view raw text
TOMMY BURNS IS KILLED FORMER PREMIER JOCKEY COMES TO A TRAGIC END AT NEW YORK. Leading American Rider of 1893 and 1899 Is Ground to Pieces Beneath Wheels of Elevated Train Something of His Career. New York. November U.T. II. Tommy Burns, internationally famous as :i jockey, either jumped or Jell beneath an elevated train in Brooklyn today anil was ground to pieces. No one witnessed the tragedy. The last person to .see him was the station ticket .seller, who noticed him paving up and down the platform just before the train pulled in. His fur-lined coat and hat were found on a bench. Diamonds, a silver cigarette case, a considerable sum of cash, a bank, liook showing deposits in a Berlin bank, and a contract to ride there next season were found on the body. - Burns spent last season abroad, hut has been liviug at Sheepshead Bay recently. Presumably he was on his way home when killed. The achievements of jockey Thomas II. Burns, who ligured as Americas premier rider in 18!S and 1SSJ9, and who for several years thereafter "continued to hold high rank among American jockeys, after which he related Ids American successes abroad, are. still fresh in the minds of turf patrons. To recall the successful career of Tommy Burns on the turf is to bring to mind such riders as Arthur Uodfern, George il. Odoin, Jay Kanch, Harry Cochran, John Bullmaii, Lucien Lytic, Jack Martin, Winnie OConnor. Henry McCue, Nash Turner, J. Winkfield. Sam Doggett and Danny Maher. When Burns was at his best his fellow jockeys with whom he had to compete were the equals of any of the star riders of other times, for. to lie added to the list as quoted, Bums booked tip against the celebrated Charley Thorpe, two great colored riders. Tony Hamilton and Willis Siunns, and the best of them all. Tod Sloan. As long ago as 1S93 Burns, then a midget of midgets, was riding at St. Louis under the tutelage of Tom Hums and Dave Waldo. In 1S9S and 1SU9 lie earned the proud position of leading jockey of the United States in number of winning mounts, and -ranked among Jhe leading riders of the" country in other years as well-. When Burns was at the zenith of his .fame no rider had anything on him. He started in riding at seventy-live pounds and won his first success at St. Paul in 1S94 on Uncle Jim, owned by "Deaf Tom" Hums, a well-known turf character of that period. Burns began to show ids good form in 1S9G and 3897. He was engaged by John W. Schorr, and Charley Ellison, since famed as a plunger, took him in hand. It was with Burns that Mr. Ellison made his fortune. The boys success brought to them many thousands of dollars. So successful was he on the Schorr racers that it became the talk of the track that the "two best horses" Schorr owned were trainer Walker and jockey Burns. It was upon such performers as Macy, Meadowthorpe, Charley Christy, Cathedral, Presbyterian, Judith Campbell, Lady Schorr. Sea Bobber, Algol. Tiiuemaker, Ordnuug, Greenock and Lieber Karl that he won fame. For several seasons Burns was little known to metropolitan turf patrons for the reason that Mr. Schorr confined his efforts to western courses. However, in 1900, Mr. Schorr took a whirl at the big tracks and the horsemen, of New York quickly discovered that they had more to fear from his rider than from, his racers. That astute horseman, John E. Madden, forthwith sized up Burns and was not long Jn persuading W. C. Whitney that the Schorr rider was the one lie was looking for. In the winter of 1!K1 a deal was made whereby Burns entered the service of Mr. Whitney. He began riding for the Whitney stable in the spring of 1002. Without delay he won with Blue Girl in the Juvenile Stakes at Morris Park. Henceforth Burns star dazzled. Burns remained with Whitnev until that great turfman and capitalist died. Next he rode for Capt. S. S. Brown and later for 15. E. Sinathcrs. In whose colors lie rode the great McChes-ney. Grand Opera and other cracks. Mr. Smathers ceased racing when Mcthesney broke down. Burns career began in 1S93. Born in Canada, he whs picked up when hardly more than a child by his first cousin, Tom Hums, who had the horses "ashler. Outcry. First Day. Blue Eyes and Milwaukee. Burns showed aptitude from the beginning. His first important victory was on Milwaukee in a race in Chicago at a mile and a quarter. This, event was in the Clark Stakes, at Harlem. He rode many winners prior to this and at Itoby. in 189;;, in an owners handicap he finished second on Governor Porter, making weight that day at exactly fifty-five pounds. Bight after that he rode at fifty-threc pounds, and he piloted Helen Wrenn first to the wire when he weighed barely sixty pounds. Burns developed rapidly. He was as quick as lightning at the post and as a front rider he was a wonder. Frequently he nosed out Tod Sloan. He often did things least expected from him, but never was he accused of being dishonest. Burns established the fastest American time for a mile and a half with Goodrich at Washington Park. Chicago. July 15, 1898. The record is 2:30. and stands to this. day. He set another mark in Chicago when lie ride Algol In the Wheeler Handicap, distance one mile pud a quarter. The time was 2:01 A. Algol was a 10 to 1 shot. Bums rode Algol in many handicaps and won many mile races with him in 1:40. with weight ranging from 120 to 129 pounds. The day Algol ran a mile and a quarter in 2:04i the records established by Tenny and Salvator weresmasued. In 1907 Burns rode in Franco and Germany, and ranked as the third best jockey in the former country. As chief rider for the Emperor of Germany he received from the kaiser 40.000 marks, or ?S,000. the most liberal salary paid by that ruler up to that time to a rider of his racers. At the international meeting he won the Baden-Baden, worth SG.000. He won the big Hamburg prize and finished third in the German Derby, which was won by Willie Shaw. He wou many races in Germany at two miles and a quarter and with one horse captured ten straight races. Burns reappeared ou the turf in this country in the- summer of 1909. At Latonia he rode Font home in front of the lieet Jeff Bernstein. Up to that time Jeff Berusteiu had been invincible. Later on he rode at Fort Erie. In a jam Burns went down and sustained a broken collarbone. That settled it. Bums thought, and he went home to New York. He was out of the saddle for about a year. Then he purchased Glucose, Premier and other horses, V eome of which he occasionally rode In their races. Burns married a daughter of James McLaughlin, himself one of the best jockeys of his day, and has two children, one of whom is a little lad of whom Yommv expected to make a jockey as good as he himself was. As he was a thrifty chap. It has always been supposed that he retired from the saddle with enough money to carry him through life. His stake victories Include the Adirondack Handicap at Saratoga, in 1904, on Broadcloth; Brighton Handicap, Brighton Beach, 1904, on Broomstick; Broadway Stakes, Graveseiid. 190;S. on Irish Lad: Brooklyn Handicap. Gravesend, 190.".. on Delhi; Carlton Stakes. 1902. ou King Hanover: 1903. on Reliable; Double Event First Part, Sheepshead Bay. 1902, on Mexican: Eclipse Stakes, Morris Park, 1001. on Blue Girl; Expectation Stakes, Graveseiid, 1902, on Mexican;, First Special, Graves-end, 1901, on Advance Guard; Grand Union Hotel Stakes, Saratoga, 1901, on King Hanover; .1902, on Grey Friar; Great American Stakes. Gravesend. 1901, on Blue Girl; Great Filly Stakes, Sheepshead Bay, 1902, on Girdle, 1905, on Running Water; Mermaid Stakes, Sheepshead Bay, 1902, on Gunfire; Metropolitan Handicap, Mdrris Park. 1903, on Gunfire; Saratoga Handicap, Saratoga, 1905. on Caugh-nawaga: Second Special, Gravesend. 1900, on Imp; St. Louis Derby, Fair Grounds. 1900, on Sam Phillips: Tennessee Derby, Memphis, 189S, on Lieber Karl; 1900. on Lady Navarre: Tennessee Oaks, 1905, on Lady Navarre: Travers Stakes, Sheepshead Bay. 1904. on Broomstick; Twin -City Handicap, Sheepshead Bay. 1901, on Caughnawaga: Wheeler Handicap, Washington Park, 1S9S, on Algol, and numerous others. Few jockeys that have ridden in this country can duplicate or approach the record which Tommy Burns lias to his credit, as shown in the following tabulation of his saddle showing in America from the time that he first headed the list of American riders iu 1S98 down to date: Year. Mts. 1st. 2d. 3d. Unp. P.C. 1S9S 973 277 213 149 .28 1S99 1,004 273 173 20G 352 .20 1900 503 13S 107 90 230 .24 1901 717 150 155 97 314 .21 1902 0415 133 110 77 32G .20 1903 S23 15G 134 102 431 .19 1904 540 SO 100 OS 3GS .12 1905 545 74 04 70 337 .13 1906 179 15 27 IS 119 .OS 1907 Rode in France and Germanv. 190S 95 13 14 14 54 .14 1909 105 10 26 24 100 .10 1910 1 0 0 0 1 .00 1911 23 5 5 4 9 .22 1912 7 3 2 0 2 .43 Total C.450 1,333 - 1,131 1,009 2,077 .21
