Norwich bulletin., 1918-05-22
AN OLD HORSE SUIT.
BY w. H. Gocher.

The files IN the court house at Toll
land, Conn, show that on the third
Tuesday in December, 1882, there was
horse case on the docket under the
title Dean VS.. Rockwell" to recover
$500, one-half of the amount for. which
Rockwell sold a black pacing stud
horse" 1t was tried in William Kills
hotel ct Stafford Springs ard decided
in favor of Dean. In the writ the
horse was represented as being about
seven wears cd which made his foaling
date 1925.
Elias l. Rockwell, the defendant,
was born at Stafford Springs, then
known as Stafford, in 1901 He was a
short thick-set man with black curley
hair. Before he married and located in
Norwich. n. Y, Rockwell drove all over
the country selling Yankee notions as
we'll as trading and racing horses. In
| 1880, while in Montreal, Quebec he
heard of d black stallion that was d
fast PAGER but so vicious that his own
err would not go into the stall with h m.
Rockwell went and saw the horse. He
bridled and rode him and also bought
him for $3.50
Rockwell returned to Stafford
Springs with his horse and wintered
there. He also equipped him with
breeding and pulleys attached to the
| saddle - that he could control him
while at speed the horse being a bad
| puller, and exhibited him on training
| day the first Monday in May. In the
| interval Rockwell sold half interest
| in the PAGER to John Dean and as soon
as the roads were, settled, the pair
started off with a peddlers wagon, the
| ed by Dean be 1lg attached to the rear.
black PAGER and running horse own
While on their way west the outfit
stopped at Norwich, N. Y, and raced
| the fat near that town.
From Norwich, Rockwell and Dean
continued their journey, selling Yankee
notions and making match races until
| they arrived at New Orleans, La.
| where the runner died while the PAGER
was sold to Major o. Duboise for $1,000
after Rockwell rode him a trial in 2.26.
Such speed at the pacing gait under
! the saddle was unheard Of at that date
and Duboise expected to trim every
thing in the southern country with the
black horse Someone told of the trial
however, and as he could not get any
races Duboise sold the PAGER at cost to
D. Henisohn of Louisville, KY
This horse was then known as Pilot
and remained the property of Henisohr
until short time prior to his death
He was also the sire of the gray horse
Pilot. ,Jr., that appears in turf records
as the sire of Tattler, 2.26. the five
year old record of the world wher
made in 1858: Tackey, 2.26, the dam
of Pilot Medium, whose son, Peter the
Great, is the greatest of all trottine
sires; WaterAitch, the dam of Nam
brine Gift. the first stallion to tpot If
2.20; Midnight. the dam of Jay Eye
See, the first horse to trot in 2.10;
Miss Russell, the dam of Maud s., 2.o$
ga, the worlds record when made, and
Lord Russell, the sire of Kremlin. 2.0i
IA champion stallion.
Many authorities credit True Briton
a horse that was owned by Selah Nor
ton of Hartford, Conn, for number
of years after the Revolution, as beins
the sire of Justin Morgan, founder o,
the Morgan family of trotters This
is disputed however, and there are
good grounds for same. The old sui
in Tolland however, proves beyond
: question that Pilot, the founder of the
family of horses bearing his name. waG
owned in Connecticut and left there il
1881, tied to the tail end of a Yankee
peddler's wagon.