08/20/2026
This is such a cool article from 1954. The horse that brought the community together was once owned by General Patton....
We recently received a picture of this article that a long time client found from July 25, 1954. We tapped into our resident historian, Dr. Bob Orcutt’s memory to place it in context. Here is what he had to say:
"I do actually remember seeing the headline of this article in the Ipswich Chronicle when it arrived at our house in Rowley. The incident happened when I was nine years old and was sandwiched between the first birthday of my sister Helen and the seventh birthday of my sister Mary Jane in July.
Queenie had become disabled when being driven by Herman Worthley from the local salt marsh on route 1A towards his Railroad Avenue home. She basically tied up and could not move forward by the time she arrived at my family’s property on Main Street. She soon became recumbent in the corner of the field where my nephew Josh Noble and his family’s home now stands.
She had developed exertional myopathy while being driven following a few days of rest. This was no doubt the first time I ever heard of this condition that is relatively common especially in draft breeds. It is still often referred to as Monday Morning Disease because of its frequent occurrence in working horses on the first day after a weekend respite from their jobs. Tying up and Blackwater are other terms applied to the malady. Tying up is descriptive of the generalized cramping of the large skeletal muscles that brings on acute immobility. Blackwater describes the discoloration resulting from the excretion of myoglobin in the urine from the breakdown of muscle tissue that occurs.
In Queenie’s case, the onset was so precipitous and severe that it is unlikely she would have recovered even with modern medication and intensive fluid therapies that simply were not available then.
My visual recollects are relatively few. I remember vividly the bowls of brown urine being collected and the crowds of spectators that seemed to be always present during the ordeal. The fact that Queenie had formerly been owned by World War II General George Patton had become public and probably contributed to the attraction. I am certain that greenheads thoroughly enjoyed the aggregation of victims considering the time of year."
