San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-05-03
Two Men and Boy Put Up q Job and
"skinned the Town"


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 it. When l 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 dozen be-
fore 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 the others These
had been an attraction for a crowd Of idlers,
and the general verdict was that the drover
was as sharp as a BARRIERS razor. Soon after
dinner farmer looking boy drove hog into
town, and staked him out in front Of the tav-
era. As he wanted TO sell and the drover
wanted to buy, they soon came together.
Might take him on a pinch, but he's only
a nubbins," said the drover as be sized the
porker up
"NubbinsI Why, that pig goes over 200
poundsl" exclaimed the owner.
Cant stuff me, boy. I've been in the
business twenty years"
mo one wants to stuff. That ere hog goes
to 2lO"
He does. ehi Wish your father had come
in Id like to make bet with him Boy,
you ought to have better Judgment That
hog won't pull down $780,"
Guess you are OF, too" remarked a
stranger who had quietly driven up in a
buggy. I've raised hogs all my life, and
that boy hain't FIVE pounds out Of his guess
Amt hei Raised hogs, have you2 Ever
raise any money!"
"A little"
Perhaps you'd like to bet on that hogr
Perhaps"
Have you got $50 as says he goes oOoY1
~ have-ffty-a hundredln
Then let's chalk Anybody can blow"
1t was a chance to mako a dollar, and the
citizens improved it The man In the buggy
was an accommodating chap, and somehow
or other the farmer boy managed to fish up
about 500 from the hind pocket Of his over
alls. The citizens stuck by the drovsr, hav-
ing abundant proofs Of his Judgment, and
when every man in that town who had a
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"
"Ill take even bets that he goes over 300"
replied the man in the buggy.
This bluff raked out the last nickel In the
crowd, and the hog was driven upon the
scales The record was 2l1 pounds. He was
weighed and reweighed, 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 off in the buggy, and half an hour
had elapsed before church deacon, who had
laid his ten with the drover and lost, suddenly
delared that it was & put up job to skin the
town.
"Durn my buttons if it haintI" yelled 200
men in chorus, but it was toolate. 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 reso-
luton to the effect that liberty was a sham
and delusion. New York Sun