State icon Tom Bass' ride to greatness

Tom Bass made Missouri a destination for well-trained saddlebred horses.
Tom Bass made Missouri a destination for well-trained saddlebred horses.

Tom Bass's love of horses carried him from slavery to fame - and helped make nearby Mexico the "Saddle Horse Capital of the World" in the late 19th Century.

As part of Daniel Boone Regional Library's series of Black History Month-related presentations, Tom Bass enthusiast Christal Bruner presented on the great horse trainer's life Wednesday.

"One of the things I love about him is that he rose above his situation and he did it with dignity," Bruner said.

Bruner is the director of the Mexico-Audrain County Library District. She's been interested in Bass ever since first learning about him in first grade.

Bass was born in 1859 on a plantation in Boone County. His mother, Cornelia Gray, was enslaved by the plantation's owners and may have been as young as 13 when Tom Bass was born. His father, William Bass, was the son of the plantation owner, Eli Bass.

"They say that when he was born his father came and looked at him and held him up, but plantation owners would often do that for babies born on the plantation," Bruner said. "Really, from everything I have read, (the Bass family) did not acknowledge him in any way."

Tom Bass was raised by his grandparents, Presley and Eliza Gray.

Bass grew up around horses: William Bass was a livestock breeder, while Eli Bass exhibited thoroughbred horses.

"Tom didn't get all of his love of horses from his Bass family," Bruner added. "He also got it from his grandfather Presley, who also loved horses."

As a child, Tom Bass was allowed to exercise the Bass family's fancy thoroughbreds, but when the white Bass children were around, he had to ride the stubborn mule Mr. Potts instead. The other kids mocked Bass, Bruner said.

Defying the children's laughter, he taught the mule how to move between five different gaits on command, and a number of other tricks, too. Thus began Bass's rise to fame as a horse trainer.

Bass took a job as a buggy driver at the Ringo Hotel in Mexico, taking visitors between the hotel and the train station. At the time, Audrain County was already a hot-spot for horse breeding and training.

In 1879, Bass had twin sons with Mime Johnson: Ray and Ralph Johnson Bass. That same year, he took a job with Joseph Potts, a man who helped found the American Saddlebred breed. Under Potts' employ, Bass continued to develop his methods and his own fame. He eventually branched off to begin his own horse training operation.

Bass married Angie Jewel, a Black school teacher in Mexico, in 1882; the two later had a son, Inman.

"She trained in St. Louis to get her teaching certificate and once she returned home to Mexico she met Tom and fell in love," Bruner said. "She helped educate Tom in business, because he hadn't had much schooling at all."

The pair moved to Kansas City, where Bass opened a livery stable. He also sold a cure-all for horses, Tom Bass's Magic Liniment, at $1 a bottle. Years later, Bass returned to Mexico, where he continued training horses until his death at 75.

Accomplishments

Though Bass's many accomplishments could - and, in fact, have - filled several books, Bruner focused on a few.

Bass was famous for getting results, but also for his methods. Though some trainers employed painful bits and whips, Bass used a gentler touch.

"He thought horses were beautiful," Bruner said. "He never hurt the horses - his main concern was for them."

He even developed a painless bit that allowed communication between horse and rider, instead of merely painful punishment. Though Bass never patented the bit, he did sell it out of his stable.

Bass became so famous he was even invited to ride at Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in Great Britain, though he decided against making the required sea voyage.

Horses trained by Bass went on to be owned by celebrities, including Theodore Roosevelt and Will Rogers. Bruner brought up the horse Columbus.

"He saw Columbus when he was just a small colt," Bruner recounted. "He knew that Columbus was going to be a really smart horse."

Bass purchased Columbus and trained him to respond to voice commands, navigate obstacles and even canter backwards.

"When he ready for competitions, Tom entered him into the St. Louis Horse Show," Bruner said. "He was the first Black man to ride in that show."

Eventually, Buffalo Bill Cody purchased Columbus, featuring the horse in his Wild West shows.

Bass also helped organize what would go on to become the American Royal Livestock and Horse Show in Kansas City.

"The fire department needed horses but they didn't have money to buy all the horses and equipment, so Tom thought, well, let's have a horse show," Bruner said.

Bass died in 1934 - perhaps of a heart attack, or perhaps of a broken heart after the death of his beloved horse, Belle Beach. He was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Famous Missourians in 1999, and a warm-up arena still bears his name at the American Royal in Kansas City.

But Bruner is concerned the latter part of that legacy might be in danger. The American Royal is set to move across the state line to Kansas City, Kansas, late this year.

"When they move, will they have a new Tom Bass arena to honor Tom?" Bruner said.

To learn about and register for upcoming DBRL virtual events, visit events.dbrl.org/events?r=thismonth.