The New York herald. [volume] (New York, N.Y.) 1920-1924, 1922-04-30
WORLDS OLDEST
HORSE NOT CLOVER
Trotter That Figured in Ring
ing Tour of 1877 Would Be
81 Years Old if Living.
ny GURNEy G. CUE.

noted trotter Clover. 2:25A, by Hindoo.
alive and kicking in the hands of
Pennsylvania minister. deserves a place
in horse history beside Peter the Greats
new pedigree as recently adopted by the
Jockey Club and the American Trotting
Register Association. II he were now
living Glover would be fifty-four years
old. He was foaled in 1868, according
to the Breeders Trotting Stud Book
won his first race at Copake. n. Y, in
1874. and ended his turf career ten years
later at Herkimer. N. Y. after having
taken part In almost hundred races of
heats.
Further proof than a mere statement
OF Clover's history is scarcely needed TO
convince horsemen that the many conf
passionate persons who have sent in con-
tributions to make bed of roses for the
old time trotter are backing the wrong
horse" The minister perhaps bought
him as Clover, 2:25N, but his iden-
tity probably rests on bill OF sale from
one of those memorable horse auctions
conducted by the late lamented James
F. McCaffrey at Ill West Twenty-ninth
street or from some other gyp's estap-
lishment.
The real Clover became nationally no.
ago as the central figure of one OF the
cleverest ringing tours on record. And.
thanks to this masquerading exploit
there Is extant description of the horse
which shows at once that the newly
discovered Pennsylvania Glover" is
himself n ringer.
It was in the summer or 1877 that
George w. Nelson. New York trainer
and driver travelling under the assumed
name of Atwood. slipped away to Illinois
with Glover and started him as Bright
wood at Freeport. Tiskilwa, Mendoza
and Earlville, winning two races in the
slow classes at each town. The speedy
green one aroused suspicion from the
start. He was protested and identified
as Moose, 2:1SE, by the well known
driver George Voorhees,, but Nelson and
his confederates quickly proved this
charge to be false and thereafter they
were able to pose as injured innocents.
If the outlaws had not made the fatal
mistake of selecting Earlville as one
of their stopping places they might have
got away unscathed. But Earlville at
that time had at the helm in Its har-
ness racing affairs one Charles NJ
Smith, who is still remembered by old
timers as the ablest starter and Judge
the trotting turf has ever seen. He
was prominent lawyer and a man of
iron when 1t came. to dealing with
wrongdoers, and he had at his elbow
as secretary of the local track M. NJ
Morse, many years afterward the eff
cient secretary Of the National Trotting
Association. With these two men on
guard Earlville was just about the last
place in North America to start a ringer.
The pirates proved to be just as clever
as Smith and Morse, however. One Tim
Cumber of Hoosicls Falls. N. Y, was the
ringleader. and his associates included
Jones Salspaugh of Tivoli, N. Y, who
owned the horse. and Lew Ellis of
Keene. N. H. When the purses won at
Earlville were withheld, and Mr.. Smith
informed them that no money would be
paid over until the suspected horse had
been traced back through the hands of
his various owners to the man who
bred him, and that afIidavits from all
the owners would be required to prove
his history and identity Cumber
took a train for Canada, where he said
Brightwood was raised. and In a week
returned with a bundle of aff1davits
which would have made w. II. Gocher
turn green with envy IL he had seen
them after his recent tour of Louisiana
and Tennessee in quest of proof of the
Lexington cross for Peter the Great
The dispositions Cumber brought back
with him proved everything Mr.. Smith
had asked for, and even established q
nice. plausible Canadian pedigree. with
Clear Grit for a sire and no bad breaks
in 1t to trip up the obliging deponents.
Still believing the horse and his crowd
to be crooked, Mr.. Smith induced the
local bankers in Earlville to telegraph
their correspondents in Montreal and
have every affidavit maker investigated
as to truth and veracity. The answers
came back convincing as any letter of
recommendation that could be desired,
wnereupon the astute "Earlville Smith,"
as the fiorsemen always called him.
threw up the sponge and paid over the
purses. there being no reasonable ex-
cuse for longer withholding them.
As a part of their system OF allaying
suspicion. the Brightwood confederacy
seem to have maintained literary bu-
reau or press service through which the
Constant Reader and "Oid Subscriber
fed the turf papers with letters de-
signed to show that the suspected ringer
was neither Moose. nor Governor Tilden.
nor Dalon, nor Ki-Ki nor any of the
other old campaigners the puzzled
horsemen had believed him TO be.
The unusual noise made about the
case in this way caused Eastern fol-
lowers of harness racing to look about
for any fast horse of their acquaint-
ance that might be missing. and in this
way Glover came into the picture. T.
J. Vail, then secretary of the N. T. A..
put detectives on the case to locate Mel
son and his trotter. They soon found
Glover in Buffalo in the hands OF James
Jamison and Jay Pettibone. who made
no denial that he was identical with
Brightwood. saying they had purchased
him from Salspaugh on his return from
Illinois. The Earlville association there.
upon expelled the whole outfit from all
trotting tracks in membership with the
N. Il. A., but Pettibone succeeded In
having the horse reinstated within
year. and an accommodating Board of
Review soon afterward lifted the ban
from Nelson. who drove Clover in his
last races.
When 'Brightwood" won his first
race at TislSilwa, a correspondent OF the
Spirit Of the Times thus described Clo-
yer: Bay gelding, about 1914 hands !;
hind foot white to pastcrn joint: black
points; small star on forehead; roach
back; slopIng hips
IL Is almost too bad 70 prick the
bubble, but the Pennsylvania horse.
whatever he may be, has no star on
forehead. and both hind ankles are
white. Also. he is 16 hands high. so
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