Our own Ceredo, located right here in our own Wayne County is going to be the home of a first-class Dog race track. The race track is already well under construction and will be completed next month, it is planned. Dog racing has been a thriving sport in many sections of the United States for sometime, but the Ceredo track will be the first in West Virginia, it is announced. Duke Ridgley, widely known and widely-read sporting editor of the Huntington Herald Dispatch describes the coming of Wayne County's new sporting venture in the following news story.
"The greyhound races at Ceredo are getting so close that you can almost hear the dogs barking." But this is not to be taken that Ceredo has gone to the bow-wows. Gracious me. Nothing like it.
T. W. (Tom) Scott, guiding genius of the new quarter mile track in Wayne County and general manager of the Ceredo Kennel Club, is author of the above statement, and young Mr. Scott is not in the habit of talking just to exercise his chin.
"The contract for the grandstand and the track has been awarded," said Scott, "and a big staff of workmen are now engaged getting the new plant in order for the Fall meeting." The Ceredo course will be one of the finest dog racing courses in America, the cost of construction being estimated at $50,000.
When asked regarding the opening of the Wayne County track, Scott, who hails from Lexington, Ky., and is one of the best-known greyhound promoters in the business, stated that Labor Day, Monday, Sept. 6, was the day set for the kick off and that he was reasonably sure the plant would be completed by that time.
The Ceredo Kennel Club meeting will be a 30-day--or rather night--affair, as all dog races are held at night. There will be eight events each evening and eight dogs in each race. General Manager Scott has also announced that the celebrated Heintz rabbit will be used at the meeting.
In the meantime construction on the new track in the thriving little Wayne County city goes merrily along.
As the time for the inaugural of greyhound racing in this vicinity approaches, many Huntington sportsmen are becoming interested in securing a stable of racing dogs which they expect to enter at Ceredo. Big purses will be hung up for the owners of fast steppers to try for in the racing session in Wayne.
It doesn't cost much kale to support a racing dog. As long as the owner can furnish his runner with a soup bone when he's losing and porterhouse steak if he wins, everything is lovely between the dog and his owner. It's not like buying oats for a horse, to say nothing of the expense of a jockey and other incidentals.
While on the subject of dogs and horses, there are many critics who will wager real money that a greyhound can beat a thoroughbred sprinter in a race. Horsemen, however, refuse to admit the truth of this statement.
Dog racing is a great sport. In real thrills it does not [place second] to any other sort of contest between animals--it compares favorably with all of them.
General Manager Scott, of the Ceredo course, knows more about greyhounds than Babe Ruth does about home runs, and Scott tells us that a greyhound is as fast as any animal that runs on four legs--maybe a bit faster. Scott also says that a Whippet, which is an undersized greyhound, isn't as fast as a greyhound.
The electrical equipment and mechanical apparatus for the Ceredo track have all been ordered and will be installed within the next few weeks. Powerful arch light with Mazda globes, 15 feet apart and completely circling the quarter-mile course, will make the plant as bright as day. The dogs will be in plain view of the spectators in the stand, as at no time will the greyhounds be more than 200 feet away as they chast the elusive bunny.
Races at Ceredo will be held every night during the 30-day meet except on Sunday. Post time is at 8:15. This will constitute the State's most novel sporting event.
The greyhound plant at Ceredo is modeled after those which have been in operation in Miami, New York, Sarasota, Atlanta. . .Petersburg [and] St. Louis. . .
Special street car and bus services will be available at all hous during the 30-day carnival at Ceredo, and parking space for thousands of automobiles will be free gratis to the public on the field which adjoins the plant.
R. R. Hanner, superintendent of Ceredo-Kenova schools, has announced that all schools in the district will open Monday, September 6th.
The new building and the installation of the modern system of heating and ventilation in all other buildings will be completed by the opening date.
The assignment of teachers for the ensuing year is as follows:
George C. Ferrell, 37 years old farmer of Little Seven Mile, on the Ohio River Road, was instantly killed Monday afternoon this week, when a seven passenger Packard car he was driving swerved from the road and turned over on the Wayne-Huntington road near Dickson. Two small sons of Mr. Ferrell, 7 and 9 years old, were with him at the time of the accident but miraculously escaped serious injury. They suffered only slight cuts and bruises and were taken to their home after examination by a physician.
The accident occurred on a sharp curve in the road, almost directly in front of the home of Zeke Bloss. Ferrell was driving at a high rate of speed toward Dickson when the crash came, according to reports of Mr. and Mrs. Ham Turner and others who were eye witnesses. He had swung around one curve and was starting around another when, they said, he appeared to lose control of the machine. It darted to the left of the road, and then at a quick swing of the steering wheel, it shot back to the right and tore down three posts, plunged over an embankment, ploughed through the field, and smashed headlong into a steep ten-foot bank. When the car landed, the front wheels were lifted in the air, and the car turned a backward summersault, coming to rest bottom side up.
The right side of Mr. Ferrell's head was terribly crushed and lacerated. His right ear was torn off as was also one finger on his right hand.
Mr. Ferrell formerly resided with his wife and family in Mingo County. Several months ago he purchased a farm on Little Seven Mile and moved his family there. His widow and six children survive. The oldest child is only 13 years of age.
Transcription by June White