The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1903-11-08
Henry Ten Eyck White. in Crieaa
TribunpD

TTibune)
It may be considered as practically
settled that the alleged record Of 1.59af
made by the champion trottirg stallion
Cresceus at Wichita. kan, on Oct. I9.
VIII not be accepted by either the
american TrOtting association. OF
which the Wichita track is a member.
or the American Trotting REGISTER as
ISOLATION, whose board of>censors is the
final arbiter in all matters OF records
MADE, or alleged to have been made. by
animals whose performance. if accept
ed, would make them standard. or that
are already ia the register by virtue
OF previous performances
The story of the now notorious mile
OF CreSCeus at wichita is an interesting
one. Briefly. the facts are these:
( Cresceus, during the height of the
7 trotting season, had NOT shown the
ability 70 trot mile track better than
z:O6. He had been "barnstOrming" in
the west over half-mile rings. On oct.
p Cresceus trotted the Wichita track in
2:ll1R, but the course was reported slow
from rain over the half-mile rings he
was not better than a 2:0S horse, and
this would indicate that about 2:O6
would hold him on a mile track
On Saturday, oct. II, Cresceus was
back at Wichita again, and started to
Z
distance in 4.2l, but again the track
was admittedly slow. Right then tri8l
at one mile was arranged for the fol-
/ lowing Monday, and then Cresccus
trotted a mile that was announced as
1;59A But the entire performance has
a queer look.
High School Boy as Timer.
Aside from the incredible speed de-
veloped by the stallion between Satur-
day and Monday there are other facts
of great interest. The men who ofici-
ated as timers OF the 1884 perform
ance were A. G. Jordan of Lyons. Kan,
who has acted as starter at various
meetings; Fred Stearns, a resident Of
Wichita, a railroad conductor. and H
/ T. Eames, a young man attending high
school at Wichita.
Not one Of these men who were Sc
lected as timers had a stOp-watch, and
the inference is inevitable that they
were not particularly familiar with the
use Of such a timepieCe.
The watches were handed to the tim
ers by officials Of the race track, and
I they timed CresCeus in 1:59&.
But other watches in the ~hands Of
men IN the crowd who owned them.
and who were presumably more expert
IN their use than were the official tim
ers, who did not have any stop watches.
did not make the Cresceus mile in
l.59A, or anywhere near that figure.
1 They registered all the way from 2.01
to 2:06. Among the outsiders who
timed the mile, George Peels is quoted
! by the Chicago HOrseman, which sent
a man to investigate the performance,
as saying that his watch registered
I 2:0515. Charles Mosebache. a jeweler.
! is reported as having timed the mile
/ in 2:06. Afterwards he tested his
watch and found it ran correctly. 1t
I IS learned from persons familiar with
/ the whole matter that plenty Of out
side watches showed around 2:O5.
Fear Business Boycott.
But nearly every one of the men
I who timed the mile much slower than
} il was given out has declined to make
/ AFFIDAVIT to the fact when asked to do
/ SO. Several Of them admit having told
/ what their watches showed, but viii
/ not swear to the fact because they
! said it would hurt them in a business
way in Wichita, and one man is un-
/ derstOOd to have already felt the eff
fects Of a boycott because ne talked
/ too freely. Local pride stands in the
/ way of securing legal proof of what
everybody believes to be true. but while
this may work in Wichita it viii be
! Of no avail elsewhere, and the alleged
| record is certain to be rejected. as
stated above.
Secretary William II. Knight Of the
American Trotting association read of
the wonderful mile on Tuesday. and
that night he started for Wichita to
/ investigate. Mr.. Knight stayed two
! days in the Kansas town, but what
/ he learned viii not be known until
| 1t is revealed to the other officials of
/ the American Trotting association and
the American Register association. Mr.
Knight said yesterday that at present
it would be manifestly improper for
him TO discuss the matter
Secretary Knight Goes to Wichita.
Il went to Wichita" he continued.
TO investigate the record said to
have been made by Cresceus because
it was publicly questioned. There was
no denying that. Doubts as to any
( such mile having been trotted were
voiced, and the sentiment was in the
air. Under such circumstances L felt
it was due to the horse interests of
the country that the matter shoulG be
looked into by the American Trotting
association and the Trotting Register
association, as it is to come up for
record. / may say that, so far as the
judges book Of the Wichita track is
concerned, it shows that the mile was
! trOtted rs sent out. and to that extent
the track is sponsor for the perform
ance. It is the first duty of the Ameri-
can Trottng association to protect and
uphold the tracks in its membership
when they are right and the horses
are performing over those tracks, but,
on the other hand, it is a duty to see
that nothing that viii reflect on the
integrity Of the sport shall go unchal-
lenged."
Warned by Veteran Driver.
Now that two separate Investigations