446 THE HOUSE OF AMERICA. 



above list. She has no number attached to her name, and this 

 means that she was not in the inventory, and it means more than 

 this; for it is, in a manner, the dying testimony of an honest man 

 that he took no Lexington filly to California, and fortunately 

 this testimony has been preserved. The methods introduced to 

 prove that Welch did take her are the methods of the imbecile. 

 Let us admit, for the moment, that Swigert had a Lexington 

 filly and that she was in a contract with Welch to be taken to 

 California; does that prove that Welch took her, when he says 

 he did not? There are hundreds and hundreds of people every 

 year who buy steamship tickets to go to Europe who fail to go. 

 The records of Mr. Swigert's ticket office show that the ticket 

 was bought, but they fail to show that the purchaser went aboard 

 the ship. You must go to Purser Welch and get a list of passen- 

 gers actually on board in order to determine who did and who 

 did not go. Accidents, sickness and death are all factors in the 

 movements of horses just as they are in the movements of human 

 beings. It is the observation of a long lifetime that horsemen 

 are never so near their best as fools as when they attempt to 

 establish a fraudulent pedigree by evidence that utterly fails to 

 cover the case. They claim to have found a ticket that would 

 carry Waxy to California, and whether genuine or counterfeit 

 they rely wholly on this ticket as evidence that she went. The 

 master of the vessel affirms she was not aboard his vessel, and in 

 support of this he shows a complete list and description of the 

 passengers numbered from one to twenty-six inclusive. This is 

 the whole thing in a nutshell. The proof is clear and conclusive 

 that Mr. Welch did not take any daughter of Lexington to Cali- 

 fornia. Now, will the prominent and active supporters of Waxy's 

 pedigree, as a daughter of Lexington, come forward and in a 

 manly way answer this question of five words? " Who took Waxy 

 to California?" If Welch, prove 'it. If anybody else, prove it. 

 We may be able to catch a few gulls with chaff, the first attempt, 

 but we can't repeat it. If the question can be answered, it is 

 well, and if not, honest people will form their own conclusions 

 that it is not sustained and is no more worthy of belief than the 

 "Grey Eagle mare" form of the same pedigree, which is now 

 universally conceded to be a fiction. 



AMERICAN ECLIPSE. It is not my purpose to frighten people 

 by overthrowing landmarks that have stood for years, but it is 

 my purpose to tell the truth and expose falsehood in pedigrees 



