Sacramento daily record-union., 1883-11-03
JACK RICHARDS ON TIE MULE.

"You ask me how high mule can kick
Don't tempt me, stranger did not see it
| did, but they showed me an old grizzly
gray mule in San Antonio that won a bet
| by kicking a martin box clean off the gable
end of church. l owned sudden kicker
once myself. | sold him to doctor at
| Parker Hollow. When he took the kinks
all out of his mortal coil, think he could
hit man on the opposite side of the
street; but, stranger, mind, l never see
him do it,"
Hold a shoe, you ask me? Until thar
amt nothing left on the bottom of his foot
but iron rust. Sam Denver told me he
had roam mule that came from Sierra
Nevadas, in '64 that had wore the same
iron for thirteen years, but, stranger, Sam
Denver was a man who, when he told the
truth, allowed a good deal for shrinksge,
and told things large"
They carry their age well, you say
You can bury your coin, the whole of it,
on this statement, stranger. Whenever
you can tell the age of salt Goldfish by
counting the bones in his body, you can
guess mules existence here on earth by
his teeth. After mule has lived eight
seasons he never grows any older, not by
his teeth"
"Bones are all solid, Gid you say? This
is just as certain as sixteen ounces make a
pound.
And they never die, you add You are
close to the bulls eye again, stranger. l
have been mixed up with the mule for
thirty-six years, and never saw one yet lay
down fiat and pull his last breath. A dead
mule would scare me as much as the ghost
of my grandfather.
"Stumble, did you observe? Not if l
know the critter. They will slip down the
grade as natural as snake, and when t.iey
put their foot down they take it up from
the same spot. Stranger, a mule is just as
sure with his front feet as with his hind
ones, and if man should tell me he had
seen mule kick a man, ten feet off, twice
in second, l wouldn't ask the man to
sware to it, I would look upon him as a
man of genius-a man of keen observa'
ton"
"Balky sometimes, are you talking
Now you are Citing right down tofggures.
Balky have heard tell of mules which
would balk when they was being led to
water, and of pair that belonged to a
ranchmsn near Yuba Dam who baked to
an empty wagon, and stood right thar from
sun up till sun set. Tne shadows of them
mules was photographed onto the side OF
the road, and could be plainly seen thar for
six weeks afterwards. l hearn this told
when / was down to Yuba, but stranger, !
don't back up the announcement only for a
limited amount"
"Run away, did you say? Did you
never saw a mule, or a pair of them, git
skeered and brake for the timber? Never
did, stranger Then your eddication has
been neglected. Thare amt nothing but a
stroke OF lightning or rifle ball that can
soothe a runaway mule. Hitch pair oi
mules to the corner of a church, git good
scare on the mules, and you couldn't see
that church for the dust it would make
going down the pike. Stranger, under
run away with a church, but don't care
what your bet is, Jack Richards always
backs the mule"
Free from disease of all kinds, is it
Well, / reckon 80. | have saw a hundred
thousand mules in my days, but never saw
one yet who had a calamity OF any kind
have heard old mule drivers say they hac
often had mules attacked by grizzlies, anC
had all one side Of the mules eat off, but
the mules would grow right out again in {
few weeks as fresh as ever-perhaps dif
ferent color on that side. Stranger, things
are getting little hot with me, and if
should, under the excitement Of the mo
ment. offer to bet on the above statement
| should, upon reflection, beg the privilege
of drawing the stakes. ."-[Turf, Field anC
Farm.