The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-12-31
RACING IN NEW ORLEANS.

"Reminiscences of the Early Days, Witt
 a Story About U. s. Grant. j The resignation Of Judge R. W. Sir,
 mons as senior member of the board O
 racing stewards of the Jockey club ere
 ated a distinct feeling of sadness among
 the racing men of the older generation
 Judge Simmons name has been so long
 identified with the game and his abso
 lute fairness and integrity so ardently
 praised that 1t is hard to figure him out of it.
 | As presiding judge at the faiI grounds position which he is still fill
 ing as no other man could. he has made
 friend of every prominent racing mar of to-day, even as, several decades
 ago, he won the hearts of the devotees
 of the sport of kings. Judge Simmons
 is not only a great racing official, but
 he is one of the pleasantest gentlemen
 of the old school to be found anywhere. l Judge Simmons was bred layer of | horses. In the early forties, when he
 came to New Orleans, the city was per-
 haps the center of racing.
 We had six race tracks in New Or
 leans then" he said, as he grew remi-
 niscent. T think I can remember them all. The Metairie track was the best of
 them. Then there was the Oakland
 track, which held an occasional meet i ing; the Eclipse track, above Audubon Park; the Creole track, which is now
 the Louisiana Jockey club track the
 La Place track, on Elysian Fields, and the Bingamon track, across the river, on the site now occupied by Algiers There was at least one meeting at each of these tracks every year Great race horses were bred all over the state and in Mississippi and Alabama, to compete with the thoroughbreds from Kentucky and Tennessee. The men who bred them and raced them loved racing for racing's sake, and not for the money there was in it. There were no such things as purses, and the shortest race was mile heats, best two in three. The owners starting would each put up stake and the winner would take all. Duncan F. Kenner was one of the most successful breeders and racers of fine horses I can remember.
 1T have seen ae many as fifteen thou sand people at the Metairie track on a big day. There were no cars to the tracks in those days, and vehicles of all kinds were in great demand Hacks were worth twenty-five dollars and up. There was members stand, to which bona fide membership in the club was the only admission, for members and their guests, On the stand lunch was served during the afternoon, when champagne flowed as free as water. Adjoining the members stand was the stand to which admissions were sold--in fact, there was only a railing separat- ing the stw stands. I should judge that the grand stand combined would seat about fifteen hundred people.
 There was no money in the racing, except from the sale of the privileges The entire space beneath the stand was taken up with games of chance of all The revenue from this source alone used to be as high as f1f- teen thousand dollars a day. remem- Der on that memorable day when Lex ington after having been defeated by Lecompte, made his famous attempts against time and beat the time in which | Lecompte won the race by six and seconds, counting over one games in operation There | were games of all sorts and descriptions faro, chuck-a-lucll, roulette--and the | play was without limit.
 "There were no such things as book | making then. Gentlemen bet among | Llo, md r,oAcaI 11rfit l the race was over That reminds me-" continued the colonel, ''of a story in l which President Grant played the lead- ng role. It's been twenty years since old it last, and it ought to have had 1 ine to get new again.
 Tt was after General Grant made his amous tour around the world and was ,n q visit to New Orleans that came n possession of the facts. He was on | visit to this city, and was stopping at he St. Charles Hotel. At the time I vas president of the Louisiana Jockey Hub, and Dr. Samuel Chopin was pres dent of the Boston club. We called on he general together, Dr. Chopin to ten Ter him the Inequalities of the club nd I to try and get him to pay the aces visit, for the meeting was then oing on. The general thanked us cor ially, but at first he declined to visit he track
 You know my weakness for the port was pretty well talked about nce, he said.
 "'Oh, come, come, General I said. You're out of politics now and can do s you like.
 Or Chopin seconded the invitation ordially. and told the. general that he !