384 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



member things that never occurred, but in the former State these 

 people are at a great disadvantage, for they are not able to get so 

 many to agree with and support their remarkable memories. 

 The Vermonters are very far from being all honest, but they are 

 very much disposed to make up their own minds, whether right 

 or wrong. 



In searching for the breeding of the little flea-bitten grey 

 mare, "called a Messenger," that produced Ethan Allen, I have 

 not been sparing of either time or labor. I have assiduously 

 followed every clew that presented itself, and waded through 

 "sloppy" correspondence "knee deep/' but I never have been 

 able to reach a single point that was relevant and tangible. 

 From the first that is known of her at Hague, New York, he r 

 identity has been maintained by a spavin on one leg and one hip 

 knocked down, and thus she has been traced through the hands 

 of many owners till she reaches Mr. Holcomb, of Ticonderoga, 

 New York. A pretence has been set up that she was by some 

 Morgan horse, but this was only a wish of the originator, and not 

 a fact founded on reasonable evidence. It is said she was quite 

 a fast trotter, in her younger days, and that she could beat all 

 the farmers' horses against which she was started. That she 

 had a trotting inheritance, and probably from Messenger, there 

 can be no reasonable duubt. 



Ethan Allen made his first appearance as a trotter at the Clin- 

 ton County Fair, as a three-year-old, and made a record, over a 

 very bad track, of 3:20 3:21. In May following, then four years 

 old, at the Union Course, he beat Eose of Washington in 2:36 

 2:39 2:42. This was then the fastest time ever made by a four- 

 year-old. He then retired to the stud and did not again appear 

 till October, 1855, when, over the Cambridge Park Course, he 

 beat Columbus, Sherman Black Hawk, and Stockbridge Chief for 

 the stallion purse in 2:34 2:37. Three of the contestants here- 

 were sons of Black Hawk. The next season he defeated Hiram 

 Drew twice, to wagon, making a record of 2:32f. October 15, 

 1858, at Boston, he beat Columbus Jr., and Hiram Drew, 2:37 

 2:35 2:33. The same month, on the Union Course, he beat 

 George M. Patchen, to wagons, distancing him the first heat in. 

 2:28. At the Union Course, Long Island, July 12, 1860, he beat 

 Princess, distancing her the second heat in 2:29^- 2:25$. This, 

 is his fastest record. He was frequently beaten by George M. 

 Patchen, Flora Temple, etc., and it was thought by many that 



