THE THOTTING-HORSE OF AMERICA. 197 



fcho third quarter had been knocked down, run over, a,nd con- 

 siderably injured by E.ipton ; and I should say with the 

 English jury, when the judge told them that the assault 

 was proved, and the plaintiiF was a great sufferer by the 

 battery, " sarved him right." What business had he on the 

 track, in the way of the horses. The judges heard all sides, 

 and deliberated, and finally concluded that the evidence \<a3 

 too conflicting to warrant a decision either way : all bets 

 must be declared off, and the main stakes drawn. 



This was not Eipton's last regular race on_the course. He 

 belonged at the time to a gentleman named William Mc- 

 Cray of Philadelphia. Although he was nearly twepty 

 years old, I still had a great fondness for Eipton, and went 

 on and bought him. I gave $250 and another horse. In 

 the following winter he was put up at a raffle for $1,000. 

 The tickets were disposed of, and the raffle came off at the 

 Union Hotel, Broadway. Mr. Samuel Isaacs won, and so 

 Kipton became his property. He did not keep the old horse 

 long, but sold him to John Eyerson of Patterson, K. J. 

 Here he was worked on the road. 



In the following year, they matched Eipton to go two 

 races under saddle against a horse called Jersey. They 

 were half-mile heats, and were trotted in the lane at Patter- 

 son. I believe the old horse lost one, and won one. In the 

 July of 1852, Mr. Eyerson brought him to the Island, and 

 entered him in a purse of mile-heats, th/ee in five, on the 

 Centreville Course. George Eayner's chestnut gelding Se- 

 lim and my mare Boston Girl were also in it. Eipton was 

 hardly in condition for the company. His day was almost 

 done ; and he was distanced in the first heat, which Selim 

 won in 2m. 35s. ; and this ended his public career. He was 

 afterwards taken to the western part of the State, I believe ; 

 and there was a report current, some years after that, that 

 he broke a leg and had to be shot. By that time the coun- 

 try swarmed with Eiptons. You might find them trotting 



