The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1900-03-14

| infringement, threatening WITH suit ali
| who put pneumatic tires on sulkies or
used or sold sulkies so equipped unless
| the same were made by the Eastern cor
poration. Frazier & Co. fought the mat
| ter single-handed refusing a proposition
| of the Eastern company that a royalty
| OF $50 a sulky be paid. this sum OF course
being added to the price Of each vehicle
The way in which the suit was beaten
was unique. The plaintid occurred a lot
| of testimony from carriage and sulky
| makers. horsemen, and other people, all
going to support its claim to priority in
the manufacture OF bicycle sulky. The
| defense was unable TO refute this, so far
as sulkies used by horses were concerned,
but discovered in tha nick OF time that in
1891 true bicycle sulky had been used all
over the United States by a small boy
who gave exhibitions at fairs and races
with a trotting dog named DOC" This
boy was the son of NJ P Ketcham. a Ca
madam banker. who. after the dog had
acquired some celebrity as trotter, con-
eeived the idea that the little two wheel
sulky or cart used by his son would run
much easier if fitted with bicycle wheels.
He had such a vehicle constructed from
his own directions. and it was introduced
in evidence during the hearing of the
case, it having been purchased by Fra
zier & Co. for a long price when they saw
how valuable it would be to them. The
Canadian banker set his own figure on
the vehicle, and it was a steep one
The case was tried first before Judge
Grosscup. who declared the patent null
and void for the want of novelty and in
| vention. An appeal was taken and the
decision sustained. The court said re-
ferring to the bicycle sulky as now made:
| 1t is a bold aggregation of parts, old in
| the art, each part operating in the old
and usual way, without any semblance
| of invention in the mechanical means by
which a new or useful result is brought
about, and even if the combination were
otherwise patentable the previous state
of the art shows it was not new to this
patent. Pneumatic tires had been used
and fully developed before in connection
/ with bicycles as early as 1891
The court also called attention to the
fact that the advantages of the pneumat-
ic tires had been pointed out by Thomp-
son, the English inventor, as early as
1S45
Coincident with the marked advance in
the price Of harness horses has come a
decided boom in the breeding industry,
and there will be more done in that line
this season than during any year since
1893.
The trouble with the breeding of har-
ness horses, from a business standpoint,
is that too many rich men go into It for
pleasure alone. If their experiment hap
pens to make money-which is seldom the
case-they are naturally gratified, but II
it does not that fact never causes them
to abandon the scheme. In the East such
notably rich men as the Thayers and j.
Malcolm Forbes of Boston, John Shuts,
the Boomers, ]. w. Daily, James Butler,
and General B. F. Tracy Of New York,
Frank Jones of New Hampshire have
long been prominent as breeders OF trot-
ters, and previous to their debut the field
was Occupied by Charles Backman. A. B.
Darling and men of that stamp. In every
state in the union north of the Ohio river
the same condition of affairs prevails.
In Michigan the late Senator Stockbridge
and S. A. Brown were pioneers. while
now there is a coterie of rich Detroiters
who dabble in horse breeding as an
amusement. In hio c. F. Emery the late
w. ]. Gordon, and George F. Ely have
spent IOI tunes on DTS6ulHS farms. DuL
each one Of the trio was rich before he
thought of breeding a trotter.
In Illinois are such examples os A. J.
Cation and f. S. Gorton of Chicago. while
through the state are half a dozen big
establishments devoted to the breeding Of
trotters and each is owned by a rich
man. In Wisconsin at one time United
States Senator Mitchell, c. F. Bradley,
Captain Fred Pabst. and the Uihlein
brothers-all rich-had a horse farm
apiece, and to their number should be ad
ded the late j. 1. Case, the Racine mil
Honaire, what at one one time owned the
champion trotting stallion in Phalluas. In
the northern part of the state is the
fainter farm, with unlimited capital be-
hind it. All the way west to the Pacific
slope will be found trotting horse farms,
owned by rich men, eliminating at the
other end of the line in the 47.O00-acre
place of Marcus DAILY. with the finest
brand of trotting brood mares in the
world. and the immense establishment of
the late Senator Stanford at Menlo Park.
Cal
1t is because rich men go into the bust
ness for pleasure that the breeding of
trotters IS not a good business PROPOSE
ton for the man who has no capital that
he can afford to lose. II IS really great
thing for the trotting interests that this
is so, because were there not plenty Of
men willing to spend fortunes every year.
be far fewer trotters and PAGERS. The
great and continuing vitality Of the trot-
ting horse sport is that 1t is not a money
u1aker-that it is a rich mans game. The
breeders do not make money nor do the
tracks. a magnificent plant ike that ar
| Detroit New York City. or Hartford, Is
built and maintained by men who know
perfectly well that no dividends fwill be
paid from one weeks trotttng every year
| The betting feature of trotting meetings
is a small affair, and as for the horse
there is not one in twenty Of the trotters
and PAGERS raced each season whose
winnings viii pay trainers bills, entrance
fees and travelling expenses.
Beginning with the Morgan horse OF
New England, the American trotter has
steadily grown in popularity. EuloEized
I by Oliver Wendell Holmes. Endorsed by
! Beecher. Talmage. and hosts Of clergy
men, who love 70 drive something TIA;
can step a little" the trotter has never
| lacked friends in this country and Of late
years he has 50 commended himself 10
! Europeans that today IN Austria France
! and Italy ne IS in high favor. and the ex-
! poriation account OF the trotter Is grow
( ing every year.
lie ought 10 have plenty af bad tsruI