The Driving Clubs of Greater Boston 



137 



going; to take what money "Uncle Jock" 

 would fetch hack with him, and put it in 

 the hank for safe keeping. As "Uncle Jock" 

 was going to stop with him till after Thanks- 

 giving, he would then each day hand to the 

 latter a dollar for spending money. When 

 "Uncle Jock" was informed of the arrange- 

 ment, he said: 



"I'd like to see him get my money! Give 

 me a dollar a day, eh ! Probably he thinks 

 that a dollar would last me as long as it does 

 him, and if it did it would last several days!" 



It is said that in the early days of Mystic 

 "Uncle Jock" was in a race over that course, 

 driving a horse heavily backed to win. He 

 had won a heat, but another had three when 

 he came to his stalls and ordered the boys 

 to pet his horse out into the air as soon as 

 possible. 



"Why, the race is over," said one of the 

 grooms to the veteran. 



"Don't tell me that — I know my business," 

 was the answer made. 



Down to the judges' stand went "Uncle 

 Jock" behind his horse when the heat of the 

 other race on was over. Seeing none of the 

 horses in his race on the track he asked the 

 judges what the trouble was, and they laugh- 

 ingly told him the event was completed. 

 Immediately those in hearing distance set up 

 a roar, but it did not disconcert "Uncle Jock" 

 at all, for as he climbed out of the sulky to 

 allow the boy to take the horse back to the 

 stable, he gruffly said : 



"Well, that's' all that beat me." 



CHAPTER VI 



Lexington, Mass., Has the Honor 

 of Having First Driving Club 



THE town of Lexington, Mass., 

 which occupied such a prominent 

 place in the early history of our 

 country, should be as well known 

 as the home of many of the fore- 

 most horsemen of bygone days. Just after 

 the Civil War the leading gentlemen of the 

 place organized the Lexington Driving Club, 

 and built the half-mile track where William 

 O'Neil has trained his horses for many years. 

 The race course was completed in 1865, the 

 year before Mystic track. 



The members of that old driving club 

 were James S. Monroe, who owned among 

 others the good old-time trotting stallion. 

 Lexington, which Bob Flanders campaigned, 

 and Colonel William A. Tower, who always 

 had the best to be bought for road purposes, 

 his last horse being Argentine, 2 :2i 1-4. 



It was at Mr. Tower's stable that Luther 

 Ames, the well-known trainer, first started. 

 He was at Mystic Park for several years, and 

 afterward had charge of B. D. Whitcomb's 

 stock farm at Stratham, N. H. Colonel 

 Tower's son, Richard, was a noted amateur 

 whip in Boston. 



WILLIAM O'NEIL 

 Who is Located at the Lexington Track 



Others of the old members were Major 

 Lorin W. Muzzey, a veteran of the rebellion, 

 and at the time the owner of several good 

 campaigners ; Lyman Stratton, later a mer- 

 chant of Concord, N. H., William Witcher, 

 who had the chestnut trotter Romeo, with 

 which he took great pleasure of winning a 

 race every year at the Middlesex County 

 Fair at Concord; Frank Alderman, long 

 known as one of the best colt educators in 

 the state, and whose son, Dr. Harry Alder- 

 man, is now the leading veterinarian of the 

 town ; John Cummings, at that time the larg- 

 est leather manufacturer in the state ; John 

 E. Dodge, a veterinary dentist in Boston, 

 and who was one of the first trainers at the 

 track ; Colonel Eben Stone and George B. 

 Pierce, who owned farms near the track ; the 

 latter for a number of years owned Tom 

 Patchen. Then there was the old village 

 blacksmith, William Ham, who always had 

 a trotter, as did later his sons, Walter and 

 Joseph Ham. 



The next driving clubs in Greater Boston, 

 that we have note of, were organized in the 

 early part of 1882. They were known as the 

 South Boston Driving Club and the East 

 Boston Driving Club. The principal object 



