The Kootenai herald. [volume] (Kootenai, Idaho) 1891-1904, 1891-12-05
WORKING A HOG.
The Whole Town Caught the Idea When
II Was Too Late.

The Whole Town Caught the Idea When
II Was Too Late.
When 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 left, at 4 D. M, an
excited mob had possession of the main street
and every other man was dead broke.
About noon man arrived from the north
in a buggy He said be was a drover and
looking for hogs He bought half dozen be
fore he ate dinner. and il was astonishing
how closely he guessed at their live weight
He was within two pounds on four of them
and only half pound more the others.
These had been an attraction for q crowd of
idlers, and the general verdict was that the
drover was as sharpas a BARRIERS razor. Soon
after dinner a farmer looking boy drove
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 to-
gether
might take him on pinch but he's only
q nubbins." said the drover as he sized the
porker up
"Nubbinsl 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 30"
HE does, ehi Wish your father had come
in I'd like to made bet with him. Boy,
you ought to have better Judgment. That
hog won't pull down l80"
Guess you are Off, 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 her Raised hogs, have your Ever
raise any money!
"A little"
Perhaps you'd like to bet on that hogr
perhaps"
Have you got $50 as says he goes 2O0T"
II have-ffty-a hundredf'
"Then let's chalk. Anybody can blow"
1t was a chance to make dollar, and the
citizens improved it. The man in the buggy
was an accommodating chap aud somehow
or other the farmer boy managed to fish up
about a hundred dollars from the hind pocket
of his overaIls The citizens stuck by the
drover, having abundant proofs of his judg-
ment, 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, Il was never deceived in my
life. This hog won't go to 1870 pounds
"I'n take even bets chat be goes over 200, .
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 2ll pounds. He was
weighed and reweighed but the figures
stood
"Well, it's my first error in a 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
declared that it was put up job to skin the
! town.
''Durn my buttons If it hain'tI" yelled 20C
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 anC
wreck an old vinegar factory and pass a res
olution to the effect that liberty was shan
and delusion New York Sun.