Juliet signal. [volume] (Juliet [i.e. Joliet], Ill.) 1844-1???, 1847-11-23
JOLIET ILLINOIS, NOVEMBER g. :,s 1917 IT,.

"Very well" ses Pete. "Now whar's
your critter 20 ua3 ;.gygs 81 .la5-, :
"Here = ses Tom, pullin offfhis coat.
Pete was completely tuck back. ;
"Why. Tom Stallins, !" ses he, SIS YOU
foolin, or is you lost yer senses % You
don't think of tryin to beat nv horse five
hundred yards yerself?"n M
swell, ! don't mean to do noibin else.
hoss," ses Tom.
"What! you run agin' aIs2@'
"Yes, me!p ses Tom; "and if you want
to make it little more interestin. I'll oo
you pair Of boots that | beat your crack
nag fifty yards in the FIVE hundred"
''But I'm not jokin bout this race" ses
Pete. a3s - II
"Nor me neither" ses Tom; "and il
you're gwine to back out again, you'll have
to fork up the forfeit.
Pete was satisfied Tom had no better
sense, and seein Their was no way to con.
vince him but to run, he told Saul to take
off the blanket, and bring the horse to
him, while the boys was measurin off the
distance and Tom was fxin for the race.
Al stake was druv down in the middle OF
the road, two hundred and fifty yards from
the place whar they was to start, and in a
few minutes Pete was mounted on his
horse, and Billy Wilder brung Tom Stall.
lIns,-who was whickerin, and rearin,
and Pitchin, and cavortin about, with a
red handkerchief tied round his waste,
worse'n any two-year. oid-up to the
judges stand, to hear Judge Moreland s
charge bout the rules Of the race. They
was to start on the word go, run to the
post, pass round it OH tother side, and the
tust one back to the mark tuck the mon.
ey.
After a good deal of botherment they
got ready to start-Bob Moreland gin the
word Go! and away they went-the fell
lers all shoutin and hurrayin like the very
old Harry had broke loose.
The fool of horse was so scared that
he made two or three jumps before he
made up his mind which way he was
gwine; and by the time he got fairly un-
der way, Tom was more'n half way TO
the stake. Tom grabbed the stake with
one hand, swung round it thout stoppin,
while the horse dashed past it as hard as
he could tare, and fore Pete could stop
him and git him turned round, Tom was
half way back agin. Pete PIT on whip
like his life was at stake, but il was no
use. Tom jumped over the line with a
loud neigh of triumph, his groom had him
by the collar and was rubbin him down
fore Pete got near the mark; but by this
time he had got his horses Eclipse blood
to such pitch that he cum mons.rous
near never bein able to stop it agin at all.
Away went Pete rite through the
crowd, jerkin and pullin at the reins, and
rippin and cussin like mad man. Way
he went, rite into Squire Rogers lot,
down round the horse lot, and into the old
field, as hard as he could tare, with hull
gang of dogs after him. settin the ducks
and geese foppin and fyin and squeakin,
and chickins cacklin in every direction,
while the fellers shouted and yelled louder
than ever, altogether making racket enufl
to skeer the best behaved horse in the
world out of his senses: and the fust thing
Pete know'd, he was landed slap into the
worst kind of a mud hole, with his trousers
bursted all to flinders, and his face all
peeled like he'd been dragged through a
brush fence by the heels. a-
The way Pete was mad was perfectly
farming to the little niggers, and SIGH an.
other CROWN as the boys did set up was
never heard in Pinevllle. Tom offered to
make it more interestin and run him agin,
but Pete sed he was perfectly disguised,
and cussed himself all to pieces for degra.
din three-mi horse iii such a race!
Alter that, nobody ever seed Pete's
crack nag taking Its airins about town in
its blanket. What ever BEGUN oft nobody
knows; but know Pete never had nothin
more to say about biooded horses or horse
racin. specially when Tom StalIns was in
the crowd. Uncle Josh ses that horse
race was one of tho best things that ever
happened to him.