Radio Script #733

Little Talks on Common Things

June 4, 1967

It is a long time since, on this program, I talked about Maine race horses. Recently some clippings in an old scrap book reminded me of one of the truly great horses of Maine, a horse whose fame predated that of Waterville’s Nelson by half a century. The horse I want to talk to you about today was named General Knox. In the magazine, The American Horse Breeder, in January, 1903 appeared an article paying tribute to that famous horse, then long dead.

One of the best known of Maine jockeys in the last half of the 19th century was Foster Palmer. Sitting next to a newsman in the grandstand at Readfield’s famous track in 1902, Palmer watched the renowned trotter Croesus do a mile in 2:02. Palmer turned to the reporter and said: “Just think of it. Thirty-seven years ago I drove a horse at Springfield, winning at 2:31, and he got as royal a welcome as Croesus does today with a record half a minute faster.” “What horse was that?” asked the reporter. “General Knox”, replied Palmer. “When I was only a boy in 1859 I went to work for Col. Lang. He asked.me to take over the training of a homely, ungainly three-year old who could do a mile in about 3t minutes. The Colonel had named the horse for George Washington’s head of artillery and Secretary of War, General Henry Knox, who had come to ‘Thomaston, Maine, and had built his great mansion Montpelier.

“Well”, Palmer continued, “I finally got that horse into the 2:30 class. When we got back to Vassalboro from Springfield, after that 2:30 race, we had a grand reception. You ought to have seen the crowd at the depot. Mr. Lang was offered $30,000 for the General, but refused it. But later he sold the horse to Henry Smith of Trenton, N.J.”

General Knox had in his veins the blood of famous Morgan horses. He was foaled in 1855 at Brickport, Vermont, a son of Vermont Hero, a descendant of the famous horse Messenger, imported to America early in the century. General Knox’ Morgan blood was on his mother’s side, for she was a great grand-daughter of Woodbury Morgan, one of the most renowned of all Morgan horses.

In 1870 Colonel Lang, who had owned General Knox since 1858, wrote a sketch about the horse for the Maine Farmer. Lang stated that the horse’s first appearance on a public track was at Augusta in 1859, where he won in 2:54. Knox was then four years old. A week later he won the first stallion purse at the North J Kennebec Fair in Waterville.

In 1860 he entered a match race against the Drew stallion, Renoks at Boy, and won in 2:40. Two weeks later he bested all horses in his class at the Maine State Fair in Augusta. A few days later at Lewiston Knox suffered his first defeat, being beaten by a length by the most famous of the Drew horses, Hiram Drew. Feeling between supporters of the two horses was intense and all the following winter plans were discussed about where and when the two should next meet. The confrontation was fixed for the Augusta track on the Fourth of July 1861. That was before the day of pari-mutuels, but the betting was alleged to be heavy — the owners themselves risking as much as $1,000 each on their horses and allover Maine race fans put up their dollars on their favorites. When the great day arrived, before a huge crowd at the Augusta track, General Knox beat Hiram Drew in three straight heats, establishing for himself a new record of 2:32.

After General Knox became the property of his New Jersey buyer, he lowered his mark to 2:24.

When. in 1863, Col. Lang was urged to send General Knox to Springfield to contest for the New England championship, his friend Henry Taylor, a respected breeder of Maine horses, tried to dissuade Lang. He said: “You are champion here in Maine, but a lot faster horses will be entered at Springfield.” “I still think he is the fastest horse in New England”, replied Lang.

Professional jockeys and trainers laughed at the country boy Foster Palmer, who had the Maine horse under perfect control. To the amazement of the experts, Palmer drove General Knox to victory in three straight heats, putting on such a burst of speed in the last quarter mile of the final heat that he did it in 35 seconds, or at the rate of 2:20. His time for the full mile was 2:31.

The Col. Lang we are talking about was T.S. Lang of Vassalboro, of whose stable the Maine Farmer in September, 1859 had this to say: “In three weeks from this time the annual State Fair will be held at Augusta. The race track will be in perfect order for the big races. T.S. Lang of Vassalboro will enter for the several classes four of his finest horses, and a sight of them is well worth a journey to the Lang stables in Vassalboro, or to the stalls here at Augusta. Lang’s Black Hawk Telegraph is a magnificent stallion, four years old, and is one of the most valuable horses in the United States. Next comes General Knox, a superb stallion of four years, and then Sharon, a five-year old. An Ethan Allen filly of four years completes the list and one will go far to find four better specimens of the equine genus. Mr. Lang is ardently determined to improve the breed of Maine horses. We wish him success in this worthy enterprise.”

And that is the story of a Central Maine horseman and his famous horse of a century ago.

Now let us have a few words about a Winslow woman who made the headlines annually for several years in the 1930’s. She was Mrs. Ellen Drummond Garland, called “Auntie” by her many adoring friends. She died in October, 1936 at the age of 98, and right up to her death was an active, intelligent, interesting lady.

Aunt Ellen’s last publicized exploit was her riding as a passenger on a motorcycle driven by Edgar Lindsley on the occasion of Auntie’s 98th birthday. The Waterville Sentinel published a photo of her taking that ride, and about it the paper said in part: “From oxcart, horseback, and horse and buggy to the motor age, Auntie Ellen Garland of Winslow, who today celebrates her 98th birthday, completed the list when she took her first motorcycle ride. As a guest of Edgar Lindsley in the sidecar of his new motorcycle, Mrs. Garland enjoyed a trip about town. She soon found the speed of twenty miles an hour too slow and urged Lindsley to step on it.”

But even more widely publicized than that motorcycle ride was what happened to Mrs. Garland two years earlier on her 96th birthday in 1934. It was then that she had the thrilling experience of flying over this area with the famous Amelia Earhart piloting the plane. It was Auntie’s first ride in the air, and she enjoyed it immensely.

Auntie was born in Winslow in 1838, the daughter of Charles and Ruth Howard Drummond. In 1857 she married into another of Winslow’s oldest families when she became the wife of Joseph P. Garland. For many years they lived in the house on the Augusta Road that later became the property of General John Choate. Mrs. Garland lived through nearly two-thirds of the nineteenth century and more than a third of the twentieth. She had vivid recollections of early days in Winslow. She spoke of the many hours she spent as a girl dipping tallow candles to provide the only light in the home after dark. The road from her family home near what is now the site of a milk processing plant to the Waterville bridge was quite different in the old days: “It was just a bridle path”, she said, “and it went down the bank of the Kennebec to the Sebasticook bridge, then along the river bank to what was then the new bridge across the Kennebec.” Farther down the river, beyond the hill near her home, there was much crossing of the Kennebec by bateau. Every fall the family put in provisions to last through the winter. Only occasionally during the intervening months did they have to make a purchase at Bassett’s store at the Fort.

When her husband enlisted in the Civil War, Mrs. Garland was left to assume all responsibility at home. Joseph was captain of Company 0 of the 21st Maine. At the time of her death Mrs. Garland held the Boston Post cane as the oldest resident of Winslow. She was also the oldest member of the Winslow Congregational Church, which to this day still worships in the first meeting house built on the Kennebec north of Gardiner. She was the last charter member of the W.S. Heath chapter of the D.A.R.

Auntie Garland was the first woman to register as a Winslow voter after women obtained the suffrage and was the first woman to cast her vote in a Winslow election. Mrs. Garland kept up with the times. Just before her 93rd birthday she went to Joe Giroux’ barber shop to have her hair bobbed.

One of Mrs. Garland’s close friends was her physician, Dr. John Towne of Waterville. On the occasion of her 92nd birthday in 1930 he presided at a dinner in her honor. The Waterville Sentinel said: “With Doc Towne as toastmaster, needless to say nothing was left undone to make the day one of the most enjoyable in Auntie’s long experience.” The paper went on to say: “Unlike many women of her years, Mrs. Garland does not pass her time in making rugs or knitting, but she does mend her own clothing and has recently made several garments. She wears glasses only to sew or read. Her hearing is still such that she can carryon a conversation without difficulty. If one pictures a person over 90 as weak and feeble, that is not a true picture of Auntie Garland. Standing erect, this grand old lady looks many years younger than her age.”

This is the final broadcast of Little Talks for our conventional season of 39 weeks from September to June, but just as we did last year, we shall keep Little Talks on the air during the summer each Sunday by repeating some of the more popular broadcasts of this program that have been given during the past 19 years. They will be entirely different from the repeats of last summer. In September we shall resume the usual policy of original broadcasts by starting Little Talks’ twentieth consecutive year. Yes, it was in the fall of 1948 when this program first went on the air. We believe it is now the oldest radio program in the U.S. that has never changed sponsor. There are older programs, but they have been under several sponsorships.

Little Talks has been able to stay on the air for 19 years largely because it has had, year after year, the backing of the Keyes Fibre Company. Unlike many other programs, it has never from start to finish of each broadcast, been interrupted by advertising. You have simply been told at the beginning and at the end of each broadcast that it comes to you as a public service from the Keyes Fibre Company. The program has never asked you to buy any Keyes product, but I certainly hope you have and will continue to do so.

Despite the popularity of television, there are a lot of people who still listen to radio, and at the end of this 19th season of Little Talks I want to express my gratitude to the many persons in our Kennebec Valley who still listen each Sunday.

Year: 1967