Omaha daily bee., 1883-05-29
AN IOWA INCIDENT.
Will Eaton Tells the Story Of a
Council Bluffs Race.
How a Granger Bit the Biters.

At the club house / saw Dorsey
dressed as usual In 9 polka dot shirt
and q standing collar. He was talk.
ing with Senator Beck, of Kentucky,
and OF Secretary Robson, Of New
Jcrsey, and seemed not at all troubled
about the altar route Issue. In another
part Of the grounds q crowd Of promi.
nent men were standing around Will
Eaton, one of the editors OF The Ma
sioual Republican and probably the
best dramatic critic in the country,
listening to one Of his inimitsble
stories. EAton's personal experience
embraces every leading public man In
America, and he has been q part Of
more stories than most men have
heard. Yesterday he was telling OF
u noted quarter race which occurred
when no was city editor Of a Council
Bit ffs paper. Said he: ut Is
TRUE STORY or A RACE.
II was about thirteen years ago.
| Council Bluffs was one of the racing
csnters of the west, and tho quarter
race was the ~favorite race. You
know a quarter race Is q running race
for a quarter Of o mile. The grass In
that portion Of Iowa IL q little like
that Of the blue grass region of Ken.
lucky, and 1t will, In the course of a
few generations, make q race horse
out Of O scrub. Eating 1t makes a
horses bones us hard as ivory, and
we had some horses..in Council Bluffs,
as good 40 you will find In the ooun.
try. Every man In the town was In.
terested In races, and nearly every
other man was willing to bet upon
them Among the leading sports
known was q fellow named Jim Car.
Isle, who, with q few others, had a
splendid quarter horse. He was we'll
built, looked like q racer, had won
all the stakes for several
years, and was considered one
of the best quarter horses In the
state. Carlisle and his friends were
willing to back him on every occasion,
and they had some money on him.
Such was the status on the day when
the seediest, rsggedest old mossback
l have ever seen rode an old plug up
to the Pacific Hotel. He looked the
generalization of poverty, ignorance
and verdancy all combined. His hat
was a dirty, soft felt, originally white,
but now discolored with grease and
yellow with age. 1t was tattered, and
the hair In one place wss ready to
come through. His boots had evi.
IDENTIFY never seen backing, and there
was enough dirt under his black fin
ger nails to have started o farm, He
had O bushy, struggling beard, hall
matted with tobacco juice, and his
eyes, half shut, were small, gray and
almost imbecile. He looked the pic
ture of verdant innocence.
"But If the man looked bad, nj.
horse looked worse. Such a lean.
slab.sided, shamblipg, bsrrel-noset
, animal, l have new seen. He helt
his head down till his nose nearly
touched the ground, 1t seemed, in very
shame OF himself and his master. 4
great bump rose like mighty wei
, Just In front of the saddle, He hat
evidently never seen a curry comb
) Burrs were In his matted name, hi
= tail, and his fet. locks, and COW manur
seemed to have been the liquid of hi
last bath.
"The crowd grinned az the old ma
= alighted and took his horse off to tn
stable. As he came back, Carlisl
said: Hello, old man, that's q fin
o hoss you have there
"'Well,' replied the cid man, 'he
not big ON his looks, but he's a boz
quatah racer. l amt much on tn
bet, but there ain't nary a boss in TIL
state as kin beat him
o "The boys sll laughed.
"'Ye may laff, gents, continued tn
y old man, apparently getting angry
but I mean what l say, and 1 don
low no man to say anything agin thf
, ere hoss. l came up yere to buy
= piece O. Ian, but I'm willin' to let tn
Ian lay and bet that ere boss agi
anything that you hev, and I can be'
H.
Carlisle at this spoke up and sal
no had q horse, and asked the old ma
to 90 in and look OF 1t, The crow
:. went along. The old man looked
: the horse, and said: It's q pert lool
In %critter, but mine kin beat 1t. II
willin' to bet on II. I came here [
buy Lam, but I'll lot my lam lay an
bet, Ill see If I kin rssurrect my wa
for the LAM
= "With that he put his hand into h
: pocket and drew out a roll Of bills
q big as my fist.
4. 1.-The boys hand. itched, and the
a could hardly help reaching for 1t.
seemed theirs already. At first the
i thought 1t rather mean to take In tt
~ old man, but Carlisle said, Some OF
else will take him in If we don't, an
we might as we'll have It Is them
Boys were anxious to bet.
|, "The old man counted his mono,
w 1t was 81, 500. Carlisle and his par
ner dubbed together and raised q III
amount, and the two sums were d,
posted at the Pacific hotel.
" ''Then the old mossback said, Nc
boys, I mean business. I ain't ara
- of that ere boss. I'came he's TO Du
:. some Lam, but let ths len lay I'LL art
3, tbI. yora -acs Ynst boss of mine
the bo.t ous,-n boss In this countr,
% and I'm wiling to bet more on hin
Ia YER want ter bet more I'll go c
and seserrect more Wsda'
"The boys gladly chimed In. I'll
at thing looked po preposterous, and
20 looked like getting money so easy tn
y. they said they would put up agaiuI
n. all ne Gould bring.
"T1ey shook hands and huge
Mt each other as soon % the old fello
was out of sight.
&c "He soon came back with two mo
- wads, each of 81, 800,