Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-23
WEIRDTALEOF WILDDAYRELL
How English Derby Winner Got His
Name.
ODD BIT OF BRITISH HISTORY
Original wild DayreIl His
SON I'm the Hall Where King
william III Feasted
Later.

NEW YORK, Jan. 22.-Among the queer
tales OF the English turf there is none
more strangely fascinating than that Of
wild Dayrell, the derby winner Of 1855, and
Littlecote House, where he was bred. In
fact there are two stories In one-wild
Dayrell the man and the horse named
after him-and which is the greater ro-
nance is hard to determine. Llttlecote
House, which is the same today as it was
centuries ago, stands in a very lonely situa-
ton near Hungerford. or three sides it is
bounded by a park which spreads over an
adjoining hill. and on the fourth by mead
ows sloping down to the Kennel swift, for
silver cells renowned"
Close by the house on one side is a thick
grove of lofty trees round which the ave-
nue. winds from the entrance. The pile
itself is a building of great antiquity, ap-
psrently erected when feudal warfare had
terminated, and strong defences were no
longer necessary toward the protection Of
the country mansion. The interior is sug-
gestive az olden times, for the spacious hall
is floored with stone and lighted with large
transom windows. Its walls are hung with
old military accoutrements and at one end
- a range u COdNA VI Atd dilu itAALlCAHf
and on every side is an abundance Of old
fashioned pistols, guns and matchlocks.
Below the cornice Is suspended a row of
leather jenkins and a large black oak table
stretches the whole length Of the floor.
SpOOky Things Plentiful.
The rest Of the furniture is suitable in
style, and particularly a cumbrous arm
chair said to rave been used in Elizabeth's
time. At the other end of the hall is a
gloomy staircase ascending to the first
floor, upon which there is a long gallery
with bedroom doors opening into 1t. In
one Of these darksome chambers is a bed
stead with blue hanglngs, now dingy and
~threadbare, with a hole near the bottom
Of one showing where a patch had been
cut away, but sewed up afterward with
some cloth similar in color. The keynote
to this patch furnishes the tale of Wild
Dayrell, the man.
1t was on a dark rainy night, so the
yarn goes, in the month of November
about three centuries ago that an old mid
wife sat musing by her cottage fireside
when she was suddenly startled by a
loud knocking at her door. On opening 1t
she found a horseman outside who told
her that her professional assistance was
wanted by a lady of rank who would suit
ably reward her for her trouble. The
stranger said that there was only one con-
dition attached to the call and that was
that she should consent to be led into
the bedchamber blindfolded. After the
acooucher consented the man bllndfolded
her and placed her on the pillion behind
him.
Crime In the OIden Days.
They went along in silence through many
lanes and byways until they stopped at
a house into which the midwife was ush-
cred and still blindfolded. From the
length of her walk along the passages the
woman concluded that the house belonged
to some wealthy man. When the bandage
was removed from her eyes she found her
self In a large bedroom. On the bed was
a lady, while a man Of naughty and. fe-
roclous looks paced up and down the room.
In a short time a fine boy was born, but
the man Immediately took 1t and burned it.
When the midwife afforded all the relief
she could 10 the unfortunate mother she
was told she must be gone. Her former
conductor appeared and again bound her
eyes and started off with her to her home.
Arrived there he paid her handsomely and
galloped away in what she thought a diff
ferent direction from which they came,
Strongly moved by the horrors of the
preceding night, the midwife made a
deposition before a magistrate next morn
ing, we circumstances afforded hopes OF
detecting the house in which the crime had
been committed, one being that the mid
wife, as she sat by the bedside, had cut
a peice out of the bed curtain; the other
that as she descended the staircase she
counted the steps,
Suspicion at once fell upon Dayrell, the
proprietor of Littlecote house, which was
examined and identified by the midwife
Dayrell was tried for the murder at Sails
bury. but escaped the sentence OF the Law
by corrupting the Judge. A few months
later he broke his neck by a fall from his
horse, when hunting. The spot where hi
came to his end is still pointed out and
Is known as Dayrell's Stile, and It Is
dreaded by the country folk, especially
when the shades of evening catch then
passing by.
House in New Hands.
on Dayrell's death. which occurred il
1852. Sir John Popham took possession o.
Llttlecote house, and It has practically re
malned in the possession Of hat family
ever since. A century later William
Prince Of Orange, afterward William III
stopped at Littlecote on his way from
Salisbury to London The future king wal
met at Hungerford by James IFS commits
sioners ana they all stopped a night a
Littlecote house. In the early COS the hous
was leased to Mr.. Padwick, one of thu
Romeo Lords" and for a few years thu
old place was the scene OF some high jinki
by his associates.
Wild Dayrell, the horse called after tn
owner OF Littlecote house, was an EN-
phatio illustration Of good luck in racing
He was bred in a most peculiar way
trained still more peculiarly, and yet ther
has never since been the least question
that he was the best animal Of his day
His owner, Francis LeybOurne Popham
bred a derby winner from the only broo
mare In his possession, and still more re
markable It was the mares first foaI
Ellen Middleton. wild Dayrell's dam, wa
the first thoroughbred owned by Pop
ham, and he came by her more by chanc
than good Judgment. Rickaby, who wa
Popham's groom, saw her advertised 70
sale. and thought so highly Of the Ba.
Middleton and Myrrha in her breedin
that upon the advice Of his employer h
wrote to Robert Hill, the owner, for tn
price The answer came back that sh
could be had for the nominal sum Of SIS
and Rickaby at once closed the deal.
Good Luck Follows On.