122 THE PORTRAIT GALLERY 



an(i in the prime of their breeding age, the animals that were 

 to contribute to the ultimate per'^ction of the Percheron ideal, 

 and by fearless investment he secured for America the very best 

 of the Percheron blood. Of the record of his successes with 

 Brilliant 1271, Brilliant 3d, Seducteur and Marathon, all of 

 most potent heritage, of Villers, Theudis, and a host of others, 

 one can tell much, and under his shrewd judgment and careful 

 selection, Oaklawn not only rivalled but for many years excelled 

 the best of the French breeders in contributing to the advance 

 of the Percheron type. 



Mr. Dunham was a man of real democracy and possessed a 

 persuasive ability to awaken interest in others. He was at home 

 in palace or hovel and had the unconscious knack of putting 

 every one at ease. In the late 90's when importation was diffi- 

 cult Mr. Dunham visited Richard Wolf at Streator to seek 

 young horses bred from an Oaklawn foundation. Until after 

 midnight he visited, talking endlessly of horse and draft. Tem- 

 porary emergencies forced him to sleep in the hired man's bed, 

 and he drove through the bottomless Illinois mud to town leav- 

 ing Mr. Wolf with the impression that kings could not have 

 done better. It was this happy adaptability and cheerful facing 

 of disagreeable situations that laid the foundation of his suc- 

 cess. He was the greatest salesman ever in the stallion business, 

 selling four or five horses to separate buyers at once, and divin- 

 ing with uncanny accuracy just the price his buyer wanted to 

 pay and just the type of horse he wanted to be shown. 



Mr. Dunham's untimely death in 1899 came at the prime of 

 his career. It occurred as a result of blood poisoning brought 

 on by the examination of an infected hoof. His achievements 

 in founding and upbuilding the Percheron industry have been 

 passed to the future in the able hands of his son Wirth, the 

 present master of Oaklawn. 



