RECOLLECTIONS OF MEN AND HORSES 



tests. Then he had no quarrel with Belle Hamlin, 

 and among other things he said: "The objection 

 that a two-in-three race does not show the ' bottom ' 

 of the performers has nothing in it, but the claim 

 that it would cut off a large percentage of receipts 

 from the sale of pools is probably valid, and right 

 here is where the war against the reform will have 

 its stronghold. The gamblers, whether they be in 

 the sulkies, or surrounding the pool-box, will be apt 

 to fight it to the bitter end without disclosing the 

 real basis of their hostility. . . . The Ameri- 

 can people who love the trotting horse will not con- 

 tinue to see him cruelly tested merely to put money 

 in the pockets of a few unprincipled speculators." 

 There is some sense in this, but Mr. Wallace prob- 

 ably would now like to have the article expunged. 

 He has always been noted for doubling on himself. 

 Here is another extract from his columns, which I 

 commend to him in his present hour of doubt and 

 trouble: "When a writer can 'criticise' a contem- 

 porary only by abusing him, his Billingsgate carries 

 with it the admission that the other party's arguments 

 are unanswerable." As Mr. Wallace has visited 

 some of his Billingsgate upon me, it is evident, to 

 use his own words, that he has found my " arguments 

 unanswerable." 



In my letter of March 19 I offered to trot Belle 

 Hamlin against Harry Wilkes, July 4; against 

 Oliver K. the first week in August, and against 

 Prince Wilkes the first week in September, each 

 race to be mile heats for $1000 a side, and $1500 

 added by Buffalo Park. I made this offer in answer 

 to reflections cast upon the track performances of 

 Belle Hamlin by Mr. Simmons, the special advocate 

 of the George Wilkes family. I selected the three 



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