GRAND PARADE 



against him was not conclusive in a legal sense I could 

 do no more than discharge him. We found out that 

 before Orme's illness became known to the public this 

 man hired a horse in the village and rode into Newbury, 

 where he met some friends at an hotel. It is believed 

 that he there imparted as a great secret the news that 

 the colt would not run in the Derby. Needless to say 

 there was little difficulty in making profitable use of 

 this information. About the time the poison must 

 have been given to Orme our stable lads held a concert, 

 and I was afterwards told that the man I suspected did 

 not attend the entertainment. That might have been 

 a mere coincidence, of course, but it certainly helped 

 to confirm my belief that he was the culprit. Thanks 

 to his wonderful constitution Orme managed to pull 

 through — to that and the great probability that the 

 ball containing the mercury did not get beyond his 

 mouth. It was always extremely difficult to make 

 Orme swallow a pill." 



That is the end of Porter's account of the occurrence, 

 and he claims it as the most remarkable feat he 

 accomplished throughout his long career that three 

 months after Orme's illness began he won the Eclipse 

 Stakes at Sandown Park ; and Porter adds that had 

 the full strength of the gallop which took place four 

 days before the race been generally known odds would 

 have been assuredly laid on the son of Ormonde. He 

 had given the five-year-old Blue Green 7 lb. and a 



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