Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1879-03-19
" Live and Learn"

they never get through learning,
while they live. A I,an may know a
good deal about the horse, and about
horse dealers and stili not have met
the kind of horse dealel,, or SWIM
dlers, as the one whose operations
are described in the following a. tee
from McClure's Times of March IL III:
Behind Enochs' Variety Theatre,
and approachable only through Scipio
place, the wagon-way adjoining the
theatre on the south, is blind alley
only wide enough for two wagons,
side by side. In this narrow avenue
are three or four dilapidated brick
stables, The woodwork of which in
dicates considerable antiquity. The
southernmost of these is, if all re-
ports be true, the headquarters of as
acute and active e gang of horse
sharpers as ever practiced upon the
unsophisticated countryman. The
names of this coterie, according to
the best information obtainabie by
the police, are Thomas Clare, Samuel
Ogburn, William q. Collins, Henry
West, Wesley Allen, Charles Lewis
and W T. Kelley.
Their working capital, so to speak,
has consisted of a solitary, tolerably
well built horse, and yet with this, if
the testimony of one of their own
employees, unwittingly spoken few
days ago, is to be believed, t-ey have
already realized over $4,000, and still
have the nag ON hand for fresh con-
quests. The real head OF the combi-
nation is not known. A firm doing
business On Arch street, whose yard
opens upon the narrow way in which
the stables are located, says that the
sharpers sometimes hid in their yard
while one of the gang was negotiating
with greenhorns. The firm were
compelled, by the annoyance to which
they were subjected, to forbid the
men coming into the yard Several
instances are given where country
men have been imposed upon.
The Arch street gentlemen turned
their business horse loose for exer-
else in the enclosure about a week
ago. They noticed soon after a bu-
colic-looking parsonage scrutlnizing
and that several of the "horse jock
eys" were in the adjacent street.
They merely interpreted the mans
actions as the result of inquisitive-
ness and did not suspect his real pur-
pose. They were surprised to hear
on the day following that the horse
had actually been sold to the rural
person for S130, and that be had been
green enough to pay at least one
fourth Of the purchase money down
and had given note for the balance,
which he was to clear off the next
day. Naturally enough, when he re-
turned the men were missing and a
strange face was visible in the stable
The countryman went home lighter in
pocket and without the horse
In "gyp game transactions be
tween the dealers in orse-hesh and
the unsophisticated the latter gener-
ally pay down from S35 to $50 ON
account and give note for the bal
ance, taking receipt for the money
paid. By an ingenious and obscure
ly worded condition in the note the
purchaser forfeits the horse and what
he has already paid on account unless
he pays by certain time on the fol
lowing day the balance called for the
note. When a bargain is effected
the one who sold the horse contrives
to be absent the day when the buyer
calls; consequently, there is nobody
there to receive the money and the
purchaser forfeits his deposit.
Another trick in the pack is played
in this way: While stranger is look
ing at the horse and the owners at
tention is temporarily attracted away,
another man, well dressed and gen
teel looking, enters the stable. He
addresses the intending purchaser as
though accosting the owner, and gen
orally offers sum SO or SIS over
what the real owner has asked. If |
the owner happens to be present,
stranger No. 2 tells No. 1, aside,
''Now 1 want that horse, but he won't !
sell it to me because l am a dealer |
Now you buy him; pay him SO much |
down; give your note for the balance,
and fetch him to me- II wait down
here at the foot of the alley and pay
you for him. If he won't take your
note pay him the cash, and I'll give
you so or S15 for your trouble.
No. 2 leaves No. l bites at the bait,
makes the purchase, and finds when
be seeks the anxious one" that the
latter has vanished completely. The
upshot of the matter is that the man
who is stuck prefers to abandon a
good deal of his purchase-money to
the dealer in order to get released
from bad bargain
Such cases frequently get into !,