American Eclipse vs. Henry 155 



three, Johnson arrived at the Union Course a week before 

 the time set for the race. Only after repeated trials did 

 the Southern turfmen decide to run Henry in preference 

 to Betsey Richards. This, according to accounts printed 

 at the time. Another story, printed by the Baltimore 

 Chronicle 14 years later (not entirely contradictory of 

 the first), was to the effect that in a private trial in New 

 Jersey Henry gave evidence of such high speed it was de- 

 termined to distance Eclipse and make but one heat of the 

 race. Subsequent events tend to support this statement. 



Henry was foaled June 17, 1819, "the property of Lemuel 

 Long oj near Halifax, N.C" l His dam was by imp 

 Diomed and his grandam Belloni by Bellair; by son 

 of imp Fearnought; by imp Valiant; by imp 

 Janus; by imp Jolly Roger. In the Diomed line, 

 therefore, Eclipse and Henry were closer kin than third 

 cousins and each was a great-grandson of imp Medley. 



The day the race was run was fine. At noon, it was 

 said, few people were left in New York City outside of 

 Bridewell and the hospitals. The straight stretch in 

 front of the grand stand (nearly a mile) was lined with 

 carriages four and five deep. Trees and fences "groaned 

 with their loads of human beings." Sixty thousand 2 



1 Halifax, North Carolina, is within a very short distance of the 

 Northampton County line. In 1826, one Lemuel Long, born in 1799, 

 moved from Northampton County, North Carolina, to Mt. Pleas- 

 ant, Maury County, Tennessee. Dr. S. C. Long, of Mt. Pleasant, 

 informs the writer that his father, Lemuel Long, was the man that 

 bred Henry. 



2 The record attendance at baseball games in the United States 

 was in 1912 when, in the series of eight games between New York 

 and Boston for the world's championship, the aggregate number of 

 admissions was 251,901 an average of 31,487. Only 60,000 

 people witnessed "Gil" Anderson's record breaking automobile 

 run in New York in October, 1915. 



