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RECALLS CAREER OF CHARLES REED. Now York, April IS. The announcement that 5 AVest Twenty-fourth street had been sold last week by Charles Reed would not mean much to tlie average man. but to those who know anything of the house and its former owner it spelled the final stage in the metropolitan history of Charles Reed of racing fame. Jlore than seventy-live years of age, but as solid on his feet apparently as when he put up his hands before his former partner, John Jlorrissey, the champion fighter of his day. Charley Reed is looking 1111011 the world with feelings .best expressed by tlie sentiment he voiced at the auction 011 April 25, 1910, of the contents of the house sold a few days ago. A white enamel combination buffet and safe had just been knocked -down for .50. It had. to quote the old man 011 that occasion, "held more real money, so far- as I know, than any liox outside of a bank. Millions it has held, millions. I tell you; millions and millions. I could give you the names of men if I felt like it whose yellowbacks have choked it. And here it goes for a measly six bits. Well, I dont care. Im through." No. 5 AVest Twenty-fourth street was the last piece of realty Charley Reed owned in New York City, lie has -a stable near the Saratoga race track which he has been trying to dispose of, but without success, for the last two years. A vcar ago he was offered 0,000 for the AVest Twenty-fourth street house by a speculator who wanted the site, which Immediately adjoins the Hoffman House, measuring 24 by 100 feet, to use In conjunction with adjacent land for improvenient with a tall loft building of a tyj:e to be found all over that neighborhood. Reed declined to sell. It could not be learneiL yesterday who. bought the -house,, which is of the American basement type, four stories high, nor was the amount he received for the place, which is rich with associations of the old days when gaming in New York was general, learned. No man had a more varied career than Charley Heed. He has been primarily a soldier of fortune and always and ever he has been a philosopher. In addition he has lished for bearls in the Pacific, dug gold in California, shipped contraband cotton from New Orleans, raced horses in England and both bred and raced them for forty years in America, having at one time a 3,000 acre breeding farm near Gallatin. Tenn., which he called Fairview. That Jlr. Reed is a philosopher may be illustrated by many happenings in his career. Upward of twenty years ago the greatest thoroughbred race horse in tlie world was Ormonde, by Bend Or, out of Lilly Agnes, bred in England and sold to Don Ilocau, the Argentine Republic financier and horse tancier for more than 00,000 in American money. Jlr. Reed wanted Ormonde to head his stud at Fair-view and he did a characteristic tiling. Saying nothing to anybody about his destination ho told his wife to get ready for a trip and departed for Buenos Ay res, with a letter of credit of generous proportions in his wallet. Upon bis arrival at the hacienda of Don Bocau lie found that Tattersalls of London had bought the horse he had come so many thousand miles to secure for 50,000 only a few hours before, negotiations having been conducted by cable. They represented William OBrien Jlacilonough of California. Thereupon Jlr. Reed returned to New York, where his friends commiserated with him after he had told of his fruitless mission. "Its all for the best, sonny. Its all fon the best," was his comment to a reporter who went to see him the day of his return. Ormonde was a comparative railure in the stud, his turf career considered. Shortly afterward "the sage of Fairview," as he lias been termed, secured St. Blaise, like Ormonde, an English Deby winner, for a single bid of 00.-000. The horse had. been Imported by the elder "August Belmont, and when on the death of that gentleman the Nursery Stud was dispersed to settle the estate there was ranch speculation as to who would get St. Blaise. Half a dozen men wanted him. Mr. Reed sat by the side of the ring in tweeds and spats with his square-topped hat he has his own block and they are made specially for him on the back of his head. AVhen the auctioneer asked for a bid there was a flash of a jewel on the strong hand of the broad-chested man at the edge of the sawdust and a moment later the crowd was buzzing with excitement. It was a paralyzing bid. that hundred thousand dollars, and it won the prize. It was said afterward that one man had come prepared to pay more than that figure for the splendid son of Hermit and Fusee. Jlr. Reed had figured such a contingency and with the gamblers acumen raised all competitors out of the game with one gigantic bid. In speaking about it afterward he remarked: "I oarthquakerj cm, thats all, just earthquaked cm." The world at large knows of Charley Reeds gaming connections at Saratoga away back in the days when he had John JIorriRey and Albert Spencer as partners. "He rau a square game." was the tribute Charley Reed had always been paid. JIany men of standing in this community could find their way blindfolded to 5 AVest Twenty-fourth street in the old davs. Like many another man Reed lias felt lost since the passage of the anti-betting laws. He is still passionately fond of racing, and last year after the season at Saratoga, when the tracks in this state were closed, he went to Canada. His Fairview Stud is a memory, his stallions and broodmares are gone, and life to the old man is not what it once was when he and New York were younger.
