Allerton and Axtell

by Gary Lee Martinson

Another voice from near the door from a younger man, “Get him, Ebb!”

  Gilbert gave Clara a quick kiss, then leaped through the bushes in the garden. He sprinted across the street and burst through the open doorway pushing several people aside. There was a crowd of people in the center of the dance floor. When he got to the crowd, he saw three boys in a pile on the floor beating on someone. He saw legs sticking out from the pile and Barney’s shoes attached to those legs. Two older men were trying to break up the fight, without much success.

  Gilbert grabbed one of the boys arms as the boy brought it back to punch Barney. He twisted his arm behind the boy and pulled at his collar to get him off Barney. He shoved him toward a group of men. The boy tried to get back into the fray, but several of the men grabbed him. Ebb was punching Barney, so Gilbert blind-sided him with a fist to the side of the head. This unexpected blow knocked Ebb to the ground next to them. Two men grabbed Ebb so he could not continue the fight. The last boy was then grabbed by the sheriff and pulled off Barney.

  Barney lay on the floor unconscious, bruised and bleeding from the nose and mouth. Katie, who was full of tears when she was released by two women, quickly went to his side. She put her hand under his head and gently raised his head up off the floor. He did not open his eyes, but moved his head slightly.

  Three men carefully picked Barney up and carried him to a table. Mrs. Purdy brought over a glass of water. Gilbert got out a handkerchief, poured some water on it and gave it to Katie to clean the blood from his face. He slowly regained consciousness after a few minutes. He seemed to be all right, other than the bruises and bleeding. Katie continued to clean the blood off his face. A few minutes later he stood up shaking a bit. The three of them decided to call it a night. The atmosphere in the hall was subdued to the point that the band did not play and people began to break up as well. Gilbert pulled the buggy up to the side entrance. Clara talked to them briefly before Gilbert arrived with the buggy. She then returned to her parents who were preparing to leave the dance as well.

  Barney was quiet, but Katie went from being broken up about Barney’s injuries to getting very angry at Ebb and Barney both. She began to lecture Barney, “I told you to ignore them. They only know words, but you and I should be more mature than that.”

  Barney started to say, “I am not a co-co-coward.”

  “You are not a coward. I know that and you know that. You can only be a coward because you are afraid other people will think of you as a coward.” Katie pressed her head to his shoulder, then she sighed. “I had a wonderful time tonight. I am proud of you for keeping your control as long as you did.” Gilbert stopped the buggy in front of Katie’s home. Katie looked at Barney. “Are you going to be all right?”

  “I’ll take care of him, Katie,” Gilbert said comfortingly.

  Katie smiled at Gilbert, “Thank you for stopping that fight. I can’t believe all those big men there couldn’t have stopped it sooner.”

  “Fights are entertaining,” Barney said. “I like to wa-watch them, but I sure don’t like b-b-b-being in ’em.” Barney started to get out of the buggy to escort Katie to her house. Katie pushed him back down.

  “Don’t get up. I command you,” she said in a mock deep powerful voice.

  Katie eased her lips to Barney’s and tenderly kissed him. She did not move away quickly. Gilbert turned away and dismounted the buggy. After several seconds of kissing, she was assisted, by Gilbert, down from the buggy. “I can get to the house fine, Gilbert, thank you.”

  Barney sat there in silence as he watched her go into the house. “Did you see that?” He asked as Gilbert grabbed the reins.

  “Yeah,” he replied happily, “she sure kissed you good.” Barney’s demeanor changed. It was as if he had never heard of Ebb and could not feel the aches and pains from the fight.

  “Gilbert,” Barney addressed him.

  “Yeah,” he flipped the reins to start for home.

  “What did Katie mean about being a coward only if you think you are?”

  Gilbert wasn’t sure what Katie was trying to say, “I really don’t know what to tell you my good ailing friend.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  The Greatest Race Meet Ever

  One morning Mr. Barnhart was walking across main street when he saw Mr. Lewis W. Goen, who was the editor of the Independence Conservative paper. Mr. Barnhart addressed him, “Lewis.” The call to Mr. Lewis drew the attention of Mr. Purdy, who was passing by on his way to his general store, stopped to join the conversation. “How are things at the paper?”

  “Hectic, I tell you,” Mr. Goen shook his head, “we have received so many orders to supply a daily paper on the races coming up. We have orders from every state.”

  “Are you going to be able to do it?” Mr. Barnhart asked.

  “It is going to take a lot of organization to get it done, and we will have to press through the night to keep up.” He took a breath, “It may take a several days for some of them to get the paper.”

  Mr. Purdy joined them, “Do they still expect thirty to thirty-five thousand people to attend this year?”

  “Yes,” Mr. Goen said, “and I wouldn’t be surprised if there would be more. Remember last year Charles expected fifteen thousand and there were nearly twenty thousand.” He chuckled a bit, “I just had Mr. Lynch tell me in his advertisement he had more horses to sell then homes.”

  “Did either of you hear when the Sioux City band is getting in?” Mr. Barnhart asked.

  “They are expected the night of the 25th.” Mr. Goen answered. “Why?”

  “We had planned to house them at the high school while they are here. But now we have learned instead of the thirty people in the band there will be over two hundred accompanying them.” Mr. Barnhart explained. “We are going to have to find another place or several places for all of them to stay.”

  Mayor Howard noticed the men gathered out in front of the Conservative paper office. “Gentlemen,” he tipped his hat, “what is the topic of our conversation.”

  “Finding a place for the K and P band to stay.” Mr. Purdy informed him.

  “I see,” he responded, “I have a similar problem. Mr. Pillsbury from Minneapolis is coming with three private train cars. He has requested a place, to park his cars on the off tracks at the Burlington Cedar Rapids and Northern railroad yard. There is no place to put those cars. There are trains backed up already, waiting to unload. There were four freights that came last night full of horses and a delegation from Pittsburgh on the Illinois Central.” He shook his head as the others nodded cordially.

  “We should have been building more off tracks,” Mr. Goen spoke.

  “We will have to do that for next year. If the railroads will allow us to do it.” The mayor said, “Another thing, we had some over zealous hotel owners raise their rates for the meeting. We had to pressure them to stay with their normal rates.”

  “Well, gentlemen,” Mr. Goen said, “I would love to stay and talk some more, but I must be going. The paper is going to need all the attention I can give it the next few weeks. I have been receiving late orders by telegraph.” The four men tipped their hats and went on with their business.

  The Morton’s were planning to accommodate six visiting guests during the meeting. There was a married couple from Boston that arrived on the Illinois Central three days before the races began. They were to use Clara’s room. The house had four bedrooms and a large walk-in closet upstairs, which they will be utilizing.

  Clara moved into the room with the Mortons’ six year old daughter Betty. Her room was in the southeast corner of the house. It was the largest room in the house and had a walk-out bay facing south. They would be sharing a large feather bed. Betty was excited because she often shared her bed with Clara when she got scarred at night.

  The walk-in closet downstairs near the front door, was cleared out to accommodate two men. They also sta
bled their trotting horse in the small barn behind the house. The last available bedroom on the east side would be occupied by Clara’s parents, the Groobers. They planned to arrive the day before the races were to start. Gretchen offered the guests three meals a day. Everyone in the household had their duties of responsiblilty

  When the first day of races the town was crowded with people going everywhere at once. Many of the people staying in houses, like at the Morton’s, had meals with the families there. Every shop, business, hotel and restaurant was packed with people. Rush Park looked like a mobile army camp with hundreds of tents scattered about the grounds. The track was full of trainers and owners working their horses. The surrounding country roads were full of trainers and owners working their horses. The country roads were also full of local residents coming from nearby towns and farms to attend the races.

  The first day of the races was clear and a cool brisk wind blew. It was a bit cooler than normal for August, but it was still a great day for horse racing. The attendance at Rush Park was an excited array of people. The bands played from late in the morning up to race time, as spectators found a place to watch the races. The amphitheater filled nicely and several made themselves comfortable near the rails along the track.

  The first event of the day was for the best two-out-of-three heats for yearlings. They were racing for a large stake of $5,000. Mr. Walker, rang the bell to signal the first heat of horses to make their way into the track area. The horses moved onto the track and jogged merrily in front of the crowd. There were seven horses listed for the first race, but only six entered the track. There was Margrave, the favorite, was $10 in the pool of bettors. Elloree, one of Mr. Williams’s horses, born of Axtell, was $7 in the pool. The other horses were Monecha, Wistful, Betsy Harper and Winchester. The seventh horse was Anna C. Forrest who had been drawn from the race.

  The first heat was scored up twice before the word was given to go on the third score. Margrave burst out away from the pack by several lengths. Winchester, led the rest of the pack into the first turn with Elloree and Wistful close behind. Wistful broke and dropped back behind Betsy Harper. Margrave had distanced herself ahead of the rest as the race for second place heated up. Winchester was passed by Elloree as they entered the stretch. Wistful, at the stretch, found a fast pace and came up fast on Elloree. This move excited the crowd as they got to their feet. Wistful was able to maintain a strong pace and beat Elloree by a head for second place. Margrave taking first without a challenge in a time of 2:52 ½.

  The second heat was scored three times before word was given. Elloree led the field to the first turn, followed by Wistful and Margrave. Margrave made a move at the turn and was ahead by one length as they passed the half with Elloree hanging on to second. Margrave continued to increase her lead as the race for second continued. Wistful found her fast stride once again to overtake Elloree. Winchester suddenly found a burst of speed and was able to pass both Elloree and Wistful down the stretch. Winchester tired slightly and Wistful was able to regain second near the wire. Winchester hangs on to take third, followed closely by Elloree. The first event was won by Margrave with Wistful second, Elloree and Winchester tied for third. The second heat was trotted much faster than the first in a time of 2:43.

  The second event of the day was for three year old pacers and a stake of $5,000. It was scheduled to be the best three out of five heats. This was a field of twelve very distinguished horses. The favorites with the bettors were Rahleta and Fred K even odds for a pool of $25. The horse Jessie L was pooled at $18. The rest of the field was $13, which included Birchwood, Ialene, Hoodoo, Calyce, Maud M and Dandy O.

  The first heat took five scores before an even start could be a achieved. The horses remained bunched up as they approached the turn. Birchwood was finally able to break away to a two length lead. Birchwood was never headed after that to win the first heat. He was followed by Ialene in second, and Maud M took third place.

  They were able to start the second heat on the third score. Three horses broke away from the pack early. Birchwood winning again with Jessie L pulling away toward the end to take second, and Fred K coming away with third place.

  The third heat took seven scores to get everyone lined up evenly. The first three horse to break away from the pack at a speedy pace were Birchwood, Fred K and Jessie L. Jessie L steadily drew away from the rest to win while Rahleta found new life in her gait to take second. Fred K made a strong showing by finishing third once again. Birchwood, winner of the first two heats, tired and fell to fifth.

  The fourth heat went on the third score. This was an exciting race from start to finish. Jessie L, Rahleta, Hoodoo, Ialene and Calyce were bunched together in the lead pack at the half and stayed that way as they passed the three quarters. Finally, Jessie L pulled away to win by a length with Rahleta second and Hoodoo taking third.

  After the fourth heat it was obvious to everyone that the race was anybody’s to win. Birchwood who had shown great speed to win the first two heats had not been a contender in the last two. This was unsettling to the crowd, and the murmur in the crowd was he was tired and couldn’t contend.

  The fifth heat was taken by a surprisingly gutsy performance by Maud M, who apparently did not want to go to the barn. The faithful followers of Jessie L were crushed when she did not reach the flag and was thus disqualified from the race.

  The judges felt that the hour was getting late, but hoped to get one more heat in before the day’s end. The sixth heat was led by Maud M, all the way to the finish. It was apparent the winner of the race was the horse who had the best conditioning. After six heats of a five heat race, a winner could not be determined so the race was suspended to the next day.

  The second day was clear and cool with a stiff wind blowing. The stiff wind would certainly make it very difficult for any of the horses to achieve record times. The trains were still bringing people into town for the races. As Gilbert squeezed his way through the crowd, his attention was captured by a man looking out over the crowd near the entrance of Rush Park. The man leaned over to speak to a woman holding a quill ready to write to paper. He spoke out loud to her, “The eyes of the world are on Independence these days and the thousands that will experience these events will certainly have something to remember. Something to tell their grandchildren and great grandchildren.”

  Gilbert could tell that he was a reporter dictating to the woman. He did not stay to listen any further because he needed to attend to the horses Mr. Williams planned to race that day.

  The crowd had become a blur of faces to Gilbert as he looked around. He had given up hope of seeing or spending any time with Clara during the race week. He planned to get lunch from the Vienna Café booth in hopes to catch a smile or a sweet word from her. They had planned to meet at Mr. Williams’s new lake after the races. It wouldn’t be a private meeting since the lake was a mutual romantic place for many couples. Gilbert seldom saw any one from town in the crowd since the locals were outnumbered eight to one. He could find locals working around town or at the track.

  The first race for the day was belled and horses were escorted onto the track. The first race of the day was actually the seventh heat of the three year old pacers’ race. The seventh heat got off quickly and was won by the original favorite to win the race, Rahleta followed by Ialene, Birchwood taking third, Maud M. fourth, Hoodoo fifth, Fred K sixth and Dandy O seventh. This heat had been paced in a surprisingly fast time of 2:25.

  The eighth heat of the three-year-old pacers was won by Ialene who took the lead at the three quarter mark and pulled away. Fred K finished second, Rahleta third, Birchwood fourth, Hoodoo fifth, Dandy O sixth and Maud M, just inside the flag took seventh. The crowd was getting restless over the length of the race, just as you are reading about it, yet they were very interested in it’s outcome. It was exciting to see horses battling so hard to win the race. The outcome was totally unpredictable at this point.

  The n
inth heat was started with all horses pacing dead even throughout the race. They jockeyed around and the finish was a jumbled mass of horses. The judges had some trouble sorting it out, but determined that Fred K took first, Ialene second, Maud M third, Dandy O fourth, Birchwood fifth, and the original favorite to win the race, Rahleta, finished in sixth. Hoodoo broke early and was distanced out of the race. The winning time for the ninth heat was 2:30 ½.

  The event was again turned upside down in the tenth heat of the race. The horse named Dandy O, who hadn’t been a factor in the first nine heats showed his stamina by winning the heat. Fred K took second, Rahleta showing better form took third, Ialene in fourth, Birchwood, who had won the first two heats the day before, took fifth, and Maud M took sixth in a time of 2:29 ½.

  The eleventh heat for these horses found that Dandy O was in the best shape of all the horses, winning his second heat in a row. He was followed by Maud M second, Fred K third, Rahleta was fourth, Birchwood fifth, and Ialene took sixth. The spring in the gait of Dandy O, made him look to be unbeatable going into the twelfth heat.

  The twelfth heat went easily to Dandy O, who was able to be the surprising winner of the race. He was followed by Ialene second, Fred K third, Birchwood fourth, Rahleta fifth, Maud M sixth.

  The twelve heat race set a record for being the longest race of three year olds ever. The horses that took part all received great cheers from the crowd as they retired to their stables. The announcer announced with his large bull horn, “Give them a great hand for a fantastic display of racing. They are certainly a group of very tired horses, who deserve a rub down by their grooms.”

  The second event of the day was the two-year-olds with Monbar, the Kentucky favorite and half brother of Allerton, favored to win with a pool of $25. The rest of the field of nineteen was $7.

  The first heat called only four horses appeared for the race took six scores to get rolling. Bermuda Boy, son of Bermuda and Baby Mine, shot out with a three length lead at the half and holds the lead as they round the turn. Monbar began to close and took the lead at the three quarter pole and wins ahead of Bermuda Boy. Effie Payne and Bifty finished respectively, with Bifty finishing behind the flag.