60 HISTORY OF THE 



On the same afternoon a fracas took place at the 

 stand between Mr. Flint, who rode against Mrs. 

 Thornton in 1804 and Colonel Thornton, respect- 

 ing the stakes won on that occasion, and which 

 Mr. Flint had not received, and it ended in that 

 gentleman's horsewhipping the Colonel. This led 

 to a trial, which did not take place until the 6th of 

 September in 1808, when the jury gave a verdict 

 for Colonel Thornton with 500 gs. 



Many are the stories told of this eccentric sports- 

 man who, from what we can learn must have in- 

 clined too much to the Squire Western school to 

 have suited the taste of the present day. Once, 

 on his return from hunting, the Colonel observed 

 that the blacksmith had applied a hot shoe to one 

 of his hunter's feet : " Tell that rascal of a black- 

 smith," exclaimed the enraged master to one of his 

 grooms, " if ever he dares to apply a hot shoe to 

 horse's foot of mine again, I will clap one to 



" (Our readers must guess the rest.) Not 



long after this, the Colonel caught the poor black- 

 smith in the very act, and with the assistance of 

 two of his grooms, he actually did apply the active 

 cautery a posteriori to the unhappy Vulcan. 



