8 



The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



purse instead of a blue ribbon. In these early 

 days as many as thirty-five or forty horses 

 were matched together, so every owner was 

 sure to be on hand and register the customary 

 kick as a matter of principle, and many more 

 interested members were on hand to hear and 

 see the fun. 



These meetings were always largely at- 

 tended, and many times the roosters in the back 

 yards of Dorchester were giving their signals 

 that it was high time men of families were at 

 home, when the meetings broke up. 



One of the prominent members of the club 

 in these days was a well-known milkman in the 

 Dorchester district, whose teams used to start 

 out from his home at one o'clock sharp. He 

 was heard making the statement that for four 

 years his teams had started out every Tuesday 

 morning before he arrived home. There were 

 several other members of the club wh<> could 

 truthfully say the same thing, which shows the 

 keen interest the members took in the club 

 during the first years of its existence. 



S. Waller 'Wales never missed a Monday 

 night meeting for seven years. W. E. New- 

 bert never missed a meeting for eight years. 

 H. P. Gallup has missed but one Monday night 

 meeting of this club in fourteen years. George 

 H. Greenwood, the present secretary, has not 

 missed over ten in the same length of time. 

 D. E. Page has probably missed a dozen meet- 

 ings in ten years, and so it goes. We might 

 mention many more in the same line. 



There was no doubt but what the Dorches- 

 ter Gentlemen's Driving Club was the leading 

 social club in the Dorchester district, and if 

 "by thy works thou shalt be known," the 

 speedway on Franklin Field stands as a mon- 

 ument to the power of these members as a po- 

 litical organization. The work done on this 

 particular matter is fully told elsewhere. 



The club was chartered on June 23, 1890, 

 and the charter issued by William Olin, secre- 

 tary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 

 shows the following names : Chas. L. Young, 

 John M. F. Morrill, S. Walter Wales, Chas. 

 H. P>elledeu. Fred'k J. Brand, George H. 

 ( ireenwood, Timothy A. Bresnahan, Hollis P. 

 ( i.illup, Robert S. Filch, and Jacob Mosser, 

 only two of whom, Greenwood and Gallup, 

 are active at the present writing. 



It would be impossible to give a detailed 

 list of all the races held on the speedway by 

 the members of the club, space being limited 

 to the races that were held on the regular field 

 davs, that were held at Readville track dur- 



ing the first six years, and to the interclub 

 races, which were held with the other driving 

 clubs of greater Boston. 



The races held by this club at Readville 

 were among the most interesting that have 

 ever taken place over that historic track. 

 Every man, woman and child that passed 

 through the gate on the race days were in- 

 terested in some horse entered to start. If 

 that particular horse could go no faster than 

 2:40, he was just as valuable and as im- 

 portant to the owner and his friends as if he 

 could go in 2:06 1-2. 



When such men as John O'Connor, the 

 well-known printer, who weighed 385 pounds ; 

 Ross Woodbury, the deep-sea pilot, who 

 weighed 296 pounds ; E. L. Hopkins, the well- 

 known South Boston real estate man, who 

 weighed 290 pounds; William M. Morrison, 

 the master builder, who weighed 283 pounds ; 

 and Dave Biggs, the well-known contractor, 

 who weighed 2,S pounds, would get up be- 

 hind their horses and drive in races, it meant 

 that they were, or at least they thought they 

 were, having some fun. 



Age also had no terrors for some of the 

 members. There was a very interesting race 

 held at one of its field days when the com- 

 bined ages of four of the drivers totaled 268 

 years, and they were the youngest old men on 

 the field that day. 



To the members of the Dorchester Driving 

 Club, also, belongs the honor of staging the 

 first handicap race for harness horses ever 

 given in this country. This race took place at 

 Readville on Labor Day, September 5, 1901, 

 and the prizes were a two-minute harness, 

 valued at $75; a silver ferrule whip, valued at 

 $30, and $10 in gold for each second horse. 

 The harness was won by the black mare, 

 Brightness, by Tarratine, dam Nancy Pilot, 

 owned by A. M. Newbert and driven by W. F. 

 Newbert, with a handicap of 39 feet back of 

 the scratch. Silkey, a chestnut mare by Nel- 

 son, owned and driven by Fred Eldredge, 

 with a handicap of 810 feet and three inches, 

 took second money. The handicap race for 

 the whip was won by Azote, a bay gelding by 

 Constantine, owned and driven by E. O. Had- 

 dock, with a handicap of 678 feet back of the 

 scratch. Rex, a bay gelding by Electricity, 

 owned and driven by Albert Fellows, was the 

 scratch horse in this event, and won second 

 money. 



The first ladies' night was held on the even- 

 ing of December 11, 1899, in the Dorchester 



