356 LIFE WITH THE TROTTEES. 



horses and a good deal of tedious scoring, Calmar sometimes 

 not being a good horse to get off, caused a great deal of fric- 

 tion. When they did get the word, Calmar was at the dis- 

 tance stand, he being entirely overlooked by the judges, as 

 they never saw him until after the word was given. I set 

 sail with the intention of doing nothing but saving my dis- 

 tance if I could, which I was successful in doing and Wood- 

 ford Chief won the heat. After the heat Calmar' s backers 

 made a great noise and disturbance, accused the judges of 

 all sorts of dishonest things, and made themselves generally 

 disagreeable. Being dark the judges postponed the race 

 until the following day, and that night about the hotel 

 nothing w^as talked about except the race, the betting on it, 

 and censuring the judges. The only calm man I saw about 

 the place by the way, was the owner of Woodford Chief, to 

 whom I was introduced that evening for the first time, and 

 while we have had some severe battles on the race-track 

 since then, the Colonel' s friendship and acquaintance I prize 

 as one of the pleasant spots in my life. 



Mr. Baker came to me and wanted I should insist on the 

 association changing the judges. I reasoned with him, told 

 him while I had no personal acquaintance with any of the 

 judges, that if I was a judge of human nature they were 

 honest, had simply made a serious mistake, a thing I had 

 often done in my own profession, and something that any 

 man is liable to do. The judges hearing Mr. Baker s wishes, 

 declined to act in the deciding heat in the morning and with- 

 drew from the stand. I insisted on their judging the race 

 for two reasons: First, I did not want to be a party to 

 accusing a man of something I was sure he had not done, 

 that was to act in a dishonest manner; and second, they 

 were as capable men as the association could get. They 

 finally accepted the situation and rung the bell for horses. 

 I had given my horse a thorough warming up and time to 

 cool out, and while all this argument was going on with the 

 judges, the plungers and talent surrounded Ira Bride's pool- 

 box as thou^i they intended to tear it asunder. The Ken- 



