LIFE WITH THE TROTTERS. 123 



Forrest out, he looked and acted as though he was fit to trot' 

 for a man's life. When they gave the word, he was 'going 

 true as an arrow, and as he turned into the back stretch he 

 cut loose at a rate of speed that looked to me as though he 

 was not only going to beat Rarus' s time, but knock the 

 watches out of their cases as well. He went down to the 

 half-mile post better than 1:06. Of course, I did not want 

 anybody's horse to beat Earns, but at that particular time 

 it looked as though he was going to get a horse race. For- 

 rest came on into the stretch at what appeared a terrific 

 gait, but about an eighth of a mile from the judges' stand, the 

 high rate of speed commenced to tell on him, and he finished 

 the mile in 2:14f, which seemed to me, for a horse that 

 never had any more training, certainly a wonderful per- 

 formance, as I, myself, with one of the grandest horses I 

 ever saw, had been hard at work for two or three years 

 before I could make him go that well. Edwin Forrest was 

 afterward sold to Robert Bonner, and made some wonderful 

 performances both to harness and wagon. After this heat I 

 met Allie Bonner, and he asked me what I thought about the 

 red apple that I had agreed to forfeit in case Edwin Forrest 

 made a better performance than Rarus. I told him that I 

 would not have to buy it, as Earns would trot three heats 

 that would average as good or better than 2:14|, which he 

 did by turning the track three times, in 2:lf>, 2:13J, and 

 2:13|, making the great average of 2:14^, and thereby 

 making good all I had claimed in favor of the horse. I 

 think this performance seitled in the minds of everyone 

 who saw it, that, beyond all doubt, Rarus was the king. 



The only other races trotted that season by Rarus, that 

 would interest the public, are the ones at Minneapolis, where 

 the people fancied they were being wronged, and that at 

 Chicago, between Rarus, Hopeful, and Great Eastern, that 

 drew 40, 000 people to the track, and demonstrated the ability 

 of Rarus to pull a wagon in 2:15| over a track that had just 

 been made, and, in addition, was dead and damp from late 

 rains. My first engagement in the far West was made with 



