The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1886-02-26

PEMBIN
HORSES FOR A TRIFLE.
Old Mays Doctored Up by Jock
eys and Sold for q Song.
All Sorts Of Decsptions Practiosd Upon
Unsuspeoting Ones.
Hooh and Cayenne Pepper.
1t is related Of one Of the men
OF early New York that when
he drove q cart he one day expressed q
rash determination to take SO cents and
go over to the horse market and buy q
horse. Whereat q neighbor chided
him for his want of thrift, saying:
''While you are at it why don't you
take S1.5O and buy good oncp"
He took the advice and bought q
frisky steed for $l.45. He had driven
about three blocks from the market
with his bay when his horse fell down,
refused to get up, and lay there in the
street and died. Seeing which, its
owner put his hands in his pocket and
exclaimed Indignantly: Here, John!
here's 20 shillings; go back and buy .
roarer!'
The market where such bargains
were driven when New York of to-day
went to infant school, says The New
York Mail and Express, was on Fourth
avenue, at Eighty-sixth street. Upon
the city statute book there stands still
an ordinance, that has never been re-
Pealed, forbidding 1.-THE sale or Offering
Cor sale at auction of any animal or ami
mails in any public street or place, ex-
cept in the Fourth avenue, at the corner
of Eighty-sixth street, under a penalty
OF 91O." The present residents Of that
rather exclusive ncighborhood would
probably be stricken dumb with amaze
mont at any attempt to obey it to-day.
Many years ago the Central railroads
tunnel drove ''thc animals away, tho
cattle westward to the North river, and
the horses east as far as the foot of Sew
enty-fourth street. There, in a classic
locality known variously as .'thc
Slaughter-house," from certain not un-
familiar scenes Of bloodsled that occur
periodically within its precincts, ''the
Rocks" and the .'Skin market - Goth
ANS only opcn-air horse market is now
established. Perhaps ''the Rocks" has
some hidden reference to the money
weekly wasted and wicketlly won here
twice a week; perhaps it refers to the
character of the ground. Whichever
is the fact, at any rate the title of ''Skin
market" is not misplaced. From first
to last more people are mctaphorically
and more horses actually skinned at
1.-The Rocks" than probably in all the
rest of the metropolis put together, the
bunco dens and the offal dock not ex-
cluded. The halt, tho blind, the deaf of
the equine tribe come here, q temporary
cure wrought upon them by the Jockeys
art, and then sold and bought for song.
The father of lies pitches his tent in the
market twice a week-on Wednesday
and Saturday afternoons-and docs q
rushing business.
From fur and wide come his apostles
to practice on the simpletons Of Gotham.
These as promptly nut in an annear.
ance to be taken in. Long island New
JERSEY. and the ,,n-countrv % districts
Weld their quotas on busy davs and
steeds of varying degrees Of useless
ness are led IN to be imposed unon the
unwary. Some good horses Get in Mt
times. for the market has n ren,tation
for cheapness Chat induces men WIN
want to sell a good horse quickly and
save stable fees To take Il there Rnt
these BARGAINS are snc,,ncd nm nt once
bv the nrofessional iockevs who fro.
quent the market, and it is entirely in
keeping with its general character that
such horses arc from first to last made
the object of unmerited abuse, while
the praises of the fraudulent, doctored
beast are sung in dulcet tones. Only
the most thorough knowledge of horse
flesh and the tricks of the Jockey avail
against the frauds awaiting the pur-
chaser at 'the Rocks" Polished hoofs
and doctored teeth are among the most
innocent deceptions practiced by the
.'snide" horse.doctor. A cayenne pep
per pill and little ginger will brace
up broken-down nag for an hour or
two, and impart to it passing friski-
ness quite beyond belief. Even CLAN
dered horse may be made Temporarily
prescntable by giving it good clearing
out and carefully pluggingits nostrils-
long enough in nine cases out of ten to
land it safely in its hapless purchasers
stable. Once there, the further duty of
dealing with it lies between its new own
er and Bergh's men, who are called in to
kill it in the end. Sometimes, but not
always, they are able to fix upon the
seller, and make him, to degree at
least, responsible.
A reporter who looked in at the mar
ket during business hours Saturday
found Mr.. Bergh's men there. strollino
about and critically examining the ani.
mails offered for sale. The market #.
self is a long yard sloping from the
middle of the Block east of Avenue A
to the river, and lined with wagon
sheds. The approach from Seventy.
fourth street is guarded by a boom that
shuts out all who are too poor or too
mean to paw the entrance fee Of a few
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