Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1886-03-11
THE BALSr HORSE.
dow IN Ex-Peddler Came to lie Ret1re0
to = State Peni.entiary.

uow IN Ex-Peddler Came to Re Retired
to State Peni.entiary.
''BefOre turned from the evil of my
ways. said man who had been quietly
sucking away at "a corn-cob pipe, ii
had little lay of my own. 1t was that
of retailing dry goods. clothing. boots
and shoes and Yankee notions around
the country from peddler's wagon.
The particular little point in which 1
excelled was in securing my goods at
low prices. l finally became so smart
that got most of them for nothing
Zone day. as was driving along y
highway III Ohio, farmer stumped me
to trade horses. After some beating
around. We made an even exchange. and
l got 4 handsome, Strong-limbed horse
in place of spawned. broken-down
animal. 1t was my solemn belief that
he was getting rid of stolen horse. but
not 4 scruple of conscience did have.
l had a heavy wagon. drove two horses
before it, and l calculated that l had
made just O.e hundred dollars out OF
that trade. drove sixteen miles after
making the trade, and that horse proved
himself a dandy.
Il had had my eve Oh a certain dry
goods store in the village of P for
several months back. That night, after
every thing around the village hotel was
quiet. l slipped out, harnessed up and
drove the wagon around back of the
store. You see, intended to make a
large purchase at bottom figures, and
didn't want the proprietor around. /
had brought along a half-inch auger,
bore my way in through the back door.
A boy about sixteen years old slept in
the store. My first move was to cap
ture him. Before he was fairly awake 1
had him tied. blindfolded and gagged.
Then proceeded to make my spring
and summer selections. The town was
as quiet as graveyard, and in about
an hour l 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 the adj
vantages of a falling market.
1.-The young man had been very quiet
during my work, and as was ready to
90 | went over to him aud expressed
my qualification at his conduct. As it
lacked only two hours of daylight, l
asked him to be of good cheer and pa
tiently wait for some early riser to come
in and relieve him. He promised to re-
main quiet. and got on the wagon and
drove off with the feeling that l had
made good nights work of it. l
was intending to drive ten miles
due west and then run the
goods into a certain hiding place.
About mile beyond the village was
long hill, and rs we came to this that
new horse suddenly came to a dead halt.
l put on the whip, and he began to kick.
In about two minutes | was made to
realize that had been stuck on a pro-
fessional.' knew by his actions that
he was baker from way back, and not
only mulish about it, but decidedly vi
ciOuS.
Now, gents, in the language of
Shakespeare, here was a 60. got
down and coaXed and tlattered and ScOld
cd and pounded but that horse had made
up his mind not to move, and was ready
to die in his tracks. jabbed him in the
hams with brad awl, but he kicked the
dashboard into splinters to pay for it. l
started a fire under him with news
papers, but he backed out of it. was
in Il box. Time was slipping past. and
time was every thing to me. That in
fernal beast would neither take the hill
nor turn around. | embarrassed him to
walk him around. and he rushed at me
with scream. Knocked me over, and
then turned and galloped Oft My plan
was to cut the other horse loose and take
myself off, but before | 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
confidential mood this evening, will
inform you that a prosecuting attorney.
Il judge, and six jurors retired ME to
Columbus for the term of eight years.
N. y San.