Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1886-04-07
The Baiky Horse.

"A~
turned from the evil of my ways said
a man who had been quietly sucking
away at a corn-cob pipe, II had a
little lay of my own. 1t was that of
retailing dry goods, clothing, boots
and shoes, and Yankee notions around
the country from a peddler's wagon.
The particular little point in which l
excelled was in securing my goods at
low prices. FINALLY became so smart
that I got most of them for nothing.
Zone day, as I W a driving along a
highway in Ohio, a farmer stumped
me to trade horses. After some beat
ing around, we made an even exchange,
and l got a handsome, strong-limbed
horse in place of a spawned and brok-
en- down animal. It was my solemn
belief that he was getting rid of a
stolen horse, but not a scruple of con-
science did l have. I had a heavy
wagon, and drove two horses before
it, and I calculated that l made just
800 out of that trade. I drove six
teen miles after making the trade, and
that horse proved himself a dandy.
Il had my eye on a certain dry goods
store in the village of P-for several
months back. That night, after every
thing around the village was quiet, l
slipped out, harnessed up, and drove
the wagon around back of the store.
You see, I intended to make a large
purchase at bottom figures, and I didn't
want the proprietor around. I had
brought along a half-inch auger, and
twenty minutes was time enough to
bore my way in through the back door.
A boy about Is years old slept in the
store. My first move was to capture
him. Before he was fairly awake I had
him tied, blindfolded and gagged.
Then l proceeded to make my spring
and summer selections. The town was
as quiet as a grave yard, and in about
an hour [ had all the load the wagon
would carry. l might remark right
here that the stock was selected with a
view of giving my customers advan-
tages of a falling market.
THE young man had been very quiet
during my work, and as I was ready to
go l went over to him and expressed
my qualification at his conduct. AS it
lacked only two hours of daylight, 1
asked him to be of good cheer and pa
tiently wait for some early riser to
come in and relieve him. He promised
to remain quiet, and / got on the wa
gon and drove off with the feeling that
| had made a good nights work of it.
/ was intending to drive ten miles due
west and then run the goods into a
certain hiding place. About a mile
beyond the village was a long hill, and
as we came to this that new horse sud-
denly came to a dead halt | put on
the whip, and he began to kick. In
about two minutes I was made to real
ize that l had been stuck on a "pro-
fessional." I knew by his actions that
he was a baker from way back, an d
not only mulish about it, but decidedly
vicious.
"Now, gents, in the language of
Shakespeare, here was a 90. I got
down and coaxed and flattered and
scolded and pounded, but that horse
had made up his mind not to move,
and vas ready to die in his tracks. I
jabbed him in the hams with a brad
awl, but he kicked the dashboard into
splinters to pay for it. I started y fire
under him with newspapers, but he
backed out of it 1 was in a box. Time
was slipping past, and time was every
thing to me. That Internal beast
would neither take the hill o turn
around, I Embarrassed him to walk him
around, and he rushed at me with a
scream, knocked mt over, and then
turned and galloped off. My plan was
to cut the other horse loose and take
myself off, but before I could do it a
dozen men piled on to me. That store
clerk had worked himself loose and
given the alarm. Being as I'm in a
confidential mood this evening, I will
inform you that a Prosecuting Attorney,
a Judge, and six jurors retired me to
Columbus for the term of eight years."
-NeW York Sumd0Y Sam.