New Britain herald., 1924-04-19

hHc oaiiy hdulu Wc Knew
 him by. although had any
 one been sufr1eiently interested to
 look through the list of registered
 owners of race-horses he would
 have learned that Hardshell had
 been christened James Buchanan
 Gaines The name might also have
 furnished a clua as to his age.
 Tradition was that he came from
 somewhere in Pennsylvania, as he spoke sometimes of the horses "up the valley"; but beyond the fact that he had farm in Tennessee, where ne bred and trained the horses he raced nothing was sci down in the Who's Who" of the turf. He was called Hardshell because he had once explained the difference be- tween the Hardshell Baptists, to which denomination he belonged, and tho Washfoots.
 He was an old man. thin and poorly dressed in bhggy garments which carried the odor of horses and were covered with horse hairs. He loved horses. lived with them and for them and by them. Tn those days he emerged from his hiberna- tion on the Tennessee farm when racing started at New Orleans and moved northward to Memphis, Louisville. Cincinnati. St. Louis, and Chicago, and in Nths fall he retraced the route and disappeared. He usu- ally could be found working with some horse and humming an old hymn, and occasionally. when for gstfui, he sang hymns aloud while brushing the horses.
 He was honest. which fact set him apart from the majority of the per sons who followed horse-raeing. Ac- cording to the unvritten law of the turf, 1t was all right for a million aire to race horses for sport and the purses, but poor man was expected 10 do the best he could, dodge the feed mans bill when possible. get a shade the best of the odds. keep under cover the fact that one of his horses was At for race until the odds were right, and, if possible, sell one or two colts to the wealthy owners at a fancy price to even the losses on the season.
 Hardshell Gaines violated all these rules. Ye was poor. He bred and raced horses because he loved them and loved the sport, He wagered two dollars on each horse he entered in race. never more or less. He depended upon winning purses 10 meet expenses. and he re- fused to sell his best colts at any price. Each year he emerged from Tennessee with three or four fair selling -platers. 8 string Of two year oids from which he hoped to de- velop a champion, and Sword of Gideon, better known as Swored at Gideon, his alleged stake horse and tho pride of tho Big Bend stables.
 Some of the race followers be- lieyed Hardshell to be rich. The suspicious on,s tand suspicion has its breeding place on race-trscks) thought the oii man laid big bets through secret agents whenever he wss ready to win a race. When, at not too frequent intervals, ono of his horses won. the wise ones and whispered that old Herdshell had made another killing. Others of us who knew how many of the purses offered in selling races must bs won tc feed, care for, and transport eighteen or twenty horses estimated his financial rating more elosely. I knew there were times when second or third money in cheap races was welcome 10 help pay feed bills and jockey fees, and that in several lean times colts had from the Big Bend stables, having been sold secretly al low prices.
 No one ever heara Hardshcll com plain. His health was always "tor- 2 ble." his horses were slways "tor- able fast" his luck was "toi'able." and after replying thus 10 inquiries he hummed hymn and went away. He never was. with the crowd of owners and bookmakers around hotels or restaurants. but lived in the Atablss; and when little Pete. the diminutlve negro jockey. rode out of the paddock. Hardshell. timothy straw in his mouth and trousers laced into tine tops of dis reputable boots. sauntersd into the betting ring. went to the stand of q bookmsker who had been his friend for, years. uagered two dol- lars that his horse would win, and, without looking to see what the odds were. vent down to inc raii to root for his horse.
 Few knew hat fiardshell cher Ished either an ambition or an en- nity-but he did. His ambition was to breed and train a champion colt, and the object of his hatred was Big Jim Long. gambler. book maker. sure thing man. and the head of the Long Investment Com pany-and the. ambition and inc hatred were associated.
 Long was the Long Investment Company 90 fer aB advertising and general knowledge went. but the real head sat at a desk Tn suite of offices In the lower Broadway dis trict in New York. and. So far ss nyone knew. never had been near