The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-09-14
Additional Sporting News
DAN PATCH FIGHTS
GAM[LY WITH DEATH
Worlds Champion PAGER Is
Slowly Dying at Topeka
Track
Snenial To The OIa1

~ IC STlOU0
= TOPEKA, Kan, Sept. 1s.-Father
Ilme, beaten again and again by Dan.
Patch Is now closing fast on the gallant
stanton, lying tonight in a padded box
stall at the Topeka track. Dan Patch
came to Topeka to go against time and
today was to have started to add another
to his long list of records on the track.
ne was attacked by strangulated hernia
g. DoWel complaint and there is little
or no hope that he will recover
Propped UP on a bed as soft as any in
the Iand, with shaded lanterns cast
ing their shadows over a group of the
most Skiliful veterinarians in the West
the great horse IS probably making his
last fight, and he Is game to the last.
Time after time he has been urged. to
greater effort on the track and he al
ways responded without the flicker of the
whip, and the bulldog tenacity is now
shown in his last hours. Always strange
ily intelligent, Dan Patch in his sickness
is almost human, and when he raises his
broad bony head and surveys the group
around him the rough and ready stable
boys sob and weep.
Early in the evening he appeared some
what better, but as darkness fell the
horsemen skilled in the ills and ways of
the horse shook their heads, as it was
evident that Dan was suffering acutely
Occasionally the big black groaned, and
the anxious crowd of watchers outside
the stall gazed at one another as if some
human being was in his last agonies in
stead of horse.
:; Everything known to veterinary science
is being done to save the pacing king, and
If he succumbs it will not be because of
than the interior of his stall and the
noise and hustle is reduced to a mini
mum about him. Unconsciously men
speak in whispers, as when at the bedside
of some nervous invalid and every move
he makes is carefully watched
J.. All night long there was crowd about
drivers of other stables forming a cluster
short distance away, where tales Of
Dan Patch's prowess on the track were
told and retold. Whenever the door Of the
box stall swung back there was a quiet,
cautious advance to find out the latest.
but 1t was always the same: Hes about
the same"
Driver Hershey, who was Dan Patch's
trainer, is almost heartbroken over the
prospect of the great horses DEATH He
hasn't slept a wink since he first showed
signs OF illness and probably will not
close his eyes until the battle is won or
lost
M w Savage bought Dan Patch two
Immediately insured him for $4,000, the
insurance company agreeing that the
horse was worth $4,000.
Dan Patch comes from a long line of
speeders and speed producers. His an
cestry can be traced back without flaw
to Hambletonian 10, from whom he comes
Patchen Wilkes and Joe Patchen. His
dam was by Zelica. by Wilkesberry, by
Young Jim. the Wilkes strain coming
with George Wilkes 519.
Dan Patch started in his maiden race
as four-year-old at Boswell, Ind,
where he won the 2:35 pace on Aug. &c.
and at Lafayette, md, on Sept. 5 he
louisville he beat the 2:35 field and wound
up his first campaign in the 2:20 at Bra
I'll, Ind, where he again took first money
Ont, as a 2:15, and here his career as
a great race horse may be said to have
begun. He started by winning, at Wind
meeting noe an e Debating ft the pesf e at pe
troit. Cleveland, Columbus, Buffalo,
Brighton Beach, Readville, Providence,
Hartford. Cincinnati. Lexington and Mem
He began his second campaign in the
2:15 class, and wound up by winning
the 2:os Pas In Memphis ,1 making as
never Sulking. and as he always appeared
to have something left after winning every
race, his owner and drivers were firmly
convinced by the end of the 1901 season
hands.
In 1902 he started out on his campaign,
put made SO good time that it became me
own mark than to pick up the few purses
offered for horses of his class. All this
time he was crowding the 200 mark, get
ting better every day, until at Readville,
on Sept. %, he went the distance in
1914, and great shout went up from
horsemen all over the country.
= In 1903 Dan Patch started out fit for
numerous assaults on Father Time, and
never in the history of the turf were
SO many records shattered as in that
memorable fall His first go against time
was at Brighton Beach track, and he
clipped a quarter of a second from his
mark, making the mile in 1859 fiat. AT
Lexington, on Oct. 6, he equaled his
previous record.
Prince Alert, hobbled and drunk. began
travelling his freak miles about this time,
and for few days drew the attention
fused to remain in obscurity On the fast
Memphis track, with condition right, My
ron McHenry sent him a mile in 1861,
a mile so fast and so unexpected that
horsemen and others who hardly know
horse by sight threw up their hands and
asked what next?''
In this great burst of speed Dan Patch
completely set at naught the careful fig
uring of racing experts who previously
which put this figure forward, 100 years
more. He was hailed as king of the turf
and admittedly the best PAGER that ever
stepped on a track. Years of inherited
speed, inherited grit and inherited horse
wisdom were centered in this great ami
NAL as in no other. and his name became
byword in the land.
Having put the mile record where it
wouldn't be reached for some time, it was
decided to send him after others, and he
went half in DO A few days later he