The herald., 1895-02-24
THE HORSE
THAT WAS BETTER THAN
RUGBY KNEW
How a Very Thrifty Old Man Sold
BIooded Filly Which He
Thought Was Dangerous
to Man Who Sold
Her to Senator
Stanford

81 hatter myself that am the only man
in Los Angeles who ever got the best of
bargain with old man Rugby, said Col
onel Gilkerson, as he lit a fresh cigar,
elevated his heels to the top of his Office
desk and assumed a reminiscent air.
Rugby! Don't know old Rugby?" ex-
claimed the Colonel GilIerson. Where
have you been living al! this time, young
MANI" ''You haven't been living in one
of his tenements or you would be sure to
know him. Rugby is a rich old fellow liv
ing down on Mill street, neighbor of mine
who does nothing but clip his coupons
and collect his rents. To my certain
| knowledge he has about 20 houses and 400
building lots, and he boasts openly of
being worth quarter of million dollars,
but notice he is on the assessment roll
for only a little over $25, 600. Rugby is
sly, devilish sly, so to speak, and his
! ability to dodge the Assessor and tax
gatherer is only equaled by his penchant
for exactng usury and collecting rents.
"Rugby held a note against some poor
devil OF rancher down in the Westminster
district, and being unable to collect it, he
finally accepted horse of the farmer in
Ieu of the cash. The animal was 2
year-old filly, and anyone that knows any
thing at all about horses could tell that
she came of good trotting stock. Rugby
was aware of this, and when he bro ught
her home he called me over to his stable
to look at her. Now if f'there is one thing
know more about than another it is a
horse, and l at once recognized that the
tilly had good blood. | expressed my adj
miraton of the animal and made an offer
for her, but she wasn't for sale. Rugby
had an old carriage horse, and he said he
would break this tilly to drive with the
other animal and sport double team.
''Well, they were hitched up and started
out for drive. They started down Fig
: ueroa street and all went well until,
filly's long untrimmed hoofs got doubled
up and broke. This excited the young
animal and she began to run. The driver
became frightened and jumped out, leav-
ing the ladies and the runaway team to
their fate. They did not run far till they
turned into somebody's yard and came
to stop without any harm being done.
Shortly after this it was that Rugby
slyly approached me about renewing my
offer for the animal. He did not tell me
anything about the runaway, but l had
learned all about that from another
source. l repelled the old man and SAID |
had changed my mind about buying the
mare, but he was persistent. Finally /
offered him two lots in Burbank, which
had cost me about $50 during the boom
and were dear at the price. The old man
went and looked at the lots, and as it
seemed that he could not do better, and
the mare was eating her head off and of
no benefit whatever to him, he took me
up. The lots were decided to him and the
mare transferred to my stable. l had a
first-class coachman who took her in
hand, trimmed her hoofs and had her
shod and from the very start she was
one of the finest driving animals in the
city. My wife is an expert horsewoman
and she took great delight in handling
the ribbons over the spirited youngster
and taking a spin in her phaeton. passing
the Rugbys on the road behind their old
sorrel plug, like flash, much to the envy
of the good ladies of that household.
"In the meantime I had been look
ing up the mare $ pedigree, and found that
she had the best strain of trotting blood
in the state, in her veins. 1t happened at
the same time that the managers of the
Stanford estate were looking for brood
mares of this particlar strain. An agent
of the estate came down here and learn
ing l owned one of these Mares he pur-
chased her for 500 cash. When J. told old
Rugby about this and exhibited the roll of
greenbacks got for the animal, he was
completely crushed. think it is the first
time he ever let good thing slip through
his fingers, and it seemed to break his
heart. OF course he thinks swindled him,
but he thought he was pulling the wool
over my eyes in great shape wnen he
palmed her off on me.