The evening world., 1911-07-15
R.Gy-
TTSX
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Did You Ever See That Circus
Stunt Of a Man Defeating a
Horse in a Race bernie
Wefers Has Tried Il, and
Says That II Is All the Bunk
and Couldn't Be Done on the
Level.

Copyright. loii. by The Pre~ Publ hing 90
The New York World.
r 1AVE o ever seen a race between
a man and a horse In a carcus7
II comes just after the chariot
races. The track is cleared and every
thing Is still. Suddenly the big base
drum goes boom-boom-boom. Inc the
brass horn toots and the band breaks
out into a lively air. Tho ConquerinG
Hero" or something OF that sort. Out
Frances a nervous looking nag that
looks as II IL knew II was w against
. tough game, ridden by a pale. deter
mined Jockey in real jockey togs. A
moment late- a Splinter joys to the
starting marx. He's q real professional
sprintcr-no m%istaking that. He 10 all In
white tights that show up the bulgtng
muscles In his legs. Around his chest
- q ribbon with a big gold medal pinned
on Il. His trunks are blue. spAngled
with silver stars. He's q regular cham
plon. cocky. confident. dancing lightly
on his toes and smiling cheerfuiiy.
Man n horse stand at the mark.
"Pop' goes the starters pistol. The
horse dashes frsnticaily on. throwing
showers Of sawdust. The runner keeps
even with the horse. his legs twtnkling
- hs runs with ~furiously fast little
strides. At the turn the horse swings
out. The sprinter flashes into the lead.
his legs ~twinkllng still faster. pulls
ahead q couple Of yards. and wins hands
down. while the disappointed jockey
piles the whip ~savagely In the rear.
That's . picture I've had In my mind
1Ae OAaS n~ lrn yn
little ons-T1ng circus In some country
town whom l was at the peanut. pop
corn and circus lemonade aEe
A NIGHT or two ago Bernie Wefrs
n and I were lying on the grass
80 At Travers Island. talking over
famous races run when Bernie was
King OF all the amateur sprinters in the
world. and peer Of any professional.
Bernie" salt !. when you turned
pro. you would have been . corking
circus runner. going around the country
beating horses"
'Pshaw!" exclaimed wefers. do you
Tall for that bunk, too7 Nc man ever
lived that could beat . horse running
oven an old plug"
Did you ever try ~"
Did II" repeated Bernie. We'll. !
sure did. ! used to have the idea that
could beat a horse over a lOD-yard
that old circus unit But
us all the bunk They have a plug
that can hardly get out Of It's own way.
and on the turns II swings out to let
che Splinter by. and the Jockey has to
nearly pull the nag's head of even
then to keep It from getting ahead.
i had . great friend up In Law
eenceville, Mass. who owned some fine
running and trotting horses. One day
We got to talking over races between
horses men. and we thought we'd
kry II out just for fun. In those days
was running q hundred pretty regu-
nlArly In . 40 seconds. and some timers
caught me In 93-6 n even rs. !
guess could travel about a. fast as
any OF the boys can 80 now.
I'VE ven out to the track and got
b fellow Weighing about l5o pounds to
ride one Of his horses. II was q fine.
big horse-a dandy. We nxed II w
that l was to run 100 yards. and the
horse was to have a flying start nifty
yards behind me. They fred q pistol
a. the horse passed the mark. and
started. cut loose all I had In me,
and was going at q t~en-second clip OIL
better. After q few strides ! heard the
horses hoofs pounding along somewher,
behind. / dug into the track for all
WAS worth. At about seventy-hve Yard
the horse passed me so fast ] felt as !
was standing still. He Just ~thundere'
by. / never saw anything 80 so las
In my life. / felt like jumping on TIT
track to give him plenty OF room. IL
was tearing along like q locomotive
and as he passed he looked as big a
an elephant. That horse ran L. yard
60 my seventy-ive. and, believe me-
was cutting out a pace.
After that we tried out the trotunl
proposition. I thought l could beat
trotter anyway, My friend harnesse'
up a good trotter to a sulky and tool
the relns. This time We made II 70
yards and started even. The horse an
] toed the same mark and a starte
fred the pistol. The momen the pisto
popped that horse was under way. i wa
always a fast starter. but the hors'
beat me to II. After q few yards tn
horse began to pull away from me AM
the driver held him In. At that b
beat me easily.
mo. don't let any one tell you
srrinter can beat a horse over q shor
distance. After my q against tn
running horse we got out a tape an'
measured the horses strides. He va
taking nineteen feet at a stride-dus
about double my distance. o ca
snv man beat a handicap like that1'
Eastern League Standing.
f1pl Al l. pa lNlh If