506 A SHORT HISTORY OF THE 



When, In May, 1788, the gray horse Messenger dashed down the 

 gangway of a ship from England, lying at the foot of Market street 

 wharf, in Philadelphia, the history of the American trotting horse 

 began. Messenger was a thoroughbred English horse, foaled in 

 1780, and was imported, as were many other English thorough- 

 breds, on account of his value as a running horse, and for the 

 improvement of thoroughbreds in this country. Like Maecenas 

 of classic renown he was " descended from regal ancestors," for 

 being by Mambrino, the son of Engineer, he could trace his pedigree 

 through the famous Flying Childers directly back to the Darley 

 Arabian, and on his dam's side he could boast of Matchem, Regulus, 

 Cade, and the Godolphin Arabian. He had run in England with 

 moderate success, winning eight out of the thirteen races for which 

 he started. 



He was a handsome gray, 15| hands high, with "a large bony 

 head, rather short, straight neck, with windpipe and nostrils nearly 

 twice as large as ordinary ; low withers, shoulders somewhat up- 

 right, but deep and strong ; powerful loin and quarters ; hocks and 

 knees unusually large, and below them limbs of medium size, but 

 flat and clean, and, whether at rest or in motion, always in a per- 

 fect position." 



A groom who saw him taken off the ship was accustomed to 

 relate that " the three other horses that accompanied him on a long 

 voyage had become so reduced and weak that they had to be 

 helped and supported down the gangplank ; but when it came to 

 Messenger's turn to land, he, with a loud neigh, charged down, 

 with a negro on each side holding him back, and dashed off up the 

 street on a stiff trot, carrying the negroes along, in spite of all their 

 efforts to bring him to a stand-still." 



The first two seasons after his arrival he was kept at Neshaminy 

 Bridge, near Bristol, in Bucks county, Pa. Mr. Henry Astor then 

 purchased him, and took him to Long Island. Two years later 

 Mr. C. W. Van Ptanst purchased an interest in him, and for the 

 remainder of his life he was kept in various parts of the State of 

 New York, with the exception of one year at Cooper's Point, New 

 Jersey, opposite Philadelphia. He died of colic, at Oyster Bay, 

 Long Island, January 28th, 1808, and such was the estimation in 

 which he was held, that at his funeral military honors were paid, 

 and a volley of musketry was fired over his grave. His immediate 

 descendants were trained for the running turf, and Potomac, Fair 

 Rachel, Sir Solomon, Sir Harry, Bright Phoebus, Miller's Damsel 

 (dam of American Eclipsej, and Ilanibletonian were among the 

 fastest horses of their day. Had it not been that a few years after 

 his arrival the Pennsylvania Legislature passed a law prohibiting 

 racing, thus compelling those owning fine horses to keep them for 



