The New York herald., 1921-06-05
MORE ABOUT PILOT
AND HIS HISTORY
Secretary of National Trotting
Association Found Clue to
Canadian PAGERS Origin.

To THE NEW YORK HERALD: I wa.
very mich interested in your Pilot ar.
ticle In Sundays issue. BY a mere &C
cident I was the means of locating the
history of this horse.
In 1887. during one of the Peter c
kellogg sales at the American Horse Elk.
change, Joseph Battell of Middlebury
VT, who was then gathering materia
for the Morgan Horse Register, asked
me to introduce him to Simon James o.
Hamilton, Ontario. At the time / wa.
talking to John Moore. who was the su
perintendent of the track at Fleetwood
Park. Mr.. Battell stated that he wanted
to interview Mr.. James in regard to tn,
breeding of Royal George and Pilot
AS he turned away, John Moore said:
'I can tell him more about Pilot thar
any man living"
I asked him what he knew about tn,
horse. and he said that when he was ,
boy at Norwich, ". Y, Elias Rockwell
came there with Pilot tied to the back
of a pcddler's wagon and raced hin
on the road to saddle. I Immediately
hunted up Mr.. Battell and told hin
what Mr.. Moore said. After the inter.
view Mr.. Battell went to Norwich
Elias Rockwell.
He learned from them that before
coming to Norwich he had lived al
Stafford Springs, Conn, where he was
born. AS a young man, he drove a
Yankee peddler's wagon all over thu
country and usually had two or three
horses along with him to trade or race
In 1922, while at Montreal. he purchased
a little black stallion that everybody
was afraid Of He brought him tc
Stafford Springs and kept him there
during the winter. This horse could
pace very fast under the saddle. Ht
was a puller. and Rockwell rugged hin
with pulleys and breeching SO that he
could hold him.
In the spring, before starting out, h,
sold a half interest In the horse to
John Dean. Dean owned a runner
which I suppose was quarter horse
When the season opened. Rockwell and
Dean started off with their peddler's
wagon and the runner and PAGER tied
behind. They went to Norwich. where
John Moore saw them. From there
they travelled to New Orleans. where
Pilot was sold for $1,000 TO man
named Du Bois.
Dean returned home before they go'
TO New Orleans on account OF his runner
taking sick and dying. When Rockwell
returned Dean wanted o. settlement for
one-half of the horse. Rockwell having
accepted $1,000 worth OF sugar in pay
ment He was unable TO get settle
ment, and In order TO clear up the mat
ter he sued Rockwell. The case was
heard In the ballroom of hotel kept by
William Kill at Stafford Springs. A
record of the suit Is still on file at the
old Tolland County Court House. Dean
got a Judgment against Rockwell for
$500, but he didn't get Il until after he
had made two trips to New Orleans In
order TO get the evidence from Du Bois.
In the record of the case Pilot was
referred to as a BLACK pacing stud
horse" This In the horse whose name
appears In the pedigree OF Peter the
Great w. II. GocHER.
HARTFORD. Conn. May 81.
Mr.. Battell spent much time and
money trying to discover the ancestry
OF "the little black" He thought he
found proof that the horse was bred
by a French Canadian named Dansercan
and that he came OF Morgan stock
through his dam. What horse was his
sire has never been known.--t Editor