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IRISH LUNACY AND RACING Asylum Inmates Build a Track in a Hurry and With Success. The Irish correspondent of the Manchester Sporting Chronicle tells a peculiar tale of a modern Irish race course and its construction, j Here it is: j Not so long ago money was badly needed for a special object in a certain district in ; Ireland, and the revival of the local race meeting was decided upon as likely to provide the biggest draw. The state of the regular racing date schedule and the time of the year necessitated a date being selected which left something less than a month to lay out a course and to erect the stands and necessary buildings. The tiling seemed impossible, but it was accomplished despite the shortage of labor and lack j of materials. It so happened that Ihe proposed site of the course lay close to the county lunatic i asylum, and a proposal was made which was gratefully received by the inmates and the officials that the patients should do the work of construction in order that they might enjoy a days racing a boon to any Irish- . man, whether sane or otherwise, at any time i in the near future. I There was no seasoned timber available, but there were growing trees. The two hundred volunteers, unaffected by trades union rules as to hours or division of labor, worked so well that the timber was cut and sawed into planks and the stands and buildings erec"d while the inspector of courses congratulated the executors on the state of the track. J The race meeting was an unqualified suc- cess, and never have the jockeys who rode at it received such an ovation as they did each time they passed a section of the boundary wall inside which a small stand accommodated all the inmates men and women ; of the asylum. I
