12 THE BEGINNING. 



"General who," broke in a voice with an unmistak- 

 able Southern drawl. "Did Ben ever have a trotter 

 named after him?" 



"Did he," said husky voice, "well T should remark. 

 Never heard of 'the contraband' that was mixed up 

 in the murder in Chicago?" 



"Never," said the Southern voice. "Reckon we 

 had all of Ben Butler at New Orleans that we could 

 tolerate without naming race horses after him, or read- 

 ing about any that were." 



This remark made the occupants of the stall roar, 

 and when it subsided, husky voice suggested that as 

 the story teller of the party had not as yet graduated 

 from his "knickers" he might air his knowledge of the 

 old time trotters before turning out any more junk 

 from his reminiscence factory. This appeared to be 

 agreeable to all, as in a minute or two the following in 

 reference to General Butler came to me through the 

 partition : 



"General Butler was a ragged looking black geld- 

 ing that was foaled over on Long Island in 1853 anc ^ 

 began trotting about the time that the war broke out. 

 As his front legs looked a trifle shaky very little was 

 done with him until he had arrived at what was then 

 called maturity, seven or eight years old, but when he 

 did get under way the General made a reputation in 

 short order and was from the start among the first 

 flight of trotters. The frisky Widow Machree 

 trimmed him in his first race, but as the General did 

 not have a name then the loss did not count. His first 

 up and up race as General Butler was, I think, in 1861 

 against Lady Suffolk. Hiram Woodruff drove him 

 and won. The following year, when Butler and 



