Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1880-03-25

in the Agricultural Hall that evening,
ard ALI was in high spirits; for that at-
ternoon he had won . hundred-dollar
bill on horse trot. Twenty or thirty
of us young men were standing in the
hall, chatting and laughing, when some
one happened to speak of the matched
steer contest. Alflaughed. "It's been
SO long now, said he, 81 don't s'pose
any of you will care, and I'm going to
blow that. ~
"What is ftp Tell us, - was the 70
Spouse of the young men about him.
| "Wel, ye see, those steers were
nicely matched, but for the black spots.
| Twas no use. There warn't another
steer in the country marked just like
Guard, and all that Job needed to be
just like Guard was those two black
spots. So concluded he'd better have
'em; in fact that he really ought to
have 'em. That fellow Merrill, the
tintype-taker, was there then. l had
| been round his shop good deal, and
| found out that nitrate of silver would
turn white hair a beautiful black. So
tored him. You know the rest. He
was the new steer from up in Princeton
after that.
Some of the fellows laughed. 1t was
a very sharp trick, especially in boy
! fifteen; but the more thoughtful of
us called it by its right name-a knav-
ish trick, thoroughly mean and dishon-
orable.
This was in October. In May follow
ing, ALT was arrested for horse-steahng.
He had been "up country" as he said,
buying horses, and came home with
four. Among them was very fine
coal-black young horse, which at once
attracted the interest of every person
who saw it. The animal was tall, slim,
and jet-black. There was not a white
hair on him, but he had a pink nose.
ALI refused all offers, and said he had
bought Romeo" as he called him,
expressly for a gentleman in New York.
About a week later, three men, one of
them Sheriff, went to the village hotel
where ALT was boarding, and inquired
for him. On his presenting himself,
one of them accused him of stealing his
horse. The Sheriff had a warrant for
his arrest.
ALI took it very coolly. ''There is
some mistake he said. "What was
your horse? Describe it. What color
| was it?''
"Black as coal,'' said the, man,
ssbut with white face and two white
stockings
ALI smiled, and very coolly said, eyes,
please come out to the stable and loo
at my horses.
"This is the only black horse I have"
ALT said, carelessly backing Romeo out
of his stall. "Do you call this horse
yours?"
The man looked at the animal and
seemed COMPOUNDED.
"Whoa, Romeo!" said ALI.
edo you say his name is RomeoP"
exclaimed the man.
"That's his name,'' said ALI, pleas
antly.
The man stared and seemed confused.
"That horse is shaped like my horse,
but he's not marked like him. But l.
can tell whether he's my horse or mott"
he exclaimed, with some excitement
Stepping back out of the stable into
the street, he called out, "Plato,
Plato! Come here, Plato! Plato,
Plato!''
The horse pricked his ears in an in
slant, and tried to pull away from ALI
to go to his old master. ALT resisted.
but the Sheriff obliged him to give the
horse his way; and the animal at once
put his nose beside the mans cheek
with every indication of pleasure at
finding him.
The bystanders said that ALI turned
pale. The Sheriff thought the evidence
strong enough to justify him in taking
the sharp" young man into custody
on the spot.
In the examination and trial which
followed, the hair on the horse's nose
and legs was chemically tested, and
found to have traces of nitrate of silver;
and in the course of few weeks it grew
out white again.
The " smartness' was very much
less of joke that time. Bachelor was
found guilty, and sentenced to three
years in prison. But he appealed on
some law point, and by means of skill
full lawyers, to whom he must have paid
enormous lawyers fees, at the close of
his second trial he was acquitted some
how-though every body knew he was
guilty.
He left the State and went West to
one of the new mining towns, where
most of the SHARP" young men 60. 1
have heard of him since. Now his
" sharpness " receives its right name,
for he is known as hard character and |