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HAVRE DE GRACE A HISTORIC PLACE. Quiet Old Town Has More Than tho Two Annua Race Meetings to Boast of. Last spring the accomplished writer, Frederick J. Ilaskins, happiiie-el to be in Havre do Grace while; the race meeting there was in progress, and, be-sielos saying something about the sport, took ec-e-asion in a h-tte-r to the; Chicago Evening News, to give the; following description eif the; old teiwn and its interesting history: "Today se-e-s the end of the years spring racing in Havre do Grace. The little Maryland town is ready to se-tlh hack into its wonted quiet afte-r twe weeks of feverish activity, count its profits and wait for the fall meting. "It is worth while paying a visit to Havre ele Grace while the races are on. whether vou are; in-terested in racing or not. Havre; de Grace has normally about 4.000 people and an atmosphere of remiiiise-e-nt dignity and picturesque peace-. Twice a year for two weeks comes a pe-rioel when a elailv crowel or 0,000 racing folk eh-se-.-nils on the village". Fifteen hundred of the same- we.rhlly ami e-iiergetii-class take up temporary iuarli-rs" in Havre ele Grace itseir. te the great e nlive-nii-nt oC local soe-iety anil the- profit of eve-ryboely who has anything for sale- or a room for re-nt. Havre ele Grace is a teiwn transformed. "livery one rises to the; oe-casiein noblv. IJacing atmosphere take-s the; place of the; ordinary air. Local newsboys siehtrae-k their stock dailies and we-e-klie-s to peddle racing publications. Every automobile in town unfurls a "For Hire" banner ami be;-e-eimi-s for the; nonce a jitney- not einlv the; humble-brands that seem to be; born to the- work. but. big mae-hincs with stri-am line- lioelie-s anil fancy horse-powers. The- visitors have to be; carried te the; track and all cars turn out. "Natives take a proprietary interest in the pro-ee-e-eliiigs. The slate of affairs is something like-what prevails iii a little- southern town that a big league ball team uses for a training camp only mire- so. Jtnwii to the tiny darky boothlae-ks running about the streets, everybody is an e-xpe-rt on the horses that are going to run and the men wiio are geiing to ride; them. The either a day a visitor obsiive-d a chubby and prosperous little urchin weeping bitterly in the streed. unde-r the taunts er a e-iredi eif lean and imligcnt looking comrades. " Whats the trouble V inquired the visitor. " I weighs a huiiriel and thirty pounds. re-pliid the- unfortunate. I cant never be a ioekev. "On the whole-. Havre- eh; Grace regards the rae-es anil fhi-ir followers with approval. There is some-quiet opposition .mong those of strie-ter principles but as-one Havre de-Gr.;e e; resident e.-olaini;d it. most or them have nothing against ihe races While; the ni"i-ts are- on they take in loeigers. "The lack of opposition really springs, however .rom les meree-nary motives than that. An aeleli-tion of lifte-en hundred persons to the population or a town or four thousand makes a lirge elinVriiice in business transacted, especially when the fifteen huiilivd belong to a class hat spemls monev freely But eve n so. Havre ele- Grace- probably we.uid object strenuously to lie-ing use-d as a racing center if the-visitors were; im-lnim-el to be tremble-some. They untied. Natives agree that they are; an e-xee-ptieinallv quite and unobtrusive eiement. Then; are- seventeen places in Havre ele Grace where- the; winner mav cchhratc victory or the; loser drown defeat in stroie waters. Yet the; local police fnive eloe-s not aehl one Singh; constable; while the races are- on. or all the little towns where; big race; meetings are; he-lel none is better ritteel to set eiff the; e-elor-ful, vane-gated life; eif the track than Havre ele-Grace-. Keir this is an olel and historic village-, ron-Irastmg sharply with the; ultra-modern crowds in the- streets. "There; is a gentleman in Havre eh; Grace who recently hael the; Honor of watching a monument uiive-ileil to the hereiism of his grandfather. When the; British inarched on Baltimore in the; war of 1SI2, Havre eh Grace was one; of the unfortunate places that they visited en route. When they ar-riviil the-re we-re- sixty or seve-iity houses in Havre; ele Grace, and they burned most of those, so that most eiT the town oT toelay is less than a hundred ye-ars olel. Havre; eh Grace was taken, but in the; gallant elefense or John OXeil, the patriotic inhabitant finels some e-onsolatioii. "Aecording to Havre eh; Graee; today, John OXeil whose; grandson still lives here--v,-hippeel the; British single hanele-el. He; did not epiite elo that, but he; made it interesting for the-ni for a time. The e-iti.e-ns expected an attack and set up a battery of three- little; cannons. When the- alarm came, OXeil teiok his plae-e; behind the guns along with a nimibe-r or militia-men. The; British swept the battery grape- shot, until the; defenders ele-ciiieel te move-. OXeil exhort ed tlicin to no purpose;, so he; eleciehel to keep on fighting on his own neeoiint. He- se-rve-el one eif the- cannon industriously, ami the-Ilii-mys fire- hail nothing to elo with his ultimate red rent. His envn gun drove him out, whe-n it kie-ke-d him in the shin. "He re-tired in gooil order into the village where hi anil a frie-nil e-euitinue-el the- struggle with muskets. He- was finally captured by a sipiael of British, with a musket in each haiul. He geit a prose-iita-tion sword freim the; people of Baltimore, and a luinilrcel ye-ars late;r a monument to his memory. "The" fame; of Havre- eh- Graee eleies neit elcpcnd sedely em the- memory oT .leilm OXeil. The town is prone tei Ixiast of twei unique preielucts in the; shape; of the wilel canvasback duck ami the Susqui-h: a shad. It may be difficult to see how a municipality can lay claim to eie-uize-us et the; air and water, but Havre- eh Graee; eleie-s it. lle-r people- say that the- hie-al shad has a peculiar anil distinctive flavor, that the Havre; de; Grace; canvasback is the last wonl in ducks. "Twice a year, however, when the races are on, ducks, fish ami history retire; temporarily into the; bae-kgrouail. The railroads run daily specials elirect lei the- track from Baltimore, Washington anil Phila-elelphia. The main trunk auto reiael that connects Xew Veirk with Washington and the south is crowehel with scutte;ring jitneys bearing the crowds to thv paddock. The program is conducted! with immense dignity and order. Persons oppose-el to racing have; to base their objections to tin; performance; at Havre ile Graee on principle rathe-r than practice;. The;re is something of the picturesque; element lacking, that distinguish! the old-time wiele;-ope-n racing meetings and those that are still held at the smaller anil more obscure tracks the; pandemonium of rival bookmakers, the multitudinous fakirs, the vendors of tips ami sure; things. "Betting at Havre de; Grace this year is done exclusive-Iy through what is locally known as the; "machine." It has all the solemnity of playing the stock exchange. "The machine occupies the big space a hundred yards long under the stand bordereel by a line of grated windows, like; the windows ef tedlers in a bank. The; citizen whei desires to hack his opinion of a particular horse, after a study of the odds advances on one of the windows anel buys a ticket for any sum from to 0. He may piae-e his money on the horse for straight, place; or show that is, he may bet on his choice; for a winner, or for one of the; first two horses to pass uniler the wire, or one of the first three. In the; former case, of course, he takes the longer chance and stands to win the larger sum. The peiol is divided proportionately among tin; tickets ou the first three horses. Should a favorite- win the winnings are split among a large number of tickets, while if a "long shot" crosse-s the line ahead the share of each bettor who backed it is proportion- Con tinned ou second page. HAVRE DE GRACE A HISTORIC PLACE. Continued from first page. ately larger. Thus the odds automatically adjust themselves. "It is claimed that this system does away with the old abuses, and it certainly seems to contribute materially to the general orderliness of the proceedings. According to some of those who have followed the Havre de Grace meetings for years, it is not as popular with the racing folk as was the old regime, but objections are not apparent. The money is quite evenly distributed among the large and the small tickets. A typical pool will show 2,000 tickets, 1,000 at , 500 at 0 and less than a hundred at 0. "The crowd lends some color to the charge sometimes made that racing is a rich mans sport. The poor are conspicuous by their absence. There is a good sprinkling of "society," but the general attitude of the spectators is keen and businesslike. Everybody follows the proceedings with card and pencil iu hand, the women even more seriously and methodically than the men. The interest centers on the winner rather than the race and a game loser gets little of the sympathy that lie earns in almost every other sport. Even the man-killing steeplechases, when the field crowds up to a jump and horses ami men go down, the glasses iu the stand are turned on the horses that stay iu the running and not on the limp figures iu gay-colored silks that lie still on the ground. "From time to time a storm of discussion arises over the whole question of racing. Its advocates maintain that it is the best thing in the world for the breed of horses, and the other side protests that it is bad for humanity. However that may be, there is little doubt that it is a good tiling for Havre de Grace."
