7 8 THE MORGAN HORSE 



gan does not assert that True Briton, or Beautiful Bay, was sired by 

 Traveler, yet it is plain that he believed him to be ; and Mr. Norton, 

 in the advertisement just quoted, distinctly states it. 



"Selah Norton was, in early life, a man of property and an enthu- 

 siastic admirer of fine horses. His interest in the horse would have 

 prompted him to make every exertion to discover his pedigree, and 

 that he did so seems evident from the direct manner in which it is 

 stated in the advertisement before mentioned, and also from the ad- 

 ditional consideration that such was generally believed to be the fact 

 at that time, and, so far as we can learn, was entirely undisputed." 



Mr. Linsley proceeds, page 122, to quote from the "Sixth Cata- 

 logue of Domestic Animals" by L. G. Morris, Esq., of Fordham, New 

 York, page 79, where Mr. Morris, after giving an extract from John 

 Morgan's letter, says: "The other account I got in person from Mr. 

 Andrew Corsa, a neighbor of mine, and ninety years old. Mr. Corsa 

 resided within the lines and near King's Bridge during the Revolution ; 

 he knew General DeLancey well, and also his horse which Smith stole 

 from him at King's Bridge. Upon direct inquiry of Mr. Corsa, up- 

 on whom I called with Mr. Howard, of the "Boston Cultivator", expressly 

 to inquire as to the above horse, he stated he was blood bay, of fine 

 size and strength, and he had repeatedly seen General DeLancey 

 jump him back and forth over a five-rail fence, for the amusement of 

 by-standers ; and that he understood him to have been a horse sent 

 over from England", 



Upon this Mr. Linsley remarks, page 123: "The only respect 

 in which this account differs from the one we have given, is that Mr. 

 Corsa says he understood him to be a horse sent over from England. 

 It seems Mr. Corsa was ninety years old at the time he gave this in- 

 formation, and, in estimating the value of his testimony, much al- 

 lowance must be made for the infirmities of age, and the long time 

 that had elapsed since the events of which he speaks transpired. So 

 the nature of the different facts he states must be considered ; for 

 while the fact that a fine-looking bay horse should be made to jump 

 a five-rail fence in the presence of a collection of people, would be 

 likely from its novelty and interest to make a lasting impression on 

 all who saw it ; yet few of the spectators, if informed of the pedigree 

 of the horse at the time, would long remember it". 



Mr. Linsley also states, page 116: "Mr. David Goss, a man of 

 high standing and character, who owned the original Justin Morgan 

 seven years, says there is no doubt that the horse came from Spring- 

 field, Massachusetts. Mr. Goss further says that he had no written 



