A horse has been killed after jumping a hurdle in a steeplechase: the jockey holding a whip looks at it with concern. Wood engraving by E. Froment, 1874 after W. Small.

"This is essentially an English sport, and nowhere out of England and Ireland has it ever attained popular favor. … The spirited illustrations on this and the opposite page show the closing scenes in a hard rider headlong to the ground. It is his last leap. The rider stands sympathetically bending over him as he lies stretched on the ground, gasping for breath. Who but must pity the gallant creature, run to death for the amusement of a crowd of idlers? Steeple-chasing, from the nature of things, can never become an American sport, and this is certainly not to be regretted. To say nothing of the sad accidents that sometimes occur, resulting in the death or maiming for life of some poor fellow, it is a most cruel and distressing "sport" for the horses, and even in England a strong public opinion is forming against it. In no very remote period it will probably be numbered among the things that were, like bear-baiting and other cruel sports in which our ancestors took delight."—Harper's weekly, op. cit. pp. 366-367

Policemen are preventing access to the area

[New York] : [Harper Brothers], [1874]

1 print : wood engraving ; image 22.3 x 29.8 cm

Steeple-chasing. The last leap. Drawn by W. Small. W.S. Froment sc.

Not found in: Jean Adhémar and Jacques Lethève, Inventaire du fonds français après 1800, Bibliothèque nationale, Département des estampes, tome VIII, Paris 1964, pp. 264-266 (inventory of "Bois gravés par Froment père")

Wellcome Collection 41364i