6 • LIFE WITH THE TliOTTEKS. 



or being sent to a farmer. I cliose the farmer, as I thought 

 there was a better chance of getting away from there than 

 there would be from school, and so I went farming with a 

 man named William Broadwell. He lived near Trenton. 

 Tills was in the spring of the year. Rural life disagreed 

 with me right from the start, there being too much work in 

 it, and too little time for play. But in spite of this, I 

 staid with Broadwell about two years; and during that 

 time, when the county fair came off, I saw the first trotting 

 race of my life. It was at Trenton, and over a track about 

 a third of a mile in circumference that was laid out in an 

 orchard belonging to a man named John Tanner. That 

 was the first day I ever saw John Murphy, whom everybody 

 now knows as a driver of trotters. He rode a black horse 

 under saddle for a man named Douglas against a chestnut 

 horse that went in harness and was driven by Bob Champ- 

 lin. The glory of that race decided me as to my future 

 course. I went home and dreamed of the trotters, but 

 daren't talk much about them, as the farmer was a good 

 deal inclined to religion, and very little to horses. 



The following spring I took my bundle and broke away 

 from the farm, determined to see what there was in life. I 

 was then about thirteen years old, and my first move was to 

 drop in on a man named Bowen, who had a son about my 

 age. Mr. Bowen had the reputation of being the greatest 

 horse fancier in that part of the country. He bought a 

 great many horses to ship on to New York. I made myself 

 generally useful in rubbing and leading the horses about. 

 It was at this time that the oil excitement broke out in 

 Pennsylvania, and I went down there to explore the coun- 

 try and look for a fortune. With the little money I had I 

 went into a partnership with a man in a pair of horses and 

 a flatboat, drawing oil. There was plenty of money in the 

 scheme, but it came too slowly for me, so I finally sold out 

 my interest in the concern and went to New York City. 

 While there I met a gentleman from Buffalo, who was 

 interested in a crockery store. This man' s name was George 



