The Indianapolis journal., 1904-03-13
NOTED RACE TRACK IS
TO Be USED AS A FARM
Famous Kite Shaped Course at In
dependence to Pass Out OF
Existence.
"NAPOLEON'S WATERLOO"
Williams Tried to Make a Hamlet
in Iowa, but Made a Very
Costly Failure.
''NAPOLEON'S WATERLOO"

The famous kite-shaped track at indie
pendence. Ia. which. in its time has played
an important part in the history of trot
ting racing in this country. is to pass away.
and instead of contests of speed and endur-
ance the plowman will in the future wend
his weary way over the somewhat historic
SOIL
This kite-shaped track. the first practical
plan for reducing records of trotters and
PAGERS, was the creation Of w. Williams.
the man who leaped into fame by selling
AxtelI, three-year-old trotter with a rec
ord of 2:12 to a high-wheel sullky, for s1O5,-
600, and who has often been referred to as
the Napoleon of the trotting world. And
If he was SUCH Independence was his Wa
terloo. The destruction Of the track will
have no bearing on the future of the trot-
ter or PAGER. The kite-shaped track with
one turn was faster than the track with
two turns The bicycle sulky, however, fol-
lowed in its wake, and made the oval about
as fast as "the freak" as the kite course
was called. Williams lost money on his in
vestment, and his idea of holding racing
carnivals on Iowa's plains was queer bit
of fanaticism, to say the least. But horse
men who were about in the boom times for
trotters will somehow always remember
Independence and it's kite track.
Williams, Independence, was a name to
conjure with ten or twelve years ago.
Plainly told, the story runs in this wise:
G. w. Williams, a telegraph operator,
owned two trotting mares, which he bred
to practically untried stations at VIII
liam l.. Simmons's Ash Grove farm, in
Kentucky. He raised the foals with care
and then "chased his key and became
a trotting horse trainer and driver. The
result was a success greater than he had
dreamed Of Axtell and Allerton were
phenOmenons, and hOrSemen all over the
land marveed at the young Westerner
and his triumphs He was in the center OF
the stage with his two great horses, and
for slO5,OOO he sold Axteil to a syndicate.
Everything he touched in the horse line
turned to gold. He was the man of the
hour.
With the fortune he had made from
sales he announced he going to make
independence 1.-The hub of the horse uni
verse" He would build near that town.
which is on some maps and not on others,
the fastest track in the world. He would
make Iowa and the rest OF the West the
place above all others for raising and racing
trotters. He built his rack-kite-shaped-
started a bank, a daily newspaper and a
hotel. He planted all his new riches in that
hamlet. Stakes in those days were profit
able. Horsemen paid in entrance fees $l5,
600 for the privilege of racing for s., 600 of
and prices scared high. Williams worked
hard and had clever men as lieutenants,
but failure stared him IN the face in less
than two years Fast time was made
and records were easy.
But the public did not travel to Iowa S
track. The bottom fell out of the mar
ket and c. w. Williams left Independence.
He had lost mOney-big money-but was
game, and went to Illinois still true TO the
trotter Independence faded from sight
gradually and for few years ii has been
now and then that the name of the town
has been heard. And now the news comes
that May i the grandstand, stables and
fencing at 'Williams's folly are TO come
down and a farm will take the place of the
race track. Williams is buying wheat land
in Canada and who knows but that in a
few years, 1.-The Napoleon" his Waterloo
and his horses will be a mere entry 10 the
year book.