194 LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 



lind on a trotting horse, it being of good shape, not too 

 large, and the handsomest eyes that I ever saw in a trotter. 

 He was bred in Racine County, Wisconsin, and was sired by 

 a horse known as McKesson' s Gray Eagle. When he was 

 about five or six years old, a local driver developed some 

 si)eed in the gray gelding, and he trotted a few races under 

 the name of Billy Basteder. The following year, not being 

 sujDposed to be able to trot to his record, which \Aas then 

 not as good as 2:30, he was taken to the Pennsylvania oil 

 regions, and took part in a number of races. During that 

 trip, he disi3layed so much speed and gameness over the 

 half-mile tracks where he trotted, that the following winter 

 lie was looked after a little more carefully, and along in 

 the summer of 1879, he was brought to Chicago, and over 

 the West Side track showed a mile in 2:24|,whichledtohis 

 purchase by Jerry Monroe, an all-around Chicago sport 

 Avho knew a good thing when he saw it. That season, 

 Charley Ford — he having by this time having been given 

 that name — was driven in some races by Dan Brown, after 

 which Jimmy Dustin took him in charge, and late in the 

 fall he was driven a time or two, \ think, by Dan Mace. It 

 was during this season that the horse first attracted public 

 attention. He trotted a number of races in the grand cir- 

 cuit, and in the fall came to Cincinnati, where he w^as 

 entered in a race over a half-mile track at that jDlace against 

 Driver— those two being the only starters. It was this race 

 that first particularly attracted my attention to Charley 

 Ford, and made me think that he had in him the making 

 of a great race-horse, because in beating Driver he was 

 forced to trot one of his heats in 2:20-^, and this perfor- 

 mance over a half-mile track was equal to 2:18 or better 

 over one a mile in circumference. 



One evening the following winter while in conversation 

 with a number of Chicago gentlemen the names of Bone- 

 setter and Charley Ford were mentioned. Bonesetter was 

 a bay stallion that at that time had a record of 2:19^, and 

 was quite a noted horse. He belonged to Mr. H. V. Bemis 



