Before the car came along, towns had problems with people jumping trains and horseracing. Worth County used to have its own horseracing grounds, which led to the following accident on September 28th, 1906, recounted by the October 4th Worth County Times:
On the fairgrounds last Friday, an impromptu race was run by horses ridden by Joe Ferguson and Wesley Willhite. The horses were running their best, and just as they got opposite where a large crowd of people were standing, both bolted the track. No one was injured by the Willhite horse, but the Ferguson horse knocked Mrs. James Goodwine and Charley Bressler down and tore Miss Mary Goodwine’s dress. Frank Baker, a boy about 12 years old living with Watt Marshall, was struck on the calf of the leg by the sharp hoof and a bad gash was cut crosswise of the limb. It required several stitches to sew up the wound. Though quite painful, the wound is not dangerous.
In the same issue, the accident prompted the following editorial calling for a better race track. It reads, in part:
The present track is too short and uneven to warrant results. Being in the form of a figure 8, the curves are so short that a horse going at a good gait cannot keep it up in rounding them and is apt to go off at a tangent.
The surrounding ground is admirably fitted for a course, but it will cost considerable money to grade and level up properly. Will the businessmen and farmers take enough interest in this matter to put it on foot so that by the time the next fair comes along, the track will be ready for use?
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