176 A HISTORY OF THE PEECHEEON HOESE 



grandam was a mare by old Louis Napoleon, then 

 still living at the age of 23 years, the property of the 

 Dillons, the sum of $1,000 having been offered for 

 him only 12 months previous by Mr. FuUington of 

 Ohio. 



Thus it will be seen that this stallion was a seven- 

 eighths-blood horse, and individually he was in 

 every way worthy of the three splendid sires whose 

 blood coursed in his veins. He stood about IGVi 

 hands, weighed about 1,550 pounds, and was put in 

 service at Sigoumey in the spring of 1869 at a fee of 

 $20 to insure a mare with foal. He was fairly well 

 patronized from the start even at that figure, and 

 Mr. Sanders encouraged farmers to breed to the 

 horse by offering to buy the choice of the foals to be 

 dropped at $125 at weaning time, and the second 

 best foal at $100. After several years of good work 

 in the stud Victor Hugo died from a ruptured blood 

 vessel.* He was one of the first stallions of his type 

 taken into the state of Iowa, and his success paved 

 the way for the profitable introduction of the valu- 

 able imported; horses Dieppe, Diligence, and Temp- 

 est, subsequently purchased by Mr. Sanders. Dieppe 

 and Diligence were imported by E. Dillon & Co. 

 Dieppe proved one of the greatest sires of his day 

 in the central west. Mr. Sanders paid the sum of 

 $3,000 for Dieppe, and it proved a fine investment. 



•Victor Hugo was the first draft stallion the compiler of this 

 volume ever saw, and our recollection of this fine big horse is 

 entirely clear. He had the traditional activity of the Peroheron 

 race, easily doing five miles an hour at the walk. He was worked 

 in heavy harness every winter, and was the pride and admiration 

 of the entire community in which he was owned. 



