Norfolk Landmark, April 8, 1877

MR. SIMON INDULGES IN SPORT. He Goes to the Race at Compostella

Tourists and sportsmen -- Other recreation - Horse racing

NROFOLK, VA., April 5th, 1877.

Deer Jeems: There was a trotting race at the above place on this day. It was advertised in the LANDMARK to commence at 1 o'clock P. M., but it did not do it. I asked them why, and they said it was against the rule to go according to the advertisement, which was entirely satisfactory. They maintained with much show of reason that it would be disreputable for gentlemen of the turf to be caught telling the truth on such an occasion. I said, "You're right," and they gave me three cheers and a "tiger."

At 12 M. a train of cars left the depot of the A., M. & O. R. R. Company, near

JACK FRANKLIN'S.

Jack did not go himself, but he loaded his friends and sent them off rejoicing. Jack is a very self-sacrificing man, and always stays back in order that others may go. Besides, he said he'd "been once and that was enough."

The train left very punctually at 12 M., and arrived at the stopping place exactly 59 minutes before 1 P. M. The train did not go very fast, but the distance was short. The stopping place was a little over a quarter of a mile further from the race track than the race track was from the depot. I'm certain about this, because I measured it coming back. I went with the Franklin delegation, but came back alone. The rest of the delegation returned in the cattle cars a little after dark. I had a return ticket, and thought it was my duty to bring it back, and I did. It cost me seventy-five cents, so I put down thirty-seven and a half cents for riding on a rail, and thirty-seven and a half cents, plus five cents for walking behind the carriages, carts and wagons and crossing the toll bridge. It would be rather a small thing to estimate the cost of the leather, and therefore I make no allusion to the subject. I put my ticket in Mrs. Simon's card basket, where it will remain on private exhibition until the next race. The accommodations at the race track were excellent. I never saw so much standing room in so small a place in my life, and we had ever so much time to stand before the race commenced. There were refreshments on the grounds, and the more refreshments people took, the less refreshed they seemed to be. A gentleman from Accomack presented me with

A WHISKY STRAIGHT

and half a pint of peanuts, for which I thanked him profusely. I took all the thanks back afterwards, because he persuaded me to bet on the losing horse, and won my money himself. I have no opinion of disinterested kindness. We were very much amused, indeed, from 1 till 4, by betting in the pool, and evaporating our superfluous heat at sweat-cloth. A few deposited quite liberally in the bank, but no drafts on the institution were honored, that I am aware of. By way of fostering a taste for racing, two little brown and bay mares were driven around the track several times, and one or the other always beat, but I could not tell exactly which one it was. After this preliminary performance was over, while I was looking round the stables for a place to sleep, in case we had to stay all night, it was announced that the race was about to begin. At this moment Carrolton made his appearance. He trotted gaily round the track, preliminary to the coming trial of speed, as though he did not care if oats were 50 dollars a bushel, and hay to match. I was informed that Carrolton belonged to his owner, but did not learn the particulars. Soon after Sadie Bell was pointed out to me. She moved slowly round to track, with a serious, independent sort of look, glancing cautiously at all the bad places. There is nothing playful in her manner, notwithstanding her extreme youth. Her general hue is light sorrel. Her forehead and neck are clothed in silver, and her narrative is of the same rich complexion. She is slightly built, but muscular, with an apparent superfluity of legs. In a walk, or a gentle trot, her tread is elastic, as if she was shod with India rubber, and had some little difficulty in adhering sufficiently to the ground. If I had seen that little animal floating round the track before the pool opened, that Accomack man would never have seen my money. He might have kept his peanuts and whisky, and I would kept my 5 dollars.

While the drivers were showing off the horses. Carrolton was the favorite with the amateurs. When the pool opened, the professionals from the Eastern Shore exhibited confidence in Sadie Bell. This threw a damp blanket over Carrollton, and the odds were against him on the first heat. Harry Scratch rallied the amateurs by telling yarns about Carrollton's "bottom." Said he, "Gen'lemen, dat hoss's got bottom -- he has!" A sedate gentleman standing near me remarked that he thought all horses had bottoms. I explained to him that the word "bottom" was equivocal in meaning; that it did not signify the same when applied to a horse as it did when applied to other persons. My explanation was so clear, and my illustrations so apt, that the sedate gentleman "saw the point." At last, after several small failures, the horses passed the stand beautifully,

AND THE WORD "GO!"

was given. Sadie Bell is evidently accustomed to obey orders, for when the word "go" was given she went -- she went by Carrollton so fast that I thought the horse had stuck in the mud, and that the mare had sailed over the high fence, bound for Chincoteague Island. I looked after her as hard as I could, but my eyes couldn't keep up. Everybody cried out, "There she goes -- there she goes!" but all I could see was a white streak behind her, about a hundred yards long, the reflection of the "eagle" mane and tail. But as she came round the track my eyes cut her across and met her, and then I could see what she was doing, and began to realize the use she made of her legs. I didn't notice what had become of Carrollton all this time, but all said he was doing his level best. He could have kept closer to Sadie Bell than he did, no doubt, but the little mare, somehow or other, got impatient and would not wait for him. Besides, she shot past the horses so rapidly at the pole that he thought she was a sky-rocket, and broke up from fright.

Carrolton was admirably driven by Mr. Dan Steever, Sadie Bell was not driven by Mr. McConnell -- he only let her go a little and she was mad because he wouldn't let her go enough. The second and third heats were like the first, perhaps a little more so. The horse is no match for the mare under any circumstances. There was a very large crowd present to witness the sport, but those who bet on Sadie Bell enjoyed it hugely. It is said so many people never left the Eastern Shore before any one time, except during the war of 1812, when they came over to Craney Island and manned the gun-boats that licked the British. I was introduced to the old gentleman who raised Sadie Bell. He was the happiest man I ever saw for one so long and lean. He chuckled a good deal but was too polite to laugh out loud. They said he "smiled" very often while the race was progressing. Before the last heat, his spirits were so elevated it began to be rumored that he had imbibed a fluid pound of Dooley's yeast powder. Sadie Bell was born and trained on Revel's Island. When a colt, she used to trot against a northeast gale, and always won the first heat. Her price is $1,000,000, including "eagle" man and tail. Yours truly,

Simon.

P.S. -- If you know of any friend of yours that would endorse a note for me, of about 75 dollars, I can get it shaved, and we will buy up all the islands about the Eastern Shore coast, and go into the trotting-horse business. "There's millions in it," I am sure. An Accomack man told me that if there was any trot in a colt, salt grass and deep sand would fetch it out. The only inconvenience about those island horses is to teach them how to eat corn and trot on hard ground. But they can do a plenty of both after they have served an apprenticeship of about 12 months. When first brought from the islands they are positively electrified; and the barn earth being very positively charged, the two positive polls are mutually repellant and the horses has a natural tendency to "go up." This is the way General Pleasonton explained it to me, and it fully accounts for the difficulty experienced by those kind of horses to keep from flying. But I shall take this matter into further consideration.

P. S. 2. -- There is another electrical phenomenon that General Pleasonton has brought to my attention. Which I think I ought to mention in this connection. He says that women are positively electrified, and that men are negatively electrified when sober. But when men got drunk, they are like women in the natural state, that is, positively electrified. The result is that a drunken husband is always repelled by a sober wife on account of the opposition of electricities, and gets badly whipped in consequence. If she gets drunk, too, then things are even, and they assimilate. No woman ought to run the risk of being sober, when she knows that her husband is drunk. It occurs to me that sand being negatively electrified, and women being positively charged, accounts for the wonderful facility with which men sometimes "throw sand" into women's eyes. Jeems, I hope you will excuse these philosophical speculations; for, really, I cannot help it. I am as full of [illegible] as an egg is of meat.

P. S. 3. -- Please do not forget [illegible] some friend of means about endowing that note for $75. I have some [illegible] who have capital, but I would like to keep them. I have often noticed that when I speak of those kind of accommodations they give me a wide berth for a long time, and they are very hard to be reconciled afterwards.