The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-28
KENTUCKY HORSE swAPrERs.
The Ethics of an INDUSTRY that Has
Thrive in n Peculiar Way.

III n ItEuhhME NANs
From the Courier-Journal
Danville, KY. March l3.-Some one
wants the Legislature to wipe out Jockey
Row" and forbid the horseswapper the
privilege Of the highway. When this is
done one of the features of the old-fash-
Toned county court day win have been
obliterated. and a large and enterprising
class Of Kentuckians will have been de-
prived of their rights and liberties.
In every well-regulated Kentucky town
is set apart a portion of some street, us
ually back one, which is known to all as
Jockey Row" and there on county court
days the horse-Swapper, or Jockey as
he Is more familiarity known, operates.
The genuine, professional jockey is of a
type peculiar TO himself. He IS the
swappenest' man on earth lie Will trade
anything. He prefers to deal In horse
flesh; he'd almost halt funeral process
sion to exchange horses with the driver
of the hearse; but II you Will not swap
horses, he'll swap saddles watches. jack
knives, oVercoats-if he has One-or hats.
That is the way he makes his living. Or
binary farm work. though he usually lives
in the country, il too laborious. lie be-
leves In quick sales and small profits.
He is trading more or less all the time,
but Is busiest on court days He attends
the courts in all surrounding counties,
which give him at least one good days
work every week. He Is a shrewd, Sc
is as far-reaching as the mantle OF chari-
ty. There never lived sklllful card play
er whose face could look lie more COM
pletely than a genuine horse Jockey can
tell one, and the man who bests him in
driving a bargain is a pretty smooth indi-
business on Jockey Row does not get
good and brisk until about o'clock in
the afternoon. and from that time until
dark It progresses with uniagging inter
est Jockey row is then crowded with
sWappers and horses of all sorts, ages,
sizes, and conditions. There are the
blind the lame and the halt horses of
pony size and steeds sixteen hands high;
trOtters, saddlers, thorOughbredS, and
generally untility horses--in fact, any sort
of a horse man might want except USE
The horse in a swap. It must be borne
In mind, is not the end, but the means 10
an end-the medium through. which one
Jockey is to get the better of the other.
jockey, so far as the animal itself is
concerned, would just as soon have one
horse as another one. His idea Is TO get
boot every time trade is made. IL Is
the extra consideration that the jockey is
after, and an expert has been known to
ride down in the morning, swap eight or
ten times. and return home astride OF his
steed of the morning $l5 or $40 ahead for
his days work
The processes of a swap on Jockey Row
are decidedly unique, and Il Is interesting,
indeed. to hear different owners dwell
upon the beauties and virtues OF their re-
spective animals A horse may be blind
in both eyes and 10 years ola, ana nave
all the diseases seen and unseen that horse
flesh Is heir to, but the jockey guarantees
him to be sound and all right, ana only
years of age. A horse on Jockey Row
never gets older than years. That's the
limit. A jockey may not have owned a
horse more than thirty minutes, but he
will stand uD tell about the immense
amount of work he has done with It on
the farm, that il is as gentle as a dog
and that his wife and children love II
better than they do their lives, but he is
Dc md ha nj
NAL must go. OF course, the other party
to the trade knows ne is lying as well
as he knows it himself, but that doesn't
make any difference. II was all In the
While negotiations are in progress dis
interested CD Individual may saunter along
and stop. This spectator will express
great surprise that his acquaintance is
going to part with such a valuable ami
NAL, and will regret that he didn't know 1t
sooner, so that he could have bought II
before investing in another He has known
the horse for two or three years, and
knows it to be the best driver, the easiest
rider. and hardest worker that was ever
"hooked up" or saddled Sound and all
right, too-Oh, yes. No mistake about
that After the trade is over he and Bill
will take drink over It, unless Bill sud
denly learns that the horse he got in ex-
change for his jewel is the trifiingest brute
that ever walked on four legs.
There is considerable diplomacy neces-
sary in close swap. The jockeys decker
and make passes" at each other for some
time. ride the horses up and down the
street, and both ask from 50 to SO ito boot"
gradually coming down until one or the
other gives in. Sometimes barlow knife
or a pint of whisky is all that is needed
to make one horse worth more than an
other If it is an even swap both jockeys
feel confident that the other fellow got
the worst of the trade.
There is a peculiar fascination about
this profession, and men follow IL from
their youths until they are gray-headed.
Some Of them make money at 1t, and get
to be very well-to-do farmers There is
one man in Central Kentucky who began
business not many years ago with a brass
watch and a barlow knife. He snapped
them for a SOW and pigs, snapped the
SOW and pigs for horse and saddle, and
then struck the row" His first days
experience on the row Melted him $50 and
he went home that evening on a better
horse than his first was. Thus he went
swaps horses still, but on a larger scale
A. for