Democratic Sentinel, Volume 20, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 May 1896 — MOOSE TRAINED TO HARNESS. [ARTICLE]

MOOSE TRAINED TO HARNESS.

He Runs Races and Has Been Taught to Trot Like a Thoroughbred. A big brown moose, trained to go in harness, trot and run races—that was the unprecedented achievement of a citizen of the State of Tom Reed. His name is M. H. Kenniston, and he formerly kept a hotel In Phillip’s Lower Village, where his eccentricities as a host made him famous even beyond the lioundaries of Maine. His politics maybe guessed at from the motto with which he endeavored to attract guests to his hostelry. It was: “No niggers and no napkins.” After he had abandoned the hotel business, or it had abandoned him, Kenniston adopted the interesting pursuit of a showman; in other words, he started a menagerie. That was the beginning of the career of the moose as a trotter. Kenniston bought the animal when it was a calf. It had been found wandering in a pasturage, and was evidently deserted by its mother. Kenniston gave his first lesson to the animal by means of a child’s express earn The harness was of rope yarn and a piece of tough leather served as a bit. At first Kenniston, who was not remarkable for bis courage, very prudently led the beast with his cart attachment by the head. This arrangement appeared to suit the moose admirably, and it and its instructor got along very amicably. By and by Kenniston got tired of the walking act and resolved to have a ride in the cart. This appears to have been regarded as an imposition by his mooseship, who immediately marked his resentment of it by running away on the main avenue of Phillips. The spectacle was the most novel and exciting free show the villagers of the little town ever beheld. The wagon was wrecked. Kenniston, of course, was “spilled out,” but managed to escape from the catastrophe without much serious injury. He persisted, however, In his course of moose education and gradually the ani-

mal became more tractable and reconciled to it* fate. Kennistoo, as may be supposed, never missed attendance at country fairs that were at all within reasonable distance. The moose in harness on the trotting tracks was one of the great attractions of these gatherings. Those who remember the exhibitions say that the performance was not very impressive The moose was not much on speed. He used, it is said, to slouch despondently along the track between racing heats, his wobbly legs slobbering out in four directions at once, while he occasionally raised his great nose and bellowed like a bull. The crowds lining the track used to yell at Ken nis ton, “Let him out!” “Brad him up!” but Kenntaton was too prudent to comply with the request or the command. The fact is, he was afraid, for the moose, once started, could not be stopped by anything short of a locomotive. The moose was a profitable investment for Kenniston. It attracted attention to him and his show, and he made money. He is now in California, hunting a gold mine.