The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1903-04-26
HORSES AND
THEIR GHOSTS
Speaking of Flyers Good Men
Are Often Liars
MILE I'M A MINUTE
Is Credited to Eclipse in One
Such Story



the world OF Sport. says the New York
Herald Exaggeration seems TO spring
from admiration. and as the animal bes
beloved by mankind. the horse IS the one
most subject 10 Misrepresentation. Mel
whose regulations for truth and veracltJ
In everyday affairs Of life could not be
inpeached sometimes magnify the good
qualities Of their favorites TO the verge
of downright falsehood. This is otter
true Of very ordinary nags, and when II
comes 10 a lordIy thoroughbred or tros-
ter that everybody is ready TO admire
there Is a proaeness 10 throw aside al
restraint in extolling the perfection Of the
animal As d local poet put it twenty
years ago in sine verses which old New
York horsemen will remember:
When speaking Of their flyers good men
are of-en liars
Ghost stories told Of private trials made
b. noted horses and by others not SO
noted have frequently caused sensations
almost as great as those occasioned BY
real performances and have sometimes
been received with such widespread Gre
dulity as 10 gain a place for time in
horse history.
Fer more than half a century the story
passed current among horsemen here and
in England that celebrated racer had
once ran a mile in a minute on grass
course al Newmarket win 120 pounds
on his back. The horse credited with this
Performance was O'Kelly's Eclipse, the
progenitor Of nearly all winners now rae
ing in England He lived in the early
DAYS o. the British turf. when the tribe
OF thoroughbreds was young. having been
foaled in 1854 on a day when there was
a total eclipse of the sun, from which
circumstance he was named.
That he was a horse Of vast powers f7r
his time is undisputed. as he beat all COM
petitors without losing a race and without
meeting a horse that could I've by his
side for the space OF fifty yards. it is said
That he was superior 10 the best thor
oughbreds OF today is believed by few, il
any turfmen vet no horse has been seen
In modern times that could run 50 far rs
one furlong at the rate Of speed ascribed
10 Eclipse. and none has appeared that
could cover mile in less than 1:35l2-the
record made by Salvador on a straight
track at Monmouth Park, y. =, with
10 pounds I'D.
Just how preposterous is this legend
OF the old time English race horse ap-
pears from the fact that if Eclipse could
run mile IN a minute he could go eighty
five feet to Salvador's ifty-five. and in
race of a mile leave the modern cham
pion more than third of a mile behind
him at the finish.
Indications ara not wanting that in the
time Of Eclipse turfmen knew very little
about the limitations Of speed in the race
horse John Lawrence, one Of the fore
most English writers of that period, said
in his work on The Horse
The racers maximum OF speed has been
determined conventionaHy 10 be equal to
saIIoping over a mile of ground in
minute of time The mile has beer run
at Newmarket, according to an accurate
timing with a stop watch in f:841=. This
was performed many years since by Fire
tail. beating Pumpkin As the superior
speed Of Flying Chuders and Eclipse re-
main unquestionabe. no doubt, il should
then seem. need be entertained of the
ability of those paragons TO run the mile
in minute of time.
The history Of the light harness horse
of America is honeycombed with legends
quite as absurd as the story Of O'Keily-s
Eclipse running mile IN a minute. one
OF the most interesting and extravagant
OF these tales relates TO the origin OF Old
Tippoo. a horse that had been called tha
messenger Of Canada" Ills sire was
Escape and according 10 tradition. he
took this name from circumstance con-
neeted with his Importation into America
The snip ou which he sailed encountered
a severe gale, so the story ran. and the
horse had 10 be thrown overheard On
the ninth day afte-ward he was picked
I'D. sound. kind and gentle. eating T1lshss
on a sand bar OF the coast Of Newfoun5-
land
This tradition was current in Rhode
Island many years before it came 20 light
I'm Canada and vas there connected with
the origin Of the far famed Narraean-
sett PAGERS which seem 70 have flourish
as a breed in the early part Of the eight
eerth century. The original PAGER. it
was said. was brought into NarTagansett
Bay when rescued from the sand bar of
the coast OF newfoundland.
This story of the sea horse is believed
TO have had its origin in the reported
experience Of Rip Van Dam. great per
sonaSe in New York. whose mural monu-
ment is now 70 be seen in ST. Pauls
church. in lower Broadway. Rip was
governor oficio Of the colony in IN. and
q bout this time he sent to Rhode Island
for = Nara ganSett PAGER.
The horse was shipped IN a shOop. from
which he jumped overheard when at Sea
and swan ashore 10 his former homo.
Having been brought hack he arrived in
New York after a passage OF thirteen
days much reduced in flesh and spirit.
He cost 50 in Rhode Island and the
freight was SIS
Among the old time trotters. George VI.
Patchen, Jr-, 2.27i-; Princess. 2.so: Lady
Thorn. 2:1Si4. and other horses heured in
stories almost as extravagant as those
told Of Eclipse and Flying Chu6ers IN
the early days Of the British turf. Lady
Thorn's great trial" was talked about far
years after she was dead. and 50 a,trul,y
were the stories OF her wonderful spe
kept afoat that half the horse world
seemed 10 believe she was the fastest
trotter ever fosled.
The big. oneeyed mare was on the turf
eight years. IN thar time she trot-cd
hfty-eight races. forty-one OF which she
won. She once defeated Dexter. in SOW
time. before the horse had reached the
senith OF MS powers. and beat GOLDSMITH
Maid when the heats Were from four =
seven seconds hack Of The little mars
best record This race was the best per-
formsnce Lady Thorn ever made in pub
t.
two sfterward. which caused her retire
ment-
Cafy Jim" Eo1. who drove Princess