76 LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS, 



liim all that, long before the public ever thought of Rarus. 

 I told Mr. Crawford I thought it would take more than one 

 wagon to anchor Rarus, as by this time I was convinced 

 that the horse was not foaled that could beat him. I com- 

 municated my opinion to Crawford at the time, although I 

 had never driven him any fast miles against the watch or in 

 his races; but I had stepped him out for short distances in 

 his work, and he had showed me so much speed and deter- 

 mination and such good behavior, that I could not see 

 how they could possibly beat him. Rarus was the favorite 

 in the overnight betting in the pool-room at the corner of 

 Twenty-eighth street and Broadway, New York, where a good 

 many of the sports and drivers of the present time took 

 their first lessons in pool-buying, and that was run at that 

 time by the Johnson brothers, William and Tom; andDavey 

 Johnson, who has since become the most notorious plunger 

 on the running turf, but who was then a good-natured 

 schoolboy and a great companion of Mace's, was a boy 

 about the place. We decided not to place any more money 

 on the race until we would see what sort of a day and track 

 we would have, knowing from our experience at Cleveland 

 that we had no mud horse. It, was the fall of the year, and 

 the weather looked as though we might have rain. When 

 the horses were called for the word I concluded to go out 

 and feel of Purdy, and see whether we could beat him or not. 

 I did so, Purdy winning the first heat in 2:31|. From what 

 I saw I was satisfied that Rarus would beat him easily. We 

 so bet our money, and the result proved that I was right, as 

 Rarus won in three heats without an eifort; time, 2:27^, 

 2:31i, 2:29i 



By this time, Mr. Conklin, Crawford, and myself felt 

 as though we were ready to tackle the world, and looked 

 about for new opponents to conquer. It will be remem- 

 bered that this was the season when Goldsmith Maid, 

 Smuggler, Lucille Golddust, and Judge Fullerton trotted 

 their wonderful series of races in the free-for-all class 

 through the central circuit, .Smuggler beating the Maid at 



