The Arkansaw traveler., 1884-06-14
A GREAT RACE HORSE.


 -GssrTs Bivds<ys, sE Pliisd< lSsss Rersyi.
 A GREAT RACE HORSE.
 EPecks san.l
 People in small towns have q great deal more genuine, origieal fan than the dweilers in citiesz>. In smaii town, when a joke Is getting in is vosk, the whole population tahs ia and helps II along. Some gentlemen ffum different parts of the state Wose in the Sss ol6ce one day last veek, and one happened to ask an- other fAe reEnembese& the fun they had at the horse race in Neillsville, six years ago, and a1ksr the laneh vas over the story was got eut of them. It Is about as follous In the spring of 1858 . colored man came to Neillsville to do a job of whiteuasAing a, the O'Nieil house. and he vas observed to be an ambitious sort of darkey, whose passion WAS horses He had been around horses some, as a rubber for men who had fast horses, and had an idea that if he could get a horse of his own, he could develop speed in the animal from his knosledee of handling such animals. The boys soon got onto the darkey's weakness and they put up job on him. There was an old horse out on the common, tha, had been tuned ont because the osner did not want the animal any more, and he beo~sed around and got pretty good living. The old horse had been a pretty good road horse, in his time, and prob ably could trot at the rate of a mile in E..~ Gnw One sf the boys told the darkey, m con- fidence, that the horse had the making of one of the finest trotters in the state, but that the owner did no, appreciate him, and would sell him for almost nothing. The darkey looked the horse over, and 1t vas decided not to go to the owner directly, and offer to buy the horse, as 1t might .rouse his suspicious that the animal was fast, 30 the man who had steered the darkey on to the horse, did the negotiating. It took week to do it, but finally he reported that the horse could be bought for thirty dollars, and the owner would take the ldarkey's note for the amount. No man ever gaze a note more eheertully than the dsrkey did. and the horse came into his posses sion. He borrowed wagon and har- ness, and began driving on the road evenings, afier his work was done, and he thought the horse was travelling like a whirlwind. There was an understands E on the part of the people, and whenever one drove along the road with the darkey he was allowed to pass, when the white man, who had been beaten, would look mad, and offer to buy the darkey's horse. but he would not sell. Horsemen would go to the barn where the darkey kept his horse, look him over, and go off and consult, and send somebody to get him to set price on the horse, but all efforts were fruitless- He knew when he had a good thing, and no horse ever was cared for better than the darkey's trotter. After he had driven him for couple of weeks, and beaten all the horses tha, had al, tempted to % with him, by their drivers holding up, and the horse had become the talk of the town, it was arranged to get up race. There was a newspaper man who had a pair of ponies, and he was heard to say, in grocery one night, that one of his ponies could beat the darkey's horse, four blocks on the street, best two in three. Some one carried the news to the darkey, and he was hot. The idea that a pony, small pony, should be spoken of in the same breath with his trotter, was too much, and he wanted to go and whip the editor, but friends got around him and persuaded him to De calm. People began to talk about it, and the darkey was called upon by some of the best citizens, who told him it was an outrage for the owner of a pony to talk in that reasonable manner, and that they would contribute to purse to be trotted for by the trotter and the miserable pony. An ex-member of the legislature called upon the darkey and offered to bet ten thousand dollars that the darkey's horse could beat the pony, and prominent Evezyman cid he would bet five thousand hinnelG The darkey became mAdder all tke1ima and finaIly a race vas arranged cd . genslsman was appoinaed to raise n sh1he purse, and while he only got S1oue sik dn11ars, he put it in shst bag cd deposited i. in the bank every ni9Ak, ana it vas talked that he had raised over eight hundred dollarx-
 We'll, the forthcoming race was the talk of the whole of Clark county, and everybody laughed aboat it, except in the presence of the darket. People took sides, and those cn the darkey's side would not speak to those on the pony's side. when the darkey vas around. The darkey wanted . sulky. and the livery man, who took a great interest in the darkey. told him that he could borrow . sulky of the Presbyterian minister, and he vent up to the minister's house one night when there was a prayer meeting, walked in among the people and boldly aalsed tAe preacher fur the loan of his sulky, for the occasion. The preacher, who never owned . sulky any moee than he vould billiard table or . faro lay oat, vas indignant and fired the darkey down the froat steps, and dpg chased him out of the yard, while the minister talked to his audience of the vickedness of the world The darkey mpoTted to the livery man, and vas told that he had