Luck

This week's prompt ("Luck") brought to mind a 130 year old story about my great great grandfather Patrick Norton.

Patrick was an immigrant from County Roscommon, Ireland, who settled in Jersey City, New Jersey, and made a good life for himself--certainly with a lot of hard work and wisdom, but doubtless with a little bit of luck.  He was Irish, after all.

Back in 1890, our Patrick was the proud owner of a gray mare named "Belle of the Horseshoe," one of the fastest horses in Jersey City.  Perhaps coincidentally, her name was derived from the city's gerrymandered District 2.  The district was drawn by the Republican controlled state legislature to isolate the Catholic population, and particularly the Irish Catholic population, because they voted overwhelmingly for Democrats.  Anyway, the shape of the district definitely resembled a horseshoe, and Patrick's horse was the Belle of it.

Well, it happened that Patrick's gray mare beat a roan gelding by the name of "Harry," owned by Judge James Tumulty.  If you know anything of the Tumulty clan of Jersey City, you know they don't like to lose.  So, he demanded a rematch, this time to include a third horse named "Kitty Mick," owned by Patrick McGrath, a Democrat party boss who ran the city's street cleaning department.

Former police commissioner Thomas Nugent and a fellow named Martin Kelly were selected by the three horse owners as impartial judges.  They selected a two-mile stretch on the Carlstadt Road.  And, it was agreed that the owner of the horse who came in third place would buy dinner and wine for both the judges and his two competitors.  But, in actuality, the stakes were significantly higher than five fancy dinners.  Residents of the Horseshoe District had bet a barrel full of money--literally a barrel full of money--on the outcome of the race.

By the way, the three owners rode their respective horses.  There were no professional jockeys hired for this event.

Conditions called for a trotting race, which favored Patrick's mare.

At the starting signal, Kitty Mick burst forth to an early lead.  But, she and McGrath were overzealous.  They were quickly overtaken by Norton and Tumulty, and it became a two horse race with Belle and Harry exchanging slight leads.  But, something happened in the last furlong.  Belle broke badly, allowing not only the gelding to surge to an insurmountable lead, but also giving Kitty Mick enough room to take second place.

So, Patrick's odds-on favorite blew it, and he was left to pay the dinner bill for Tumulty, McGrath, Nugent, and Kelly.  To paraphrase the old song, his old gray mare just wasn't what she used to be.

A lot of betting people in the Horseshoe went home disgruntled that day.  

But, those who bet on Tumulty's horse, were rewarded quite handsomely.  Among them, was a close circle of Patrick's friends.  Suspicion was rampant that he had thrown the race, but nothing could be proved.

Sometimes, bad luck isn't bad luck at all.  

I imagine the same may be said of good luck . . .

#52Ancestors