The Chase Magazine
July, 1979
Page Eight
OLD HOUNDS
Ruth Reynolds 14972
Ruth Reynolds 14972 was bred by the Late S. L. Wooldridge, Sr. Versailles, Ky. True to his way of
breeding hounds, she had type and gameness. She was W.B. &T. mostly white with very little
black showing in the tan. She had as good feet, back and well-sprung ribs as I ever saw on a
hound with a heavy coat of hair and beautiful flag tail carried just right. I showed her one time at
Pulaski County Hunt and she won Best in Show. She came from a great family of hounds that
have carried on in a splendid way from the big Field Trials and Bench Shows down to the "Forks
of the Creek" type of hunting. Her sire, Cyrano, is known throughout the foxhunting country as
one of the best foxhounds and sires of his day; as S.L. Wooldridge once put it "the most sought
after blood in Kentucky." Her dam was N. C. Ch. Gay Lou(b), she by Flying Heels out of CH. Gay
Nell (F). It is interesting to note that Cyrano and Gay Lou carried two crosses each of four of the
best crosses ever made on Big Stride. Cyrano comes through the Big Stride-Pearl and Big
Stride-Lottie cross and Gay Lou, the Bog Stride-Tena and Big Stride-Dot cross. Gay Lou also
carried a double cross of Scout and Bum through Flash and Lady. This is the same Scout
mentioned in the Lee 121 article, April Chase. Mr. Wooldridge said this was such strong blood he
tried to breed all of it in a hound he could. Professer Word of Calvin, Oklahoma, bought Ruth from
Mr. Wooldridge when she was three years old and I am giving his version of her as a running
hound:
"A long race on a hot night and part of the next day made her partially deaf from which she never
thoroughly recovered. However, she ran many a long, hard race for me and set a pace after
midnight that was hard to equal. I remember one night when 28 hounds were cast. The running
was fast and steady and only four hounds finished the race with her next morning at 8:00 o'clock."
Here is Mr. Ward's description of her, taken from an old letter dated May 1, 1939:
"For a man who likes wide-swinging hard-driving speed it would be hard to find a better one in
America. Again I will say on a runover she will close up like a clam. You cannot knock a babble or
wild bark out of her, but the second she hits that Gentleman's track again, she screams or cries
three times before you can get your breath. She then follows up with the fastest, prettiest fine
chops you ever heard. There is not an unnecessary bark in her hide, but there is more pretty
music there at the right place than i ever expect to hear from any other hound. She absolutely
does not slip away from hounds for she is spilling that music every breath that she is on the line.
She just slips over in high and takes a pace our hounds cannot overtake. As you said about Susie
Parrish, Ruth runs a bother just as hard as she could possibly run a fox, and just the second she
hits it she strows as much mouth as any two hounds I ever saw. She will get about three-fourths
of the pickups in any race."
I found this to be a very accurate description of the way Ruth handled a fox. As to her gameness
and endurance there seemed to be no end. She was bred to several different dogs. She might
have had a pup that would not hunt or was not game but never heard of it. She was the dam of Bill
Hamilton's Flying Crowe and Evelyn Reynolds. Flying Crowe did lots of winning both Field and
Bench. She won the Mississippi State Field one year, next year placed 2nd and the third year
placed 4th and won the cup for Best Mouth three straight years. His pups won and placed at the
big trials all over the south.
Evelyn Reynolds produced Mary Virginia Hamilton that won her class on Bench at The National.
War Burton Lee by Big Jester sired the Pennsylvania Field Champion and Missouri Field Winner
Lucille Ball, also won the Midwest Show and many others. Gay Gabbie K. by Heap O' Gab is the
dam of R. L. Meek's Red Jo Jo that won the All-Age Field a couple of years ago; Kay Reynolds by
Gordon, is the dam of Gordon Crowe that won Texas, Oklahoma Field Trails a few years ago.
Ruth Reynold's grand pups are now showing up with some big winners. Dixie Jo Bristol, a
granddaughter of her's, is the dam of Todd Kincaid's Midwest Ch. Pigeon Hawk. Another
granddaughter, Jester's Gay Gracie is the dam of Bing Crosby's Alabama Derby Field Winner and
Bo Bristol, winner of the Georgia All-Age Field.
When Ruth got old and was deaf as a stump and nearly blind, I turned her out to do as she
pleased. Night after night she would take off hunting and do the best she could after a fox. The
night before I had her put to rest was her whelping date. She was 14 years old. I tied her up and
cast the hounds about two hours later. They went up Bear Creek, thinking Ruth would not try to
track them. I turned her loose and took after the hounds. To my surprise an hour later I heard her
crying calk, occasionally following after the pack. When she came in next day I had her put to rest.
This finished the life of a great old hound that did a lot to preserve the heritage of game foxhounds.
Before winding up these remarks with fairness to all hounds I have ever hunted, a son of her's
Flying Glenn K. by Kaltreider's Gordon was the best fox dog I ever heard run a fox. I am still
looking for and trying to breed another Glenn. Had just about decided I had that hound in Cyrano
Gordon, a grandson of hers until hepatitis ruined his eyesight. From what I have heard about
Ruth's littermates owned by Jo Morgan, Nashville, Tennessee, Henry Lonsford, Cycle, North
Carolina and Ed Newblock, Tulsa, Oklahoma, the Cyrano and Gay Lou cross was a good one.
Lee Johnson
Richland, Mo.
(From 1954 Chase)