The Leviathans vs. The Luzboroughs 187 



of all these circumstances is necessary to fully comprehend 

 the stir this contest created. 



In February, 1838, the three Luzboroughs reached 

 Franklin, Tenn., to be trained for the contest, May 22. 

 Their arrival set the experts to figuring, the partisans to 

 arguing. On rainy days and other days around 

 cross roads stores, post offices and taverns, from February 

 even unto May, it was made clear to all attentive listeners 

 that it would be impossible for either Picton or Sarah 

 Bladen to lose. Those who had been hard pressed by Old 

 Hickory's or Nick Biddle's panic, now had a glorious 

 opportunity to get on solid ground again by heeding the 

 unselfish advice of widely divergent experts. 



"'A Dukedom to a beggarly Denice/ wrote Thomas 

 Barry, in the letter above referred to "' A Dukedom to 

 a beggarly Denice' that Picton gets the money. Any 

 colt that can run four miles in 7:44 and then be well up 

 in two other heats run in 7:43! 7:56 must be 'the very 

 glass of fashion and mold of form. ' ' 



"This affair of honor," wrote Rev. H. M. Cryer, on 

 April 2, "has created an unheard of degree of excitement 

 in the whole South and West, from the mountains to the 

 seashore; and really there is much at stake, not only in 

 the form of bets; but the value of the stock owned by 

 the numerous individuals in the get of the two horses is 

 immense. It is Napoleon with his legions of honor vs. 

 Wellington and his invincibles. Sarah Bladen and Picton 

 seem to fill the eye of every breeder. . . . Picton looks 

 like he was made of war-like material. . . . And it is 

 thought here by many knowing ones that Picton will 

 lead the circular dance from the time the music begins, or 

 that he will urge Sarah at such a rate for the first three 

 and a half miles that the heat of the furnace will endanger 

 the collapsing or bursting of her boilers." 



