The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1879-05-22
:. SaddIing the Horse" in Chicago.
Chicago Tribune.

Chicago Tribune.
Among the objects to which the great
and benevolent principle of cooperation
can be applied, by no means the least
important! is that o. skinning 40 unsus-
pecting stranger for the drinks and
cigars by the familiar and apparently
honest process of " saddling the horse"
This athletic exercise-let it be said for
the benefit of the sisters, and the cousins
and the aunts OF the gentleman reader
consists in writing on slips of paper as
! many numbers as there are players-1,
2, 8, 4, etc. One of the numbers is then
repeated on another slip of pSper, and
anchored in a safe place of concealment
under a decanter or match-safe; then
each player draws slip, and the victim
on whose slip is the fatal number is
elected for the drinks, or cigars, SIS the
case may be. A simple young man
| from St. Louis came TO town one dsy
last week aud fell among-amOng the
| board of trade men, who TOOK him to q
saloon, and proposed that they should
saddle the horse for drinks. There were
six of them present, including the gen.
| bISuldu ltOul LllC pulb Gnu vi kLO D1S
bridge. The barkeeper prepared the
slips, and placed the fatal number under
decanter, and each player drew his lot.
! The St. Louis man was courteously al
lowed to name his first, aud he cried
aloud, -Four" "Ihat ends the game"
said the barkeeper-"you'r re stuck" and,
on examining the voucher under the de-
csnter, the st. Louis man found that it
bore a 50" Well, that was quick
work What're you going to have,
boys?' he said, and they all took
brandy. "Now, gimme my revenge"
he said; and they gave him his revenge !;
aud, the slips having been distributed,
st. Louis was stuck again, and paid
tribute, to the amount of 81 30, into the
Golfers of the metropolis OF the west.
The st. Louis man said luck was against
him, and demanded another trial, and
this time also he was stuck. And so be
was next time, when he remarked that
he had never seen such run of luck in
mis- life-it was clean against the doc
t1ine of chances; but he would saddle
the horse just once more for the cigars.
They did SO, and, TO let him see that
every thing was air and above toard, let
him put the voucher containing the fatal
number into his watchcase. Vain pre-
csution-he was stuck againl By this
time time that unhappy St Louisan had
got mad, and he swOre q dreadful oath
that he would win one round of drinks
from Chicago L be had to stand up to
that counter all summer. When
the saloon closed, at II p. ms
the gentleman from st. Louis hsd
been stuck eighty-nine times in sue,
cession, and no one else had lost q
single round-an occurrence so singular
that an eminent mathematician has
estimated that the chances are 24,586,-
324 GA, 941 $50, 274 49S, 1926 to l against
its ever happening again in che next
10000 years, although all the population
of the earth, in gangs of six, should 90
on saddling the horse once every minute
for twenty-four hours daily, SUNDAYS
and legal holidays included. The St
Louisan took the next mornings train
for home, intending to sell his house, and
come back and renew the arduous strife
1t is not at all likely that he will eve1
win one round. The boys and bar
keeper belong to a cooperative Saddle.
theoHorse Mutual Aid and Benefit
society. Whenever the barkeeper writes
on the tickets, he puts the same number
on each of them, including the one under
the decanter, and gives signal to the
boys what the figure is. Then, no mat
thr what slip the stranger draws, the
fatal number is on it and, if he doesn't
speak first, all the others have to do i;
to call out any other number, and chuck
their slips into the spittoon. In simpli'
city and sureness this invention beats 6
corner, or even a returning board.