284 THE MORGAN HORSE 



" DEAR SIR : I had but three days ago written to Mr. Brodhead himself 

 an infinite deal of nothing about the pedigree of Pilot Jr. when lo, here is 

 your letter of March 3d calling for more. The subject itself has always 

 been to me a matter of indifference, whether as a scientific or propriety 

 question, but my nephew, the late Richard A. Anderson of Dayton, Ohio, 

 (probably on account of his neighborly friendship for Mr. R. A. Alexander) 

 pressed me (as it seems) into the controversy. And now I find, to my sur- 

 prise, that some casual conversations of mine, long ago and entirely forgotten 

 by me, have been construed into an authority for facts and opinions, some of 

 which I never knew, and one of which (I am certain) is not true. Of course, 

 I readily perceive that such misunderstanding and consequent misrepresent- 

 ation of my ' horse talk ' is entirely honest and frank. The spirit of par- 

 tisanship in such disputes and the confusion of what the speaker stated for 

 himself or reported for others, or, yet more, the confounding of one Ander- 

 son's memories or additions for those of another, will quite sufficiently 

 account for this mistake, at this time, as to my share in these contributions 

 to the 'truth of history'. 



" As to your case. I find, from the number of your ' Monthly ' which 

 you sent me, that you have already gathered a 'cloud of witnesses', which, 

 whether as to intelligence or moral character, was never before probably 

 equalled in such a controversy. Their opportunities of knowing the facts 

 are also unusually good. I know them all intimately, and must say (in 

 compliment to impartial diligence) that I cannot set up my testimony 

 against theirs in a case where their special opportunities are equal to mine. 

 There are additional reasons why I would gladly stay out of this question. 

 But it so chances that accident or the necessities of your case have driven 

 you into a position which involves the integrity of a very old and dear friend 

 of mine (the late Major P. Funk) and I cannot feel it right, tolerable 

 indeed, to permit my ' old Beargrass friends ' and kinsfolk or yourself, even 

 inadvertently, to state or to imply facts which so cruelly misrepresent him. 

 As far as I am concerned, the reminiscences of my friends, Speed, Pearce 

 and Gray, as well as your 'pet theory' of breeding must alike go down 

 before my confidence in the simple honesty of Major Funk in these trans- 

 actions. This is my main motive to this reply ; to respond to a call from 

 my especial friend, Andrew Steele, and to correct the misunderstandings of 

 my former and forgotten statements, are my lesser purposes. 



" I know very little of this controversy. As it seems to me, it is only the 

 accidental status of your present discussion which gives the least significance 

 or interest to my knowledge. 



" Our neighbor, Major Funk, one and a half miles off, in or about the 

 year 1822, became infected with a violent passion, if not mania, for racing 

 and for breeding race horses. He was alone in this taste or enterprise of all 

 the citizens of Jefferson county of that time. He bought some stock, laid 

 out a race track, built stables, etc., and gathered such a crowd of stallions, 

 mares, keepers, trainers, riders and other attendant persons and things that 



