The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1896-04-14

of type peculiar to himself. He is
"the swappenest' man on earth, He
will trade anything. He prefers to
deal in horsehesh; he'd almost halt q
funeral procession to exchange horses
with the driver of the hearse; but If
you will not swap horses, he'll swap
saddles, watches, jackknives, overcoats
if he has one--or hats. That is the
way he makes his living. Ordinary
farm work, though he usually lives in
the country, is too laborious, He be-
lieves in quick sales and small profits.
He is trading more or less all the time,
but is busiest on court days He at
attends the courts" In all surrounding
counties, which give him at least one
good days work every week, He is a
judge of horses and a judge of men.
He is shrewd, secretive, and plausible,
his conscience is as far reaching as
the mantle of charity. There never
lived skilful card player whose face
could look a lie more completely than
genuine horse jockey can tell one,
and the man who bests him in driving
a bargain is a pretty smooth indi-
vidual.
iDesSAAASS5 va JOShCS NV NANSS NV . ~
good and brisk until about 2 o'clock in
the afternoon, and from that time until
dark it progresses with unflagging in
terest. 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 the pony size and steeds six
teen hands high; trotters, saddlers,
thoroughbreds, and general utility
horses-in fact, any sort of horse a
man might want except useful one.
| The horse in swap, it must be borne
| in mind, is not the end, but the means
| to an end-the medium through which
one jockey is to get the better of the
other. A jockey, so far as the animal
itself is concerned, would just as soon
have one horse as the other, His idea
is to get boot every time a trade
is made. 1t 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 SIS or 500 ahead of his
days work.
The process Of a swap on Jockey
| IlOW CiIe uGClu6uly ulllluS5 anu II 10
interesting, indeed, to hear different
owners dwell upon the beauties and
virtues of their respective animals. A
horse may be blind in both eyes, six
teen years old, and have all the dis
eases seen and unseen that horse flesh
| is heir to, but the jockey guarantees
| him to be sound and all right and only
six years Of age. A horse on Jockey
Row never gets older than nine years.
That's the limit A jockey may not
have owned a horse more than thirty
minutes, but he will stand up and tell
about the immense amount of work
he has done with it on the farm, that
it is as gentle as a dog, and that his
wife and children love it better than
| they do their lives, but he is hard up
and needs money and the animal must
| 60 OF course the other party to the
trade knows hesis lying as well as he
knows it himself, but that doesn
make any difference. 1t was all in the
| game.
| While negotiations are in progress a
| disinterested % individual may saun-
| ter along and stop. This spectator Will
express great surprise that his &C
| quaintance is going to part with such
| a valuable animal, and he will regret
that he didn't know 1t sooner, so he
could have bought it before investing
in another. He has known the horse
for two or three years, and knows 1t
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 a drink over it
unless Bill suddenly learns that the
horse he gots In exchange for his jewel
is the trifingest brute that ever walk
ed on four legs.
There Is considerable diplomacy
necessary in close swap. The jock
eys dicker and make passes" at each
other for some time, ride the horses
I'D and down the street, and both ask
from SO to $40 ito boot. gradually com
ing down until one or the other gives
in. Sometimes a barlow knife or
pint Of whisky is all that is needed tt
make one horse worth more than an
other. If it is an even swap, botf
Jockeys feel confident that the Other
fellow got the worst of the trade.
There is q peculiar fascination abou
this profession, and men follow it from
their youths until they are grey-head
ed Some of them make money at 1t
and get to be very well-todo farmers
There is one man in central KentucJ
who began business not very long ago
with brass watch and barlow knife
He snapped them for a SOW and pigs
| swapped the SOW and pigs for q horse
and saddle, and then ''struck the row.
His first days experience on the row
retted him $50, and he went home tina
evening on a better horse than his frs
was Then he went on, until to-da!
he ownes a good farm. He swap:
horses still, but on a larger scale thar
formerly.