Los Angeles herald., 1907-06-25
FULLER, ONCE GREAT AS
JOCKEY, NOW DOWN AND OUT

A simple-minded, hard working youth
of Is years suddenly saw an opening to
success. Through it he dashed only to be
dazzled by the riches that lay before
him. AS the unappreciated wealth was
being scattered to the four winds mis-
fortune struck him down with one sharp
stroke and today Jockey Grover Cleve-
land Fuller IS pennless, says a special
from New York.
That is why the stewards of the jockey
club have granted him pension of $25
cient to pay his laundry bills.
Thousands of men who have had a
hand In the building of the American
republic would have been content to have
earned as much as 100000 in their lives.
Our presidents work four years to re-
ceive that amount in salary and our
United States senators have to live
twelve months on paltry $1,000. Still,
this boy of IS, springing as he did from
a stable, threw nearly a quarter of a
million dollars away in three years, and
today cannot account for its absence;
his conscience and crippled leg as a
reminder of the days that were.
Among the racegoers who formerly
sang his praise and risked their money
around and looks dreamily at the crisp
yellow-back bills which enliven the ring
and wonders if any of his are among
them.
One year ago last April such a thing
as 500 note didn't cross the mind of
Fuller. Money rolled into his pockets
in steady stream and he didn't have to
worry. Life to him at that time was a
continual round of gayety.
AS he clad himself in riding silks in
April of that year and pranced before the
grand stand on the speedy Witful, little
did he think of the misfortune ready to
engulf him. Twenty thousand people had
packed the stands and lawns at Jamaica
to see the running of the Excelsior han
on Fuller. He was the. sensational
jockey of the season and the legitimate
successor of Tod Sloan.
Fuller Is Thrown
The horses were laundering in the
stretch with Fuller struggling to get the
rail. Preen, bad acting horse, ridden
by Kent. suddenly swerved and struck
Rapid Water, The latter in turn struck
the ill-fated Fuller. Sir Brillar, ridden
by Kelley, also fell and the Mortified
spectators saw Fuller mangled by the
seriously injured, but Fuller was sent to
st. Marys hospital and for days was re-
ported in a dying condition: Blood poi
son set in, but the leg. was finally saved:
Since that day Fuller has limped around
on a stick until a few days ago, when
he discarded the cane and announced
that he was trying to get into shape to
ride in the races at Los Angeles this
winter. Many of his friends, however,
wish him luck, but shake their heads in
a sad way and walk away talking in un-
dertones.
While one of the greatest riders. that
racing ever knew, Fuller was neither a
Tod Sloan nor Miller. He had the rid.
ing ability of both, but the personal
of neither.
Fuller might earn a million dollars and
would never learn to spend it in the
manner of Sloan. He is a boy
reared with simple ideas, and for him
to be a Beau Brummel would be impos-
sible. 1t would also be impossible for
him to learn the frugal habits of Miller.
He could never learn to save his money
as has the little wizard from the ghetto.
Fuller was born in De Witt. Iowa. in
1885 and inherited his smallness of stature:
He always had a fondness for horses ana
at the age of IA secured work as a stable
boy. There he struggled industriously
for three years. He was apprenticed to