The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-04-03
A HOG RACKET WORKED.
Three sharpers Work Trick That Pays
Them Well.

\. L
When l entered the village, situated among
the hills Of New York, at 10 o'clock in the
morning, all was peaceful and serene, and the
pocket of every man who walked the streets
had chink in il. When ] left, at p. m, an
excited mob had possession of the main street,
and every other man was dead broke.
About noon a man arrived from the north in
buggy. He said he was a drOver and looking
for hogs. He bought half a dozen before he
ate dinner and it was astonishing how closely
he guessed at their live weight He was within
two pounds on four OF them, and only half a
pound more on others. These had been an at
traction to a crowd of idiers and the general
verdict was that the drover was as sharp as a
BARRIERS razor. Soon after dinner a farmer
looking boy drove a hog into town, and staked
him out in front of the tavern. As he wanted
to sell and the drover wanted to buy they soon
came together
'rAIight take him on a pinch, but he's only
nubblns," said the drOver, as he sized the porker
up.
"Nubbinsl Why. that pig goes over two hun
dred pound" exclaimed the owner.
Cant stuff me, boy. I've been in the bust
ness twenty years"
mo one wants to stuff. That ERE hog goes
to 21O''
Gle does, Ell? Wish your father had come
in. I'd like to make a bet with him. Boy, you
ought to have better judgment. That hog
won't pull down 1S0."
Guess you are off. too, remarked a stranger
who had quietly driven up in a buggy. 1--WE
raised hogs all my life, and that boy hain't five
pounds out of his guess"
"Ain't he? Raised hogs, have you? Ever
raise any money!"
"a little"
Perhaps you'd like to bet on that hog"
Perhaps"
'.Have you got $50 as says he goes 2OO?'
u have-ffty-a hundredp
"Then let's chalk. ANYBODY can blow"
1t was a chance TO make dollar, and the cit
liens improved it. The man in the buggy was
an accommodating chap, and somehow or other
the farmer boy managed to fish up about a hun
dred dollars from the hind pocket of his over
alls. The citizens stuck by the drover, having
abundant proofs of his judgment, and when
every man in that town who had loose dollar
or could borrow one had made his bet the hog
was driven to the scales and weighed.
Gentlemen" said the drover Just before the
weighing, 81 was never deceived in my life.
This hog won't go to 100 pounds"
"Fll take even bets that he goes over 200"
replied the man in the buggy.
This bluff raked out the last nickel in the
crowd. o9d the hog was driven upon tne
scales. TIE record was 211 pounds. He was
weighed and re-weighed, but the figures stood
well, it's my first error in hog" said the
drover, and all bets were at once handed over.
The farmer boy slipped out, the two men drove
of in the buggy, and half an hour had elapsed
before a church deacon, who had laid his ten
with the drover and lost, suddenly declared
that it was a put-up job to skin the town.
"Durn my buttons if it hain'tp' yelled two
hundred men in chorus, but it was too late.
The town had been skinned, and the trio had
escaped. All the mob could do was to turn
loose and wreck an old vinegar factory and
pass resolution to the effect that liberty was
sham and delusion.