Waterbury evening Democrat., 1907-04-02
GOLD CUP DISPUTE.
Brings Suit For Alleged "Dop-
 ing" of Lou Dillon.
SAY SAMPLERS TRIED TO BUY RACE
Great Turf Prise Won by Major Del. mar Causes Litigation Proceed.
 inEs In New York Su- preme Court.

preme Court.
 NEW YORK, April 2.-In an effort to recover from Elmer B. Smathers the famous gold cup won by his horse Ma jor Delmar in race with the trotting mare Lou Dillon at Memphis on Oct. IS, 1904, the Memphis Trotting associa. tion as plaintiff began to lay before Justice Greenbaum and jury In the supreme court all of the facts connect ed with the alleged drugging of the mare as the result of conspiracy plan ned by Mir. Smathers. The board of re view of the National Trotting associa- tion took the matter up last year and in December awarded the cup to Mir. Smathers. The Memphis association now claims the board of review acted irregularly, and the entire matter is to be thrashed out in court.
 No event of the turf in recent years has caused the sensation which the charges brought by c. K. c. Billings, the owner of Lou Dillon. against Mir. Smathers stirred up. Involving, as 1t did, two of the most renowned trotters known on American tracks and the most prominent owners of racing sta bles, the case has been followed with the keenest interest, but now for the first time has reached the stage of a public hearing.
 George w. Spear, employed by Mir. Smathers for more than five years as a trainer, took the stand at the opening of the trial and stated that at Lex ington just prior to the Memphis meet ing MT. Smathers had asked him to ar range with the trainer of Lou Dillon to have the mare beaten. He declared he received word from the trainers broth or that it would cost $10.O00. He re- ported this fact to Mir. Smathers, who declared the price was preposterous and said he would not give but $5,OO0. That was as far as Spear went with the negotiations.
 The attorneys representing the Mem- phis association next called to the stand Willard Sanders. the trainer of Lou Dillon. Sanders went into the in timate history of the wonderful race mare.
 Sanders had carried his narrative of the life of Lou Dillon down to few days before the famous race of 1904, which, it is alleged. the mare lost be- cause of drugs administered to her, when adjournment was taken.
 The gold cup was offered by the Memphis association to be contested for by amateur drivers in wagons. The cup was to become the property of the owner or club capturing it two years in succession. MT. Smathers, rep resenting the New York Driving club, won the race in 1902 with Lord Derby. In 1903 Major Delmar. driven by Mir. Smathers, and Lou Dillon, driven by Mir. Billings, the latter representing the Memphis Driving club, met for the first time. Lou Dillon won in two straight heats. never being fully ex- tended, her trainer declared, to reel off both mile heats in the same time, 2O4a..
 The same horses were to meet again in 1904. Lou Dillon, it was testified, was never better in her life than just previous to the race of Oct. IS. She had worked nicely before the first heat. and when the two horses were sent away together they went to the half mile post in almost record time. Then Lou Dillon suddenly stopped almost to a walk, allowing Major Delmar to go on and win in POT. while she finished the mile in no better than 2:1S. The mare was found to be unfit to continue the race and was reported by vet erinarian to have been drugged. Mir. Billings drove another horse in the second heat to au,w Mir. Smathers to take the race with Major Delmar.