In Shadows in the Pleasure Gardens, Chester Carter leaves his apprenticeship at a bank and seeks adventure and fulfillment in horse racing.
Horse racing has a storied background in American history. The first horses were shipped to America around 1519 by the Spanish Conquistadors. They moved northward and became integrated into indigenous cultures. When the British began colonizing North America, they brought more horses with them. As soon as there were horses, there was horse racing; at least, that’s my position. Racing was largely informal and occurred over fields and city streets, until New York opened the Newmarket Course under the governor’s guidance in 1665. The goal of formalizing racing, and introducing prize money, was to better the American breeding stock, and perhaps to channel horse racing to a more appropriate venue than city streets.
In Philadelphia, one of William Penn’s original grid streets, Sassafras Street, was renamed “Race Street,” in 1820 because of its penchant for hosting races. Similarly, Center Square, which Penn had planned to be the center of the city, was used as the starting point for horse races, and later as a site for public hangings.
Horse racing was not unanimously heralded as a proper American pastime, though, as it was often paired with vices of gambling and pride, and racing along city streets may have been somewhat disruptive to commerce and ordinary thoroughfare.
In 1817, the Pennsylvania General Assembly enacted An Act Against Horse Racing Upon the Public Roads within the Limits of the City and County of Philadelphia. Per the Act,
“if, from and after the passing of this act, any person shall enter or start, or cause or procure to be entered or started, any horse, mare, or gelding, for the purpose of running or performing a race, upon any public road within the limits of the city or county of Philadelphia, at any meeting or assembly consisting of more than fifteen persons, or if any person shall willfully ride a race, or cause or procure a race to be ridden, upon any such public road, every such person, upon conviction in any court of record, having criminal jurisdiction over the place where the offense may have been committed, shall be subject to a fine of fifty dollars.”
The $50 fine would be about $1,35.50 today. The Act also allowed for the public seizure of any horse caused to run a race in the streets, and allotted ten dollars ($270 in today’s dollars) to constables for making said seizure, “provided however, that such seizure be made at the time of such race, or immediately after the same, or upon fresh suit.” Horses those days could, like today, run the entire price range from free to exorbitant. If seizure were not made according to the foregoing restrictions, it required a warrant issued upon a complaint with two credible witnesses. Constables were then empowered to enter property reasonably believed to house the horse, and were allotted five dollars for their trouble. The person accused of racing said horse would be entitled to a jury trial if he disputed the facts, but the law seems to assume that the horse would have already been sold and the deprived party would simply be returned the proceeds from the sale upon prevailing at trial. If it was proven that there had been illegal racing, the funds from the horse sale were to be paid half to the informer and half to the guardians of the poor for the city wherein the offense was committed.
Chester discovered horse racing in Pennsylvania in the summer of 1818. It is seen among polite and professional society as a sport and pastime countenancing vice, gambling, and drinking. Chester was warned that horse racing would not be a suitable long-term career.
Indeed, in 1820, the Pennsylvania General Assembly went further than simply outlawing galloping horses through public streets and banned all racing in the state through An Act Against Horse Racing. It declared “all racing…of horses…for money, goods, or chattels or other valuable things, shall be, and hereby are declared to be common nuisances and offenses against this state, and the authors, parties, contrivers, and abettors thereof, shall be prosecuted and proceeded against by indictment.” It also allowed for the seizure of the horses raced and voided any wagers made.
Since this time, horse racing recovered and experienced any number of ups and downs according to public sentiment.
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