Daily Los Angeles herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1876-1884, 1879-06-18
BIRDSALL'S sept THING.
How Hs Euchsrsd the Boys at Horse Race
Years Ago.

How He Euchersd the Boys at q Horse Race
Years Ago.
"Speskin' of horse racin," said
Jailer Birdsall last evening to a Sc
lect coterie in the City Jail, the
tricks Of the turf being under dis.
cussion. II had my dose once, an
I'm a horsethief if I haven't kept
it dark eighteen years. I was
keepin' big stable on B street in
In go, and there was sighto' racin'
going on in them times and I
wanted my fin In everything o.
that kind. 1 was younger and
fresher than am now. Two
horses, black and gray, were
brung " from Genoa to run for a
thousand eide at the track near
Long Valley. The race was to
come off on Saturday, and there
WAS some heavy bettin' on the
thing. L was holdin' back for
points before putin up any coin.
Bill Harness comes to me
on Thursday an put up
the prettiest job ever
heard tell of. You DON'T remember
Bill, I s'pose? WGI;haswas lynch.
ed over to Phoebe fp I'll, poor fel.
Ter. We took Rough Hardy ia am 1t
was agreed that the swag was to be
divided equal. 1t was o pretty
job, am the chief beauty OF 1t wac
that it was so almighty easy an
simple. It was just for Hardy an
me TO take the horses out the night
afore the race an speed 'em round
the track till we found their pace.
1t wouldn't be no trick, then, at all,
for US to haul in all the pools and
clean up handsome. The nags was
in my stable, which made the BUSH
ness just too easy. Friday night
me an Hardy set to work an got
the jockeys blind, stavin' drunk,
an by midnight they was as limp
an senseless as a pair o. lines.
Hardy an me, when we'd got 'em
80 they couldn't tell a stirrup from
u distance pole, laid 'em out in the
straw in an empty stall, an' took
the black an gray out for practice.
1t was Il pretty moonlight night.
clear as day, an everythin' worked
slick. rode the black, an it beat
the gray easy, although they was
both powerful good goers. Then I
took the gray an Hardy the black,
so there couldn't be no suspicion of
roots agin one another, an still
the black Almost distsnced the
gray. We jest laughed till the
tears ran down our Jaws, when we
led them horses back to their stalls,
to think of the soft thing we had
on the boys. an Hardy and me
was quite willin' to put in about
two hours rubbin' down them fiy-
ers, so as to remove all the signs o.
the work the'd been through. The
race was mile heats, best two In
three, an me an Hardy was OH
the track good an early next day
takin' everythin' that was offered
agin' the black. We both had
scads In them times, an
when the start wss made
we'd about five thousand on
the black between US. We let up
hettin' jest out Of pity for the poor
devils that took us up SO innocent
and eager. Every how an then
Harness an Hardy an me would
meet an go and take q drink an
roar out laughin' so you could hear
US a mile. When the horses start.
ed Hardy an me felt bigger'p old
Grant. 1t kind o. surprised us to
see the way the gray lifted his feet
though, an when he came in O
length ahead o. the black, it kind
o. made US feel uneasy about the
gills. OF course We knowed it was
the burned Jockeys fault, an
managed to git to him an
slip five twenties into his fin.
Let her out this time,' /
seq. IT the black wins you II get
two hundred more.' He give a
wink an nodded. Boys, you kin
roast me- IL that damned gray
didn't distance the black In the
second HEATH In ten minutes was
blind drunk an knowed no more
till mornin'. Then Ioiled up my
shooter and started out to find
Hardy. II I'd found him he
wouldn't been water-tight long.
| was sure he'd put the job up on
me on the track Friday night. We
didn't happen to meet. Friends
looked out for that, know no ".
Harness wasn't nowhere around,
au' found he'd gone to the Bay.
1t wasn't forty-eight hours afore
the whole town was howlin' with
delight at the way Hardy and med
been eat up. 1t was that cussed
Harness am his gang. They'd
loaded the shoes o. the gray With
lead am then put Hardy an me up
to our little game. 1t was," said
Mr.. BirdsalI, with tears In his eyes
at the mere memory, "the lowest
down shennanigen that ever was
played on two honest men. Only
to think what would have happen
ed II Hardy an me had met. He
was huntin' for me just the same a.
I was after him. The game was
H.