William+Key



Horse Trainer/ Civil War Veteran/ Animal Rights Activist

One of the least known past stars of our time was the Arabian-Hambletonian stallion known as [|Jim Key]. His story and the story of his owner the ex-slave and civil war veteran William Key were almost lost to the sands of time until their story was discovered in the 1970s through a wayward pamphlet that found its way into the right hands. The famed [|Clever Hans] could barely hold a candle to William Key's self-trained equine extraordinaire, and the story of this pair is even more amazing.

Birth and Childhood
William Key was born in 1833, in Winchester, Tennessee, the slave of John W. Key. As a boy, William already exhibited an uncanny ability to work with all types of animals. He had a yellow dog and a rooster who were his first animal performers. Many people in the black community believed he was using magic to get animals to perform in such ways. Key wanted to become a scholar, but due to his family’s situation he instead taught himself how to read and write. His owners, John and Martha Key, also helped him continue his education. Luckily for him, the area in which he was enslaved was an area where slavery and anti-slavery supporters coexisted and many masters in the area also educated their slaves. However in 1842, Key’s luck ran out and he was sold after his owner had some financial troubles and had to lease out his slaves. By the time he saw John and Martha again, he had traveled all over the South practicing as a self-taught veterinarian. After returning to the Keys, William began to work again in his owner’s residence of Shelbyville breaking colts and fillies and working with other troublesome animals.

The Strangest Civil War Story Ever Told
When the Civil War came, John and Martha’s two sons joined the Confederate army, even after an effort by Tennessee to stay in the Union and out of the war. Unfortunately, Tennessee was undermined by its location, and whether it wanted it or not: war was coming. William went out to try to stop his brothers-in-spirit, but was too late. He decided to stay with them to ensure their safety. In January of 1962 the company Key was traveling with prepared to meet its first battle at Fort Donaldson where they would meet the troops of Ulysses S. Grant. The Confederates prepared to defend the fort from the river but Dr. William Key realized that the fort was largely unprotected from an attack from land. The confederates scored huge victories on the water but as Key predicted were defeated on the land. This battle was the tenth most costliest battle of the war with 80% of the causalities Confederate. Key escaped by sneaking out to Fort Bill (Another name he was known by), a dugout near Fort Donaldson, with his two young masters and met up with Lieutenant Colonel Nathan Bedford Forrest. Forrest made Key’s masters scouts and guides in his army and Dr. Key worked as an unofficial guide and caretaker for Forrest’s horses. His high favor earned him the unthinkable Confederate honor of a pass to return home, but instead of returning to Shelbyville permanently he helped to shuttle slaves to freedom during the most of the remainder of the Civil War. During this time Shelbyville, now known as Little Boston, was looted by Confederate soldiers. Following the Emancipation Proclamation, former slaves began to leave Tennessee with the hopes of joining the union army. Key’s luck ran out in February of 1863, when the Sixth Indiana Regiment captured him, and accused of being the “worst Rebel in the South” despite his best attempts to prove himself as an ex-rebel. They jailed him under General James Scott Negley and planned to hang him once they had caught Alexander Key (one of the young masters employed with Forrest). He stayed there for six weeks until he heard some news that would turn his luck around. General Negley needed a good cook. At first, the guards didn’t believe him when he offered his skills, but another captured Shelbyville native backed up his cooking skills and he was given his freedom. By playing cards with his new boss Captain Prather he won his freedom once again. One of his last Civil War adventures occurred after Confederates fled Shelbyville when it was discovered they had left $500,000 under the floorboards of a Union store. William Key didn’t want to do it but when offered $100,000 for completing the mission, he couldn’t refuse. Upon entering the store he met a slave driver who earlier in life had threatened to “lick the blood out of him.” As Key turned to flee he ran into Union soldiers who arrested him after the slave driver claimed that he was a Rebel spy and had just escaped from jail. Key was once again sentenced to hanging. A lawyer friend of Key’s helped prolong his hearing in exchange for money. He explained he went to the store to get brushes and was a regular customer. He returned to the store with a soldier and pretended to get brushes while he really looked for the money. When he didn’t find it he was worried that he was about to be hung for nothing. In yet another lucky reversal of fortune the Rebels attacked the town the next day and Key was released.

After the War
Returning home to Shelbyville, Tennessee, after the end of the Civil War with his master’s sons Alexander and Merit Key he found the property in ruins. Not long after his return John Key passed away leaving only a small amount of money for Martha to run the estate. Bill used his poker earnings and marketing of an ointment he named Keystone Liniment to help pay off the debt. He then bought two and a half acres on the main street of town and established an equine hospital. His business ventures soon proved to be profitable and he expanded to include a blacksmith shop, a harness-making business, a restaurant, a hotel, and a racetrack. Key married twice, losing both of his wives to illness. He vowed never to marry again but fell for Lucinda Davis (anyone doing her? No?). However there was a problem. She refused to marry until she could attend medical school at Howard University. Key without hesitation sponsored the education that would make Davis one of the first black women licensed to practice in Tennessee.

Jim Key’s Pedigree
The story of the horse that brought William Key fame began with an Arabian mare named Lauretta. She had been purchased from a circus that had run out of funds and was selling all of their animals to return home. He bought the mare for $40 but once she was worth $50,000. She was swindled from her original owner, Sheik Ahemid of Persia by Jack Randall, an employee of P.T. Barnum. He offered the sheik the mare’s weight in gold and one thousand horses but it would be impossible to part a good mare from her owner, so Randall turned to other means. The next morning Randall snuck out of his tent and stole the mare. It was not long before the theft was discovered and Sheik Ahemid and his men gave pursuit, but the sands had hidden their tracks. Lauretta became a star in the P.T. Barnum circus but as her fame waned her mistreatment began, finally landing her in the circus where Key found her. Key brought the mare back to health. It was soon time to find the perfect mate for the “Queen of Arabian Horses.” He was found in Tennessee Volunteer, a Standardbred pacer. The two horses were bred in spring of 1888.

Birth of Jim Key
Jim Key was born in May of 1889. At first William was overjoyed to have a colt but he then noticed that the foal was sickly and misshapen. Even after weeks had passed the colt could neither stand nor walk. Key thought to put the colt down but instead decided he couldn’t give up on him. He named the foal Jim after a drunk he encountered one day who swayed just like the colt did in his attempts to walk. Although the colt later did walk he only walked with a limping staggering stride. As Jim got older, William noticed that the horse was picking up on William’s actions throughout the stable yard. The colt would watch William as he worked with his dogs and other animals. After the death of Jim’s mother, the Arabian mare Lauretta, William became depressed and didn’t go out for many days. When he did return Jim refused to leave his side. Jim came up to William with a stick in his mouth and nudged him. William took the cue and tossed the stick. Jim broke into a run and brought it back to William who was amazed. William spent the rest of the day teaching him to sit, play dead, and roll over. When William tried to return Jim to the stables, he refused and thus became a member of the Key’s household. The horse soon learned many other tricks including nodding “yes” and “no”, which was apparently self-taught. Soon Jim Key was put to work helping William sell Keystone Liniment and acting the part of the lame horse transformed by the liniment into a healthy horse. However, that was not enough and after leaving the liniment business, William Key began to teach Jim the letters of the alphabet and numbers. William’s wife suggested that Jim could become an ambassador for the advancement of colored people or another cause.

Jim Key the Performer
Jim made his first noncommercial appearance at the Local Bedford Country Fair where he demonstrated his knowledge of words and participated in a mock debate where Jim played the part of current democratic candidate William Jennings Bryan (Jim was a self-proclaimed Democrat), and William played William McKinley, the Republican candidate. William hoped to take Jim Key’s act all the way to the Tennesse Centennial and International Exposition. However it was here that the issue of color raised its ugly head. It was not that they didn’t want to include people of color but that they didn’t view William as a representative of the advancing African-American. He didn’t fit the stereotype they were looking for. However, William was facing problems of his own as his wife had become sick and was dying. She passed away on August 21, 1896. In the meantime, financial setbacks had postponed the exhibition. When a sponsor was found, they proved much more partial to Jim Key than the previous planners and Jim Key found a place in the Negro Building at the Expo. They became the “mane” attraction and attracted crowds from all over, including the President of the United States, William McKinley. He amused the President with all of his planned acts and pointed out Mckinley where he sat in the audience yet refused to change his political views. Despite the President’s persistence, Jim Key staunchly defended himself as a Democrat! Jim Key’s career really took off after the fair and he gained an agent in Albert Rogers, an officer the American Humane Association. Jim Key, now billed as “Beautiful Jim Key,” headed north with Rogers to perform in the sophisticated circles of the North. In order to survive in this new atmosphere, Key and Rogers developed a two-act script entitled //The Scholar and the Office Boy.// The trio was soon performing from New York City to Pittsburgh.

Jim Key the Ambassador
In an echo to Key’s late wife and the popularity of the animal rights movement, Rogers suggested that Jim be groomed to be an ambassador of animal rights. Through promotion he managed to win the endorsement of the Massachusetts SPCA. He continued to perform his act but followed it up with a message. Almost 300,000 inspired children signed the Jim Key Pledge: “I promise to always be kind to animals.”  Millions of adults joined the Bands of Mercy to support humane causes. To help his cause, Jim adopted a stray mutt, named Monk, as his bodyguard (or the dog adopted him). On October 10, 1898 Jim was presented to the American Humane Association’s convention in Pittsburgh. To them Jim Key was the proof people needed to perceive animals as thinking and feeling beings. Despite the fact that performances in the South were segregated, William Key offered discount performances to blacks, and some blacks only shows. Not everyone in the South was thrilled with Jim’s success. After one show Jim’s foot appeared to have been cut and his grooms were kidnapped. Upon Jim’s third return to Pittsburgh for an Exposition a fundraising drive was held to raise money for the West Pennsylvania Humane Society. Altogether, Jim Key and his owner William Key raised $1,000, which bought a derrick that would be used to rescue animals from excavation sites. Everywhere he went Jim Key drew crowds and support for the animal rights movement. His act would lead him to St. Louis and to meet another President (Roosevelt). At the St. Louis World’s Fair, William Key convinced the gates to be opened to blacks for one day. This proved to be an overwhelming financial success for the exposition. After this last show, William retired Jim due to bouts of lameness due to the horse’s age, schedule and rheumatism. Although he still took visitors at his home in New Jersey his condition, as well as his owner’s, was deteriorating.

Legacy
William Key died on October 18, 1909. Jim Key outlived him but not for long. Jim Key died in September 18, 1912 peacefully one autumn morning, a [|statue] stands on the side of Tullahoma Highway in Shelbyville commemorating Jim Key and those involved in his story, including William Key and inscribed with the words: “Be kind to Animals.”

How the story of this amazing horse could slip quietly into history is still unknown. William Key’s legacy is the things legends are made of. He helped slaves escape during the Civil War. He worked honestly, selling his liniment and expanding it into a multimillion-dollar business by today’s standards. He taught himself the veterinary trade and used it to find a career for him in the local plantations. He became a respected member of his hometown community even though he was African-American and used his position to try to improve the plight o other African-Americans around him. He trained the “equine wonder,” Jim Key that would become a living ambassador of the equine cause and inspire millions to sign the Jim Key Pledge by his death in 1912. Perhaps Key didn’t lead marches through the streets of Montgomery, or fight the KKK in Jim Crow South, but he did make his own contribution to the African-American cause. With the recent revival of his story it can be hoped that his story will continue to be told. One of a successful black businessman, and perhaps one of the first black members of the Humane Society who went where no black man had gone before.

Note: William Key took the last name of his master John Key and is (as far as I know) in no way related to his master or his master’s sons by blood.

Note 2: William Key really did work with the Confederacy however Shelbyville where his masters were from was largely pro-Union, and anti-slavery (despite the fact they owned slaves).