Dictator 191 



white feet, standing 15.2, obtained from a gypsy 

 band and used for family driving. She produced 

 Shark, who trotted to saddle in 2.27^. Clara 

 stood 14.3, and had a star, snip, and three white 

 feet. Young Hawkins drove her pretty hard 

 on the country roads until the spring of 1857, 

 when he sent her to Chester and bred her to 

 Hambletonian, and thus became possessed of the 

 phenomenal trotter Dexter. In 1863 the brown 

 colt Dictator, brother of Dexter, was foaled. 

 When eleven months old, Harrison Durkee, who 

 had a breeding farm at Flushing, Long Island, 

 purchased him. Alden Goldsmith broke him to 

 harness, and as a three-year-old Dictator began 

 his career at Spring Hill Stud Farm. Mr. 

 Durkee was over cautious, and he talked much 

 about the great speed of the brother of Dexter 

 without giving the public a chance to hold their 

 watches on the stallion. I frequently drove to 

 Flushing in those days and saw Dictator in 

 harness, but could not persuade his owner 

 to enter him in races. In 1876 John W. 

 Conley urged Mr. Durkee to send Dictator to 

 Kentucky, and the horse was leased to Colonel 

 Richard West, of Edge Hill Farm, near George- 

 town. The fee, $200, however, was too big 



