New-York tribune., 1919-08-15
~ Euerything
The Weeping Horse of Hickory
Hollow

~ viz lIuitoT VI L AO AiC"''~'
Sir: The case of Camille, the weeping
mare, interested me great deal. have
relatives living in Ohio, and sometimes
spend summer there. Through such con-
nection with that country came to know
Of horse that had the faculty Of weeping,
and which, indeed, had attained to consider
able fame because of such propensity, just
prior to the outbreak of the Civil War.
am sure that Miss Underhil, who first par
umns, as we'll as other of your specialists,
will be interested, and l am pleased to give
the following facts, which are we'll authen-
ticated.
The horses name was Don Juan, having
been so christened by the erudite old
farmer in whose pasture he was foaled.
Nothing much is known Of Don Juans
younger days save that he passed through
the hands of various owners, and finally to
one Dave Blake, but by that time he had
reached that stage in a working horses life
when he is called an old plug. Dave Blake
seems to have treated Don Juan kindly
enough and Don himself appears to have
yielded his master good service in the cul-
tivaton Of corn and in the hay harvest, but
there is nothing distinguishing in his
career until the famous barbecue of Hick-
ory Hill in the year 1S48.
On this occasion he was used to haul the
carcasses of three steers, which were to
furnish the dclectable roast for the neigh
borhood gathering. His service rendered,
Don Juan was tied to tree, still hitched to
the wagon, with the other horses and vehi-
cles on the south slope. In the merrymak
ing of the Ohio farmers all the brutcs and
dusty wheels Git was a dry summer that
year) were quickly forgotten. 1t said
that such barbecue was never held before
nor ever would be again. The hilariousness
of the jewellers was heard for miles around,
and at one point it broke into perfect pan
dcmonium when the jolly farmer lads and
iasses beat kettles, dishpans and what
not with sturdy clubs cut from the hickory.
At late hour, when the celebration had at
last ceased, Dave Blake returned to his
wagon to find old plug Don Juan on his
knees in tears, with ever so often an
audible sob that ratified the harness and
disturbed the inertia of the wagon. Farmer
Blake was at first alarmed but finally
quered his kind-heartedness and kicked
Don to a standing position and then
whipped him home.
Mrs. Blake had tender spot in her
heart for the old plug and began to cxer-
else her wits to effect cure. She prepared
tea cooked of dry nette and burdock and
strained the mixture through Don Juans
portion of oats. This treatment was con-
tinued for two and onehalf weeks gradual
Improvement in Don being noted, and then
his sobbing spells ceased altogether, to the
great JOY of Farmer Blake and his wife
Next spring he was used in the sowing,
and later ins the cultivation of the corn,
and by hayng time Don Juan was as sturdy
an old plug as ever stamped the fields
He continued to be thus useful until 1859,
which was the year of the great Methodist
Camp Meeting. On Wednesday night dur
ing this event Farmer Blake htched Don
single and drove Mrs. Blake to camp. There
was much preaching and singing of hymns,
ard when they returned to Don Juan he was
found weeping and in the same state and
position as on the night Of the Hickory Hill
barbecue With much urging they managed
to get him home. Don Juan shifted his life
away on the ninth day after the camp meet
ing and was buried in Wormwood Gulch, not
fan from Hickory Hill
OF course, Don Juan was not contempo-
rary with Maxim Gorky, and it is not likely
that the case we have described came to his
attention.; for, although the horses fame
spread over the State OF Ohio, and even be-
yond, the outbreak of the Civil War at about
that time caused general attention to be di-
vertcd, and the tale of Don Juan perished
for lack Of telling. | see no improprety in
bringing it to the attention of the public
now that the world war is over, especially
as it has relevancy, if not analogy, to the
episode of Camille in that very war.
1t would appear from the instances of
Camille and Don Juan that Gorky has more
horse sense than Miss Underhill suspects.
| cannot end my letter without stating
that l think more highly of the Democratic
Administration since l know that it went to
ali the trouble of shipping a shell-shocked
mare back to her old home in the States.
New York, Aug. 13, 1919. NAT.