Dear Readers of the Turf Times:  Our correspondent’s coverage of the New Orleans Jockey Club’s 1837 Inaugural Spring Races will resume in next week’s issue! 

In the meantime, here’s a brief tale of true chivalry, culled from the archives of the American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine.

General Kosciuszko’s Horse

The celebrated Polish general, Kosciuszko, once wished to send some bottles of good wine to a clergyman at Solothurn [Switzerland]; and, as he hesitated to send them by his servant, lest he should smuggle a part, he gave the commission to a young man of the name of Zeltuer, and desired him to take the horse which he himself usually rode.

Young Zeltuer said to Kosciuszko, that he would never ride his horse again, unless he gave him his purse at the same time.

Kosciuszko asking what he meant, he answered, “As soon as a poor man on the road takes off his hat, and asks for charity, the horse immediately stands still, and will not stir till something is given to the petitioner; and, as I had no money about me, I was obliged to make a motion as if I were giving something, in order to satisfy the horse.”

This beautifully turned compliment is taken from a Polish journal.  A higher eulogy could hardly be pronounced on the hero of this tale.

American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine 4, no. 2 (November 1832 ): 112.

A number of equestrian statues and other monuments stand throughout the U.S. in honor of General Kosciuszko; equestrian memorials include one in Kosciuszko Park in Milwaukee, and others in Detroit and Chicago.