Rensselaer Republican, Volume 13, Number 51, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 September 1881 — THE NERVOUS LITTLE SORREL. [ARTICLE]

THE NERVOUS LITTLE SORREL.

A Story of tho Dajs When Maud S. was a Bit of a Colt. the Pittsburg whatMa^^Mfcdhaccomplished at the new driving park I turned to a gentleman who sat beside me and said: S2S&S it?" said he. Let me. look at the paper.” The gentleman* Who said this was Mr. W. 8. Halbert, of Cincinnati. mfa one of the noted men of that place, is worth a million or two, and is largely interested in' the Cincinnati Gazette. Mr. Halbert laid the paper down and said': “I owned Maud S. for a week once. Captain J. Bugher, an old river man Who came from up the Mongahela River, was a friend of mine. He was a great horseman, and one day he went over to a sale of blooded colts at AlexJVml * ;Woodburn, Ky. Bugher, bough tele veu colts and then it begad fb rain In tbrrtfote? Wfe stood M.the J#»t eoit the catalogue was, brought out She BteMpAk .frfoWtffo ourPMii r.( ii oi’j

G r«jprry Ji ßi«oirrri4>ok 1 thjko, ; paid Xeotacludpct that -1 'would take her they wire allsent toils' form. About showed me a littlC, nervoue-kx>blpg sortpl oplt,wMeb had a piece of string -tied around its neck. He said that was my colt, and that the string had been put on it in order to, distinguish It. if didrnot look to me ab if it was the toolt I' hacHbought, and I skid sor butßugher was w;e let it go. until tne'nekt time We went out to the form. V I remembered then that my eolt was a bay, and not a sorrel, and I told Bdgher so,and he confessed that he had bhenmistaken; so I took the bay and Bucher took the sorrel, and that’s where I made a mistake. The sorrel was Maiid 8., and the bay was her sister. Maud has trotted In 2:08, and the .sister can't trot in three minutes. Bugher put the colt into Bair’s hands to train when she was 3 years old, and in a short time she did magnificent work. Old man Bugher died,ana his son gave orders to Bair to sell the mare for $350. Bair came to me a dozen times and wanted me to buy her. He said she was the fastest thing in the way of horseflesh there was in the country, but I did'not care about making the purchase. Aftera while

STONE BOUGHT THE MABE for |350 and allowed Bair to manage her. She showed so much speed that Vanderbilt heard of her and wanted to buy her. Stone said he would selL for $21,000, $20,000 for himself and SI,OOO for Bair, provided the mare trotted in 2:18. She was put on the Lexington track and made the mile in 2:17J, which was just Dexter’s time. Vanderbilt bought her and put her in charge of a man who could not do anything with her. He treated her roughly, and-she would pot trot. Vanderbilt wrote to Stone and said: “I bought that mare for $21,000, and she can’t trot in 2:35. I don’t want to be called an ass. What shall Ido about It?” Stone replied that if the mare was sent to him-to train he would make her the fastest trotter in the world and he did. Only a few weeks ago a chan named Woodmansee, who represented somb St. Louis tneh, went to Vanderbilt and offered him decertified check for Maud, but Vanderbilt only laughed and said she was not for sale—ana that is the nervous little sorrel colt that he would not keep”—and Mr. Hulbert softly robbed his chin and looked at me with a queer smile, that spoke volumes. “YoU said she trotted. In 2:08.” said IV “dd hot mean 2dOJ.” i “No. sir,Vf said Mr. Hulbert, prompt*Jy, i‘lt is well known that the mare can trot Id 2:08, and what Is more, she hastrotted a mile on a regular track on two different occasions. Of course,, it WAS 1 in private, and not on record, but she was timid by competent men with stop watches.”