Art: Ryder's Race Track

In 1898, a barber took all his savings out of the bank and bet them on a horse race. The horse he bet on did not win. Discouraged, the barber spent the night in drunken orgy and stupor. Early in the morning he killed himself.

The barber, a friend of famed Painter Albert Pinkham Ryder, was employed by the Albert Hotel in Manhattan, owned by the brother of Painter Albert Pinkham Ryder. Hearing of the barber's suicide, Painter Ryder was shocked. He painted a picture of a skeleton jockey perched upon a great...

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