VALET-POET.

Clutha Leader, Volume XXXIX, Issue 56, 25 February 1913, Page 2

VALET-POET.

Mr James R. Keen©, America's most famous racehorse owner, is lying ill in New York as tlie result of shock caused by the suicide of his valet, Mr Frank Fissler, who was found with his throat cut. Mr Fissler was no ordinary valet. He was a graduate of Heidelburg University and had served the millionaire with singular devotion for many years. No reason for the suicide has been made known, hut among the valet's effects was a five verse poem dedicated to Mr James R. Keene, of which the following is a specimen : I am only a stable boy, sir; Never knew nothing but horse. I but rub 'em and grub 'em and bed 'em, And have nothing to do with the course; But, say, there are horses and horses, They differ like human kind. They can talk with their hoofs when they want to, Talk with their eyes when they're kind. No wonder, then, that full-grown men, Like owner and trainer and I, Turned with eyes to the wall As we stood in the stall And saw the great Sysonby die. Sysonby was iMr Keene's most famous horse. When it fell ill bulletins of its health were posted at all the leading hotels.