232 THE GOLDSMITHS. 



placed him early in the front rank, and during the last 

 three years of his life he was recognized as great, if 

 not the greatest, of all trotting horse drivers. Above 

 all things, he was ambitious and proud of his reputa- 

 tion, and it was that vaunting ambition which has 

 rushed others to their doom that carried James H. 

 Goldsmith to his grave at forty-two. Nervous pros- 

 tration and paralysis did their part, and a determina- 

 tion to go on defying death played the hand on which 

 his life was the stake. 



In or out of the sulky, James H. Goldsmith was 

 always a gentleman, his polished manners and agree- 

 able address making a favorable impression wherever 

 he appeared. As a trainer, well Andy Welch summed 

 it all up when he said : "Goldsmith could make them 

 race and win without killing them." His success in 

 the sulky can be attributed to perseverance, patience 

 and firmness, allied with an intuitive knowledge of 

 horses and their peculiarities. His seat was not as 

 graceful as Doble's or Hickok's, as he leaned further 

 forward, an attitude which did not come from using a 

 higher seat, but from the fact that he was a taller 

 man. This stoop brought him nearer his horse and 

 gave him a greater leverage when he was driving a 

 shifty-gaited one or a bad actor. In his finishes he 

 combined the meteoric rallying powers for which 

 Splan was noted in his best days, with Doble's cata- 

 pult drives. With a yell like a Sioux and a hand as 

 firm as a rock, Splan rustled his nag along panting, 

 flinging, banging and literally lifting him under the 

 wire, while Doble, with an eye to what was going on 

 about him, waited patiently for the last brush and 

 called for it at the point where the money is won. 



