148 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



* 



This short letter was a great surprise, for never before had I 

 lieard of Mr. Serls. Through the kindness of Mr. Wiser he had 

 entered the discussion, evidently without knowing anything 

 about what representations had been made by others,, His short, 

 crisp sentences seemed to be an epitome of a history of this horse, 

 which he might be able to give. It will be observed that the 

 traveling preacher, Erastus Howard, is still in the foreground, 

 and that Mr. Leavens' "Escape" and Mr. Serls' "Scape Goat" 

 are- evidently one and the same horse, and thus these two men 

 practically confirm each other, so far as the identity of the horse 

 is concerned. No time was lost in preparing a series of questions 

 to be submitted to Mr. Serls, embracing the sources of his in- 

 formation, for although well advanced in years he certainly could 

 not have had personal knowledge of what he testified. These 

 questions not only covered the minute points in the history of 

 t'he matter, but they were so framed as to test the accuracy and 

 honesty of his memory. In due time they came back fully and 

 satisfactorily answered, and as these answers embrace many things 

 that my readers care nothing about I will condense them into 

 narrative form. 



Mr. Serls derived his information from his uncle, Stephen 

 Niles, the brother of his mother. In 1798 Stephen Niles took a 

 band of horses to Prince Edward County, and stopped with an 

 uncle of his who was then a member of the provincial parliament, 

 living on the Bay of Quinte. His uncle prevailed upon him to settle 

 there. In 1800 he was married, and bought a farm of two hun- 

 dred acres four miles west of Wellington, where he lived many 

 years, and the place is still known as Mies' Corners. He was an 

 orthodox Quaker in his religious belief, and for a number of years 

 he was one of the bench of magistrates for Prince Edward 

 County. When the War of 1812 broke out he was employed by 

 the British forces in procuring hay and grain for the mounted 

 troops. In 1858 he died, leaving an honorable name behind him. 



At the close of the war the military authorities sold off a large 

 number of horses to the highest bidder, and Mr. Niles was pres- 

 ent when the traveling preacher, Erastus Howard, bid off a dark 

 chestnut mare for ninety-three dollars, at Kingston. This mare 

 afterward became the dam of the famous Tippoo, and as a matter 

 of course nothing can ever be known of her breeding. In 1816 a 

 man from Ehode Island, whose name is not definitely remem- 

 bered, but believed to be Williams, traveled the horse Scape Goat 



