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BELLE MEADE. "After more than sixty jears, the famous Belle Ueade breeding establishment is about to pass out of existence. Established in 1859 by W. G. Harding, it has grown from a small beginning to be one of the best known nurseries of the thoroughbred horse in America, and the get of its stallions have won thousands of dollars in this country and an equal number of English sovereigns," says a Nashville letter to the St. Louis Republic. "In the early days were found here such horses as the mighty Priam, winner of the English Derby, and the imported stallions Eagle and Bluster, whose bones have long since been laid beneath the sturdy oaks. Hare, too, the great Vandal, Jack Malone, Sir Richard, Highlander, Childe Harold, Bonnie Scotland, John Morgan, Enquirer, Great Tom, Tremont and Iroquois held court in their respective days. This was tha homo of tha great gray mare Gamma, queen of the turf sixty years ago, and in the present generation the prestige of the breading establishment was given nw lustar by the performances of Proctor Knott, Bramble, Clifford, Cayuga, Egmont, Getaway, Rancocaa, G. W. Johnson, Helen Nichols, Inspector B., Uncle Bob, Tulla Blackburn, Tammany, Gotham, Maid Maxian, Falsetto, Red Banner,, and a score of others whose names are almost as famous. "The winnings of the Belle Meade horses were fabulous. In one season Proctor Knott won 9,865 ; Tammany. 2,300; Inspector B., 8,375: Helen Nichols, 0,775; Bella B., 3,200; Uncle Bob, 0,-860; G. W. Johnson, 6,0C0, and Egmont, 5,e91. "The list of stations now standing at Belle Meade includes The Commoner, which General Jackson, the present owner of Belle Meade, purchased less than two years ago for 5,000, and for whom he not long ago refused an offer of 0,000; Inspector B., by Enquirer, dam Colossa, by Colossus, and the sire of a number of good winners, including the great Endurance br Right, who as a two-j ear-old last year, was considered by many shrewd horsemen to be the greatest animal in training. Then there is Loyalist, a full brother to Paradox, being by Sterling, out of Casuistry, by The Miner. Loyalist is the sire, among other good ones, of tha brilliant Tissak, now one of W. C. Whitneys stallions. "Grand, old Luke Blackburn is there, too, but his success in the stud is too well known to need comment. Tithonus, by St. Simon, dam Immortelle, one of the most promising sires in the country, is also one of the Belle Meade stars, having sired such good ones as Emathion, Avoid, Memnon and Adine. Madison is another sire whoso success is already assured, and there are tothers of lesser fame, but great promise. "From 1875 to 1890, inclusive, the sales of yearlings from Belle Meade aggregated 77,980 for 589 head, and while no records for the past eleven years are available at this moment, the average of the preceding fifteen years has been more than maintained. "The present owner of Belle Meade is General W. H. Jackson, son-in-law of General W. G. Harding. He bad been the manager of the place many years priorl.to General Hardings death, and when that event occurred, in 1886, Jackson came into full possession, and began thoso extensive additions to the stud that have made Belle Meade what it is to-day tha leading thoroughbred breeding establishment of America. "Jackson is a graduate of West Point. At the outbreak of the civil war he joined the confederacy and fought through the war. After thowar he married Miss Selene Harding, settled down at Belle Meade, where be has since remained, accumulating wealth, and the Belle Meade of today is a monument to his skill and executive ability. Sickness and the cares of extensive business concerns havo made it imperative that he should lay down some of the burdens that sat so lightly upon him in the past, and so Belle Meade goes under the hammer. "General Jackson treaiures as one of the interesting periods of his life the memory of his career of five years spent on the western frontier, and his reminiscences of these thrilling years he wae located in New Mexico and Colorado, and much of the time he was engaged in actual hostilities with the Comanches.Kiowas, Apache; and expeditions. General Jackson was accompanied by Kit Carson and the noted French guide, La Rue. "Some years ago Theodore Roosevelt, now President Roosevelt, paid the general a visit, and on this occasion many were the interesting western stories related. General Jackson and Mr. Roosevelt organizsd, in New York, the Boone and Crockat Club, a social organization, whose membership is composed of about 100 members. A prerequisite to membership is that the applicant must have killed as many as three specimens of the largo game of America. "In 1803. an old Virginian, John Harding, came to this section, and his foresight led him to settle on th banks of Richland creek and possess the land of Belle Meade as his home. He wa a good business man and acanired something like 7,000 acres of land. This he called Belle Meade. He built on the estate a cedar leg cabin, and In a semicircle, around t is were his negro quarters, for he owned many slaves. In front of the cabins ho built a turnpike road, over which was hauled the wood used for the quarters. The last vestige of this road was removed only two years ago by General Jackson. The cabins of the slavey have all ben toru away, but the mansion house, or rather the cabin of the master, still stands as a link between thr past and present Belle Meade. This cabin is now occupied by Uncle Bob, one of General Hardings old slaves, who has been identified with the estate for nearly a century. .In this cabin was born Gsn. William G. Harding, the real founder of Belle Meade Stud. " When John HardiDg was 70 years old. his children all grown, his wife dead, he thought the population was crowding him, and be removed to the wilds of Arkansas, where he acquired a large tract of land, for which he later refused 50,000. This was in 1819, and when the old man left he turned Belle Meade over to his eon, William G. Hardine, who at once established the now famous thoroughbred stud. "Before Belle Meade found its way into the hands of General Harding it contained little blooded stock. John Harding owned, while he 1 ved on the estate, several well-bred horses, but it did not properly become a stock farm in th trne meaning of the term until it passed into the hands of the younger man. "When President Cleveland and his bride visited Nashville in the fall c f 1836, it was at Belle Meade that they were domiciled, and within, its walls learned much of the life and tha aspirations of the southern people. Mr. Roosevelt, long before he was president, was a guest at the historic mansion "Years ago,-before Roosevelt" becamo a national figure, General Jackson spole of him as a man of grit and promise. It is said Mr. Cleveland often refers to his stay at Belle Meade, short though it was. He and Mrs. Cleveland saw a deer drive, and were charmed with the quietude and freedom of the place, and the sincere and genuine hospitality of their hosts."
