West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1877-10-13
That or Horse.

A horuy-handed old farmer entere,
/ the office of one of the big railroad com
panies in Chicago and inquired for tn,
man who settled for horses that wer,
| killed by the locomotives of bloated cor
porations. They referred him To tn,
company's counsel, whom he thus ad
! dressed
Mister, was driving home on,
evening last week"
Been drinkingT' scntcntiously in
quircd the lawyer,
I'm center pole of the local tent OF
Rcchbatcs," said the farmer.
That doesn't answer my question, y
replied the man of law. ~ saw man
who was boiling drunk vote the pro
hibition ticket last fall"
Haven't tasted liquor since the big
flood of 1916, said the old man.
Go ahead
| will, Squire, And when came
To the crossing of your soulless
monopoly-it was pretty dark - and zip
along came your train, no bells rung, no
whistles footed, contrary To the statutes
i'm such cascs made and provided, and
agin the Granger decisions, and -whoop
away went my of horse scooting over
the telegraph wires. When | had dug
myself outn Il swamp some distance on
and paciiicd the other critter, | found
that thar off horse as dead as Perry
Smith, nothing valuable about him but
his shoes, which must have brought, say
about eight cents, for old iron.
Well"
Wen, you want pay for that ere of
horse, said the lawyer with scarcely
rcpressed sneer.
II kinder should, you see" replied
the farmer, frankly, "and | don't care
about going To law about il, though pos
sibly I'd get verdict, for jurics in our
town is mostly made up of farmers, and
kinder help each other as n matter of
trinciple in these cases of stock killed
by railroads"
And this 'erc off horse" said the
counsel, mockingly, "was Il Hamblcto-
nian colt, out of an Abdallah mare with
seventeen Messenger crosses, wasn't he ?
lie was rising four years, as he had been
Tor several years past. and had shown
2:254 on n half mile track in the mud
hadn't he? And you had been offered
sic, 800 for him the day he was killed
but wouldn't take it because you were
going To win all the purses in the grand
circuit with him, and then going to move
out To Nevada and buy silver mine
and Scnatorship with the proceeds? ?
Oh, Eve heard of that Off horse before"
al guess there's mistake somewhere,
sonny" said the farmer, with IN air of
surprise; my horse was got by old
Butts's roam pacing horse, Pride of
Lamont outn wall-eyed, no-account
mare of my own, and now that he's dead
] may say that he was twenty-nine last
grass-trot. Why, Fred Erbys horse
that he was fined for furious drivin' of
was old Dexter along side of him.
Sixteen thousand dollars! Why. bless
your soul, do you think Pm darn fool,
or any one else is? 1t is true / was
made an offer for him the last time /
was in town, and, for the man looked
kinder simple, and you know how il is
yourself with horse trading, | asked the
cuss morn the animal might have been
worth. ] aske q him $65, and I'd have
taken $40"
" Forty dollarsW gasped the lawyer;
forty dollarsp
" Yes" replied the farmer mcckly
and energetically, ait kinder looks like
a big sum, know, for an old hoss but
that ERE off hoss could pull n mighty
good load, considering. Then | was
kinder shook up, and the pole of my
wagon was busted, and had to get the
harness fixed, and there's my loss of
time, and all that counts. Say about
fifty dollars, and it's all square"
The lawyer whispered softly TO him
self, "Well, I'll be bulldozedp and
filled out check for $500.
"Sir," said he, covering the old mans
hand, you are the first honest man
have met in the course of legal expe
rience of twenty-three years; the first
farmer whose horse was worth less than
one thousand dollars, and could not trot
better than 2:34 without training. Here
also is free pass for yourself and male
heirs in q direct line for three general
tions And if you have young boy to
spare we will teach him telegraphing
and find him steady and lucrative en-.
ployment."
The honest old farmer took the check
and departed, smiting his horny leg
with his brawny hand in triumph IA he
did 80, with the remark:
81 knew I'd fetch him on the honest
track Last horse ! had killed sworC
was a trotter, and all got was $l65 and
interest. Honesty is the best policy"