The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1879-04-10
A Wonderful TrOtting Ok.

That an OK. in some circum
stances, may show speed in striking
contrast with its usual slow gate i.
proved BY the following story told
by a correspondent Of the Cincin.
natl Enquirer !: A member of a par
" of miners named Green, Disguised
with prospects at Pixies Peak, took,
as his share of the camp outfit, an
OK and the forepart Of a cart, and
out of the latter he made a sulky.
With this he drove eastward and
squatted on some land near Denver,
which he cultivated. One day as
Green was driving his OK into Den
YER, some fellows on horseback at
tempted to pass him. The OK,
moved by some apparent freak,
quickened its steps until it went off
in a swinging trot leaving the horse
behind. This was the first intima-
ton Green had that his bobtailed OK
Git was bobtailed) could trot, The
idea then presented itself TO him
that if he could only accustom it to
trotting a short distance Oh a GER
tain piece of ground it could out
trot any horse in the neighborhood.
There was a gambler named Rand
ale in Denver at this time who
owned q horse that could do his
mile in 2:4O. Randall was %acquaint-
ed with Green, and would OCCASION
ally drop into his quarters and
praise his horse. A day or two af-
ter Green's discovery of his ox's
powers Randall dropped in, and, as
usual, began stalking horse" Green
remarked that he had an OK that
could beat kandale's horse for three
hundred yards. Randall laughed
at first, then got mad, and at last
offered to bet ten TO II that it
could not be done. The bet was
promptly taken, and they adjourned
to the prepared place. The OK was
backed up to a little hand-cart.
When everything was ready, away
they went. Sure enough, at the
end Of four hundred yards the OK
came in ahead. On the spot Ran
dale bought half the OK for $500.
The next day it was pitted ag;l st
two horses, and the whole city
turned out to see the remarkable
phenomenon, a trottlng OK. Again
was it victorious, and amid the wild
est excitement passed the line six
lengths ahead.
Every day thereafter the OK de-
feated a horse or two, and there
soon became a popular demand for
a share III the animal. Accordingly
a company was formed with a joint
stock of $4,000, being sixty-four
shares of 500 each. The stock
went like hot cakes, and soon sold
above par. In a week, during
which the OK had won several more
races, the stock was quoted on the
gambling tables, and passed for
81 1000 a share. At last a horse
sired in San Francisco came along,
and a trial of speed was made up
between him and the OK. On the
appointed day it was estimated
that there were ten thousand people
present. The OK took the lead from
the start at the northumberland
pole he was a length and a half
ahead /; at the notwithstanding
it had become three lengths; at the
misunderstanding the distance
had widened into five lengths and
the OK still gaining. But when
adozen yards of the winning
post the OK became tired, and made
up his mind to stop. Accordingly
he planted his front feet and re-
fused to bulge. Moral s~uasion,
profanc abuse, physical ill-usage, all
failed to move him, and the horse
quietly trotted past and took the
race. From that minute the stock
sank from $1,000 a share down to
one siXty-fourth Of the value of the
,X as meat. Many efforts were
made to coerce the ami
nal into a trot, but all enticement
md persuasion, gentle or otherwise, :,
and he trotted again. !,
EARACHE.-Roast an onion, first
-. H.. {. 80 " ~ ~ 49, 1900 4