New York
s9rseman and 9 member of the Driving Club.
had purchased last spring, from II. v. Howe. the
agent OF Ed de Cernea, a bay mare called Char
tor, by Onward, He said he had seen In his off.
cial Year Book a summary OF a race against
nine, where she trotted IN 2:24ia at Lexington,
constituted q record. In order to BIO on
AhA t-AI al