KNOX COUNTY OHIO - Norton's History of Knox County [Chapter XLI]

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A History of Knox County, Ohio, From 1779 to 1862 
Inclusive: Comprising Biographical Sketches, Anecdotes and 
incidents of men connected with the county from its first 
settlement: Together with complete lists of the senators, 
representatives, sherriffs, auditors, commissioners, 
treasurers, judges, justices of the peace, and other 
officers of the county, also of those who have served in a 
military capacity from its first organization to the 
present time, and also a sketch of Kenyon College, and 
other institutions of learning and religion within the 
county. 
By A. Banning Norton.

Columbus: Richard Nevins, Printer. 1862
Entered according to the act of Congress in the year 1862 
by A. Banning Norton, In the Clerk’s office of the Southern 
District of Ohio.
     ____________________________________________

CHAPTER LI.

THE FAMOUS RACE OF SEEI.EY'S BULL vs. TOM'SHORSE.

ONE of the "phunny" characters in our c county's history 
is our old friend Seely Simpkins, who is now in his 70th year, 
and was horn in West Jersey, the precise spot he doesn't 
know—nor is it material to the thread of this discourse. In 
1804, when five Years old he was brought by his father from 
Morgantown Va. and his recollection of Mt. Vernon runs 
from the time Capt. Walker lived in a little log hut close by 
the old sulphur spring. Seeley says that its water had a great 
medicine reputation with the Indians. He was a great favorite 
with the Squaws and pappooses, by reason of his uncommon 
musical talent. He could mimic any sound of varmint or 
human surpassed the lute of Orpheus, and out-whistled all 
creation. He furnished the music for early musters, and when 
it took four counties to make a regiment he gave a challenge 
to out—whistle any man within them. He recollects with 
much pride the encomiums of Adjutant Stilley, who, he says 
was "the best judge of swill music then in the country. He fre-
quented race tracks, and drew crowds and supplied hoe—
downs on demand. for a long time he labored under the 
disadvantage of making his pilgrimages on foot, but having 
the good luck to hear at preaching that '' Balaam took his ass 
and saddled

him." he concluded to take the next thing to it— his bull--and 
saddle and ride him. He was a nice little muscular brute, 
raised by him, and being gentle, was trained so that he 
traveled right smart on Seeley's Circuit. Often have we seen 
Seeley in all his glory ride to the mill with his grist, and while it 
was being ground he would take an airing  around the town, 
whistling as he went. The races were usually on the flat front 
of Norton's mills, and there Seeley acquired "immortality and 
fame." On the occasion of a grand race, when the Critch-
fields, Sam, Arbuckle,	and the Creek nation were
in town in their strength, a race was gotten up by Hugh Neal, 
John Gregg, and John Kellifer, between Selley's bull and 
Tom Irvine's horse. The stakes were up; judges took their 
stand and expectation on tiptoe was soon gratified by the 
entrance of the steeds. At starting, the little  bull's tail received 
a sudden and severe twist, causing him to bellow lustily as 
Seeley with "vaulting ambition pricked the sides of his intent;" 
and goaded to desperation, bull pawed the earth and sped on 
with all his might, while the air was rent with the shouts and 
yells of the spectators, frightening him almost out of his skin. 
The horse, altogether unused to such "noise and confusion," 
inclined	to balk, shied to one side, and trembling from fear, 
could not be brought to the "outcome" in time, and the judges 
honestly pronounced in favor of Seeley's bull. Amid the 
applause of the  large concourse. Seeley proudly mounted his 
charger, and as he stroked his neck, complacently

took the wager, and rode home a happier man than ever in 
his life before or since. The poet says:
"Honor and fame from no condition rise ;
Act well your part—there all the honor lies."

Seeley has done this, and his name is inscribed on the page of 
his country's history, to be remembered long after those who 
have laughed at his career shall have been forgotten.
				_____

To the READER—We rest—not insensible to the fact that we may, in 
your estimation, " have done those things which we ought not to have done, 
and left undone those things which We ought to have done;'' but there is no 
help for it now. Our field was entirely new, and but very few papers are 
accessible at this early day in our history—the future writer will have still 
less, and this work may prove advantageous to those who succeed us. We 
have not sought to embellish, but simply to give plain statements of old 
matters. Several thousand families have been named and omissions of any of 
the old settlers have been unintentional. The multitude crowding upon us has 
caused us to give less notice to several of our best citizens than we designed. 
Errors, typographical and otherwise, may exist; attribute them to the 
peculiar circumstances that surround us in these days of war and join us in 
prayer for a return of the good old times of peace, prosperity and happiness.