The Peyton Stake 199 



to some one in Tennessee, five chances that it would go 

 entirely, or in part, to Sumner County, and three chances 

 that a large part of it, if not all, would be carried home to 

 "Station Camp" by Balie Peyton or his brother, "Ran." 

 Under such circumstances it is barely possible that the 

 Peyton stake created as great a sensation on Station Camp 

 Creek as it did on the Don, the Humber or the Thames. 



Balie Peyton's anxiety, as well as his optimism, were 

 displayed in letters to his friend Porter, editor of The 

 Spirit. "Black Maria is to immortalize me yet," he wrote 

 on January 10, 1839. In response to his "anxious in- 

 quiries" his brother "at home" had just written him that 

 Black Maria, in the "opinion of all," was in foal. 



Nearly two months later Peyton had the "pleasure of 

 announcing" to Editor Porter that Maria Shepherd 

 had produced Hector, on February 12, and that Rev. H. 

 M. Cryer, after viewing his "Sir Archy shoulders" 

 and "Tonson hocks, " had pronounced him, "Sir, a prize." 

 "The good news don't stop here," said Peyton, "Black 

 Maria is certainly with foal. Let old Ironsides send forth 

 her artillery, and may I not consider the change mine, 

 and lay it out in a sugar plantation at once?" 



With the arrival of Black Maria's foal on April 28, as 

 announced in The Spirit by Peyton's sister, Mrs. G. W. 

 Parker, the only question to be settled was the size of 

 the sugar plantation. This had to be cut down as reports 

 from the seven states showed, from various causes, a con- 

 siderable reduction in the number of possible starters. 

 But the winnings, even then, would be sufficient for a 

 fair-sized plantation, and Peyton declined to throw away 

 a certainty by accepting an offer of $6,000 made in June 

 for Black Maria and her little Great Western. 



The contest took place Oct. 10, 1843. "The number of 

 the nominations," wrote "Rover" the staff correspondent 



