New Britain herald., 1917-11-27
GOChER HAS PRAISE
 FOR CHAS. MARVIN
Harness Racing Authority Lauds
 ''Little Man in Gray"


 win, known as "The Little Man in Gray as follows:
 Twenty-Five years ago Charles Mar win and the Palo Alto trotters were the most prominent tigures in the light harness racing world. Wherever worlds records were being made the little man in gray was very much in evidence, as under his peaked cap there was enough gray matter to fur 1lish all of the trotting world with new material in making speed at a rate that was not even dreamed of whom ], Goldsmith Maid. 2.14. and Smuggler, X 2.15A. were entertaining thousands.
 In the early nineties all of the worlds records stood to the credit of the Electioneer family. Marvin made them and Palo Alto reaped the golden harvest, as at that time the at present. Today & colts value de. bends on what he can show and what he has chance to earn. In Marvin's day. however. fast records and speed producing lines were the standard.
 While Marvin's greatest honors came to him in California. he was born in New York state and was di- rectly descended in the seventh re- move from Matthew Marvin, one of the original founders of Hartford. Conn.,, and whose home lot was on what Is now known as the corner of Front and Pleasant streets. Matthew Marvin came from England in 1884. He landed in Boston and moved from there with the Hooker company to Hartford in 1636. In 1850 he also became one of the original proprie- < $nro nf 4F his descendants moved to New York state and located in the Genesee Val ley, where Charles Marvin was born in 1889.
 As lad he followed the migrations of his father to Michigan. Illinois and Iowa. where he struck out for himself his fondness for horses lead- ing him to freighting over the plains. During the Civil war he was with the northern troops In Kansas. and when peace was declared his earthly possessions consisted of n couple of quarter horses. After little exper- fence with them. he found that he could not depend on the boys in the saddle. Therefore. when he took up racing as an occupation, he selected the trotters and decided to do his own driving.
 NIarvin's Start.
 q In 1872, while located at Olathe. Kan, a man named John Mason Nor gan brought him a bay pacer to train. As there was very little money of- fered at that time for horses racing at that gait, Marvin told him he would not take the horse unless he could convert him to a trotter. Morgan laughed at the idea, but after several months Marvin succeeded in shifting him to a trot. Also as soon the horse learned what was wanted Of him he improved very rapidly, drop ping in few weeks from a mile in four minutes to 2:30, and from there < to 2:22, when an offer of $10,000 was < declined. Early in 1873 Captain Tough. of Leavenworth, Kan. ap- peared on the scene and bought the converted pacer which was named SmuEgler He shipped him to New York with the intention of selling him to Robert Bonner, who at that time X owned Dexter. 2:17 IA. Marvin ac- companied him and drove Smuggler over Prospect Park threo heats in 2:19 1-2. 2:21 1-2: 2:21. This was the three fastest heats ever trotted by stallion up to that date. After the performance Mr. Bonner told the Captain that if he could show him mile in PIG 3-4, which was then the worlds record (held by Goldsmith Maid,) he would give him $75,OO0 for him. While he was considering this offer. Colonel H. s. Russell. of Milton. Mass, dropped in and gave $30'OoO for the horse. Smuggler was shipped to Boston and later on Marvin re- turned to Kansas.
 7e In 1874 Colonel Russell tried a new trainer with Smuggler, and as he failed Marvin was sent for. From that day he was in the first flight Of drivers. Tn fact, with the exception of Doble, Marvin is the only man who ! ever started at the top of the ladder \ and remained there. For the first two seasons he had rather rough Bledding, but in 1876 Smuggler came to his own when he defeated Gold smith Maid at Cleveland and also placed the worlds record for stallions tt Ut 2:15 IA over Charter Oak Park It Hartford.
 When conditioning and racing < Bmuggler. Marvin first showed the qualities that made him successful at Palo Alto. He was never a brilliant reinsman, but he had courage and originality and never hestated about Jumping out of rut or taking
 chance when matters looked desper- .s Ate or anything was to be gained by doing so. Old timers will remem- Der the free-f -for-all at Cleveland in 1876, when he pulled Smuggler out of pocket in the stretch flashed around Inc field and won when it looked as If everything was all over but the
 shouting. Doble, Green and Mace
 never forgot that day or what they tried to do with Goldsmith Maid, Lu-
 riue Golddust, 2:16 IA. and Judge Fullerton, 2:1S, in order to defeat tho man from Kansas.
 In the fall of 1877 Marvin took