36 THE GENERAL. 



to the shed. Years after he saw that he had made a 

 mistake, and busied himself about learning how to 

 read, write and do a little financiering. 



As the years slipped by, Turner drifted to the race 

 tracks, where he found employment as a groom and 

 invested his savings in a bay mare that caught his 

 fancy. In those days Sunday was selected by the road 

 drivers to visit the horses which they had in training, 

 and they usually sat around the track for half of the 

 day, making matches and talking horse. On the morn- 

 ing that John E.Turner again attracts attention he was 

 walking his mare. A few of the enthusiasts present 

 were on match-making intent and kept chaffing the 

 shrewd youngster, as they classed Turner, when he 

 told them that his mare could trot faster than anything 

 on the track. The usual smile went around the 

 circle, but the up-shot of the business was that he 

 made three matches. He had all of his capital on the 

 first and won. This made plain sailing for the second. 

 He won it and the third was never decided. With this 

 money and what was added to it as the days rolled by, 

 the budding reinsman found May Queen. She put 

 him on his feet, not only financially, but also as a 

 trainer. May Queen was brought out by John B. 

 Haines, of Burlington, N. J. He drove her with an- 

 other little bay mare named Lucy and they made a 

 spanking team. Haines began racing May Queen 

 over at the Mount Holly fair grounds. She won for 

 him and was the star trotter of that section of New 

 Jersey when he sold her to Turner. May Queen won 

 more races for him than any horse he ever pulled a 

 line over, dozens of them never being reported. 

 Starting out from Philadelphia he drove from town to 

 town, once going as far west as Iowa. 



