Alexandria Gazette

The Death of a Race Horse.
During a three mile race last week at St.
Louis between General Buford's chestnut colt
McWhirter, D. Swigert's bay colt Mablstick,
Lyle & Scully's bay gelding Joe Rhodes and
A. & G. M. Simpson's chestnut colt Red Bluff,
McWhirter met with an accident of the most
unusual character. It is described as follows
in the St. Louis Times of the 6th inst.:
When McWhirter and Mablstick came down
the quarter stretch to complete the second mile
it was neck and neck at a steady, even run.
Sixty yards away from the string Mablstick
without increasing speed suddenly appeared in
the lead. "McWhirter is giving down!" cried
out some excited spectator. It was a true
warning. One leg had failed him, but he kept
on gallantly, for the game blood was hot. Had
Knox, the little colored jockey, reined him in
the life of a noble horse might have been spared
and might have served in the stud for years.
But supposing he could have controlled the
excited animal, there stood in the way Uncle
Abe's instructions, to make the race from start
to finish, or in old Jno. Harper's expressive lan-
guage, from "end to end."
McWhirter kept on. It was virtually on
three legs. He rounded the lower turn and
was well into the second quarter of the last
mile, there being just a perceptible slackening of
the gait, when Joe Rhodes overhauled him and
went by. As the horse passed him McWhirter
swerved, and then it was that Knox, the rider
says the other fore leg gave down. From that
point the poor fellow plunged ahead and into the
last half mile, every jump tearing tendons,
muscles, flesh and skin, and Knox tugging at
the reins. When at last the headway slackened
and the horse came to a sudden halt, it was with
the bones of both forelegs torn from the sock-
ets of the ankle joints, and protruding six inches
through hide and flesh and resting in the dirt,
the hoofs lying limp and useless before. The
sudden halt sent the jockey flying over the
horse's head.
The scene and those that followed were, for-
tunately, located on the backstretch, and the
little crowd of forty or fifty who went there par-
tially concealed the sad spectacle from the field
glasses in the grand stand. Had the accident
been finished where it began—on the last quar-
ter—it would have spoiled the sport with many
a turf lover for days to come. Many of those
who went over to the backstretch turned back
sick at heart after a single glance.
"Shoot him, for God's sake!" was the
prompt instruction of the owner when he learned
the full extent of the misfortune.
As soon as the jockey got out of the dirt he
had stripped the horse of pigskin and wrappings
and stood crying at the woeful picture when
the first of the spectators reached the place.
McWhirter stood thus pitched forward and
two-thirds of his weight resting on the pro-
truding bones for fifteen minutes, panting with
the exertion of the race. The fire gleamed in
his eyes and the perspiration rolled down his
sides. As the little group of horrified specta-
tors stood about him he looked around as if
surprised that no trainer hurried up with the
sponge and blanket. Alas! for McWhirter ;
not only was his last race run, but there was
no more use for a trainer.
The command to "shoot him" came perhaps
fifteen minutes after the accident, for the news
of the condition of McWhirter travelled slowly
back across the wide field, nobody at first car-
ing to tell what had happened to old General
Buford, the owner. When the command did
come the half a dozen policemen looked at each
other with no pleasant anticipation of such a
task.
Officer Keeble, of the Fifth district, a man
experienced in horse matters, undertook it. He
took his stand on the left side of McWhirter
and, using a Colt's navy, fired at close range.
The ball struck square about midway between
the eye and the base of the ear, and from the
hole the streaming blood gushed forth. At the
report the horse threw himself back on his
haunches and struck out with his mangled fore-
legs, but dropped down again into the same
steady position and stood there. Three times
the officer levelled his weapon and fired. Each
time the bullet entered the brain and the blood
gushed out. At the third shot McWhirter
hobbled across the track and stood by the fence.
It seemed as if he would never fall. As he
panted the blood would spurt out upon the
fence and run from his mouth and nose in great
clots. Finally the officer stepped directly in
front of the now failing horse, and putting the
muzzle of the pistol almost to the forehead,
fired, the ball entering right between the eyes.
The horse dropped then, but it was not till long
after he had been dragged into the southeast
corner of the grounds, underneath the shade of
a great oak, that life finally went out.
Jockeys and trainers gathered about him
with the most marked manifestations of sorrow.
The mane, which had been braided and tied
with the Buford colors, red and white, was
sheared off and carried away as keepsakes.
It was declared at first that the bones of the
forelegs had been broken. To any one acguaint-
ed with the anatomy of race horses this
seemed impossible, and it proved not to have
been the case. At the conclusion of the races,
and while the grave was being dug, General
Mitchell and other well known horsemen made
an examination. In one sense, perhaps, both of
McWhirter's legs were broken; but it was not
a bone fracture. Tendons and muscles were
torn apart and the bones disjointed. The acci-
dent was what is known among horsemen as
"breaking down." It happens occasionally on
race tracks, but probably there was never seen
so aggravated a case as this. The "breaking
down" of one leg occurred just before complet-
ing the second mile, and the other gave way
when Joe Rhodes slipped past. After that
McWhirter ran on the stumps for a furlong,
crippling himself to the death.
NO. 131.
"breaking down" as follows: "The accident generally oc-
curs in a bred horse when the flesh or muscie-
does not continue to support the ligaments, from
which circumstance it so often happens in the
last few strides of a race. The symptoms are a
partial or entire giving way of the fetlock joint
and stumbling and falls; gets up, but stands on his
forelooks, the toe of the foot turned up and the
sole of the foot as it were looking at you."
Mr. Walsh, the editor of the Field, an English
paper, in his book describes "breaking
down" as follows: "The accident generally cc:
curs in a bred horse when the flesh or muscie-
last few strides of a race. The symptoms are a
partial or entire giving way of the fetlock joint
which circumstance it so often happens in the
last few strides of a race. The symptoms are a
partial or entire giving way of the fetlock joint
consists in rupture of the tendons and ligaments.
and occurs at once when the horse is at full
speed. The horse stops suddenly, or, perhaps,
stumbles and falls; gets up, but stands on his
forelooks, the toe of the foot turned up and the
sole of the foot as it were looking at you."
Mr. Walsh, the editor of the Field, an English
paper, in his book describes "breaking
down" as follows: "The accident generally oc-
curs in a bred horse when the flesh or muscie-
does not continue to support the ligaments, from
which circumstance it so often happens in the
last few strides of a race. The symptoms are a
partial or entire giving way of the fetlock joint
and stumbling and falls; gets up, but stands on his
forelooks, the toe of the foot turned up and the
sole of the foot as it were looking at you."
Both authorities go on to describe a treat-
ment, but from the account already given it
will be seen that, after breaking down, Mc.
Whirter, with the most wonderful endurance
probably ever seen on a track, had gone on and
completed his run.
Talking to a Times reporter shortly after the
occurrence General Buford said: "The boy
ought to have held him up. McWhirter has been
nowhere else. He was ridden badly at Louis-
ville, where I gave him a trial to see how he
went more than anything else, and another
horse struck him on his good leg. (McWhirter
has had trouble with one of his fore legs for
some time past.) We have pursed him and
he seemed to be all right. We used cold
water on his leg and it must have made it ten-
der. I refused $10,000 for him. He ran the
grandest race ever won, and his winnings have
been between $8,000 and $10,000.
The jockey who was to ride McWhirter lay
at home with a fractured thigh, caused by an
accident in exercising Enquirer.
The St. Louis jockey club will put up a
monument in McWhirter's memory and any
turfmen desiring to subscribe will be permitted
to do so.