Ed Wright

WRIGHT

Posted By: A. Norm Hopkins (email)
Date: 12/23/2002 at 09:23:34

26 April 1938
Nonpareil Newspaper

ED WRIGHT DROVE LOU AND HERB TO TWO WORLD SPEED RECORDS

His Funeral Will Be Held Friday
Hobble skirts had just been declared a "passing fancy" when Edward T Wright, city fireman, was driving Lou and Herb, "the fastest fire horses that ever lived," to two world's records that were never beaten.

Friday at 10 a.m. funeral services for Mr Wright, 70, who died Wednesday at a local hospital, will be held at the family home, 3001 Avenue E. His death recalls colorful word stories of the days when fire departments were known by their horses.

Lou and Herb, hitched to an 1,800 pound wagon, won their first world's record for the half-mile straight-away run in 58.6 seconds at the fireman's tournament at Maquoketa, Iowa, in June 1914.

He was in the driver's seat then. He handled the reins a year later when the team set a world's mark 1:14 for the bunk-hitch and half-mile run in which 150 feet of fire hose was run out and attached to the coupling.

Mr Wright, who had served as a private in the 7th Cavalry during the Spanish-American War, had a hand in picking Lou and Herb for the local department. They were bought as colts from one Dr. Colverson, a Greenfield, Iowa, resident who raised only thoroughbred animals. While purchased primarily for exhibition purposes, Lou and Herb did their bit in responding to local fire calls. After Lou and Herb had set their second record in 1915, the city purchased its first motorized fire truck. This sounded the death knell of service here for Lou and Herb, and they were sold to the Marion, S.C. fire department. The team was still known to be in active service in 1920, and Ed Wright, before his retirement in 1931, would always find time to extoll their virtues.