CHARLES BACKMAN AND STONY FORD 



were 700 acres in the place and many thou- 

 sands of dollars were spent in bringing the farm 

 up to the highest point of cultivation. Mr. 

 Backman, after Dexter had won the trotting 

 crown, was partial to the Hambletonian Star com- 

 bination, and more of this blood was at one time 

 within his paddocks than could be found in the com- 

 bined breeding establishments of the world. After 

 such speed-producing sires as Electioneer, Banker, 

 Menelaus, Cuyler, Startle, Louis Napoleon, Victor 

 Von Bismarck, Stillson, Idol, and Dauntless had 

 passed from the Backman stables to distribute trot- 

 ting plasms in other sections of the land, the desire 

 to visit Stony Ford was well nigh universal. The 

 visitors were from all parts of the civilized world, 

 and it was deemed a special privilege to sit at the 

 well-appointed table of Uncle Charles, as he was 

 called by his intimates. It was my good fortune to 

 meet in the famous smoking-room such gentlemen 

 as Leland Stanford, William C. Whitney, Benjamin 

 F. Tracy, Thos. P. Fowler, Oliver H. Payne, H. O. 

 Havemeyer, C. J. Hamlin, Robert Bonner, Frank 

 Ellis, Henry C. Jewett, Wm. Russell Allen, W. M. 

 V. Hoffman, Jas. C. McFerran, Geo. Boyd Thacher, 

 Dean Sage, William Edwards, R. S. Veech, John 

 E. Green, William M. Parks, Thos. Morton, Wm. 

 Corbitt, F. A. Watson, John H. Shults, Lawrence 

 Kip, A. Newbold Morris, Geo. K. Sistare, L. L. 

 Lorillard, Cortland D. Moss, F. P. Olcott, R. C. 

 Rathbone, John K. Ottley, Lucas Brodhead, David 



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