view raw text
REMINISCENCES OF CHARLES REED. Items in the Life of the Man Who Owned St. Blaise and Thora. "There goes a man who makes me think of the late Charley Reed." remarked a veteran New York turfman. "And it also reminds me that although the doings of Reeds life would make a big volume of interesting reading, the newspapers carried only about twenty lines about him when he died in 4 poverty down at Gallatin. Tenn., a few year; ago. He was past 88 years old when he died ami had been one of the most prominent characters on the turf and in the sporting world for a full half century. "Never was there a character better known to the turf of a quarter of a century ami more ago than dd Charley Reed. So venerable in appearance was he. that no one seemed able to remember him as a young man. An yet with all his years he was still vigorous when he had passed his eightieth milestone. "Reed, though supposed by many to have been a Kentuckian by birth, was born in Tennessee on Friday. March 13. 1S30. anil in his later years he often was heard to remark that there was no "hoodoo" in the "Fndny-tlie-tiiirteonth" for him. "Ive always been lucky." he once remarked to a reporter, although at the particular moment he made the remark, all his belongings that had coat him hundreds of thousands were being sold at auction for a pittance. "From his boyhood days Reed was a gambler and he gambled at cards in those days when gambling was the recognized recreation of statesmen and financiers. And yet, after having gambled all his life, he was steered against a •sure thing to lose his last ,000, and he died pea niless. One of the "Forty-Niners." "At the first rumor of the strike in California the then young Charley Reed was one of the modern .lasons to. join the Argonauts and go in quest of the Golden Fleece. Prospering there he returned eastward to New York and later went to New Orleans, where he ran a gambling house. A t the time of General Renjamin Rutlers raid on the Crescent City, Reed was in jail as the result of an encounter in which another gambler wis killed. General Butler opened the doors of the jail, freed all the prisoners, and Reed went away from there and again journeyed northward. "Always Charley- Reed loved the horses and often told of seeing his first big race when a boy of eleven, when he was taken to see the great match between Fashion and Peytona on Long Island in 1841. Long after the Civil War Reed purchased Fairview Farm, near Gallatin. Tenn.. the place of his birth. He succeeded John Morrissey in the ownership of the noted clubhouse at Saratoga, which afterward became the property of Richard Canfield, and which now is owned by the city of Saratoga, the buildings and grounds being a part of the city park system. "The one story that always trapped up when anything was to be said of Reed was his sensational bid on that famous Kpsom Derby winner, St. Rlaise. "St. Rlaise was imported into this country by the first August Relmont. father of the preaeat chairman of The Jockey Club. After the death of Mr. Relmont St. Rlaise was put up at auction in Madison Square Garden, along with others of the Relmont racing string. When the great thoroughbred was offered there was but one bid. Everyone else was breathless when Reed said 00. 000. and he secured the horse, which became the head of the stud at Fairview. "Tall and big of frame, with grizzled hair and mustache. Reed was a picturesque character of the turf never to be forgotten by any one who once had seen him. No other turfman of his time ever dressed as did Charley Reed. His taste ran to hats with fantastic bands made of multi-colored scarves and bandana handkerchiefs. Always he wore a fancy vest of some heavy goods in bright colors, checked or striped, and on his feet he wore spats, whether in winter or summer. Reeds Extensive Holdings. "In addition to his clubhouse interests at Saratoga. Reed owned the house at 5 West Twenty -fourth street adjoining the old Hoffman House, and along in the 70s. SOs. and even into the 88*1 this was a place where the play at cards and roulette was us high as any place in the world. There in those days famous men gambled for high stakes. One of the legends of the 1 la " was that Fernando Wood, once Mayor of New York, one night gambled away a newspaper property, and then won it back and 0,000 besides on the following night. "One of the last Rroadway memories of Reed is the sab- of the valuable furniture and works of art which took place in 1910. Furnishings that had cost 00,000 went for a total of ,500. In the lot was one sideboard that President Scott of the Brie Railroad had offered Reed 0,000 for. When the offer was made Reed turned it down, saying it would spoil the set to part with it. At the sale it was bought in by a dealer in antiques for 8248, "Already Fairview had been sold with all its model stables and 1.957 acres of fine land that by along the Cumberland River. Fairview was the most beautiful of all the old residences in the Blue Grass section of Tennessee, and lad been the home of the Franklins. "In those latter days it soured Reed to be known as a gambler, rather than a horseman. He preferred to b? remembered as the man who had on Bed St. Rlaise and Thora. the greatest two-year-old of her year, and Ronnie Relic, another great race ■an that brought fame to her owner. "I remember the time." he said during the sale of his house furnishings, "when this place was frequented by men famous all over the United Btatea, They came here for recreation, but times have chanced and gamblers of today are different. People have come to think differently of playing cards for money ji.d the old day.-, have passed forever. Honest in All His Dealings. " Vlways Rei d had borne the reputation of being honest in all his dealings on and off the turf, in his gambling houses, or in any other business tr.i reaction. After the sale of his last belongings the dd man had sufficient to keep him for his declining days, but with his advancing years his mind weakened. The "wire men" played for him and he trusted them, for he always had been a trustful soul, believing no great ill of any one. "The fake poolroom was all framed and the aged one was led to the slaughter. The man who had made one bid of 00,000 for a race horse and who had gambled for tens .-.ml hundreds of thousands in a night, was there" to "place" the remnant of a once big fortune on a "sure thing." "The "wire mob" let him "place" the money and the "Sure Thing" was second. After it was all over, weakened in mind, as he was. Reed, knew that 1 e had been buncoed, but lik the majority of those who have fallen and continue to fail for the old game, he never squealed. The transaction was known to but a few people. "Charley Reed just dropped out of sight, and like so many others, at one time famous, he was forgotten. He got back down to Gallatin, from whence he had started, and he died a pauper and among strangers, for most of those who knew him there had passed on before."
