New-York tribune., 1896-02-03
THE SPORT OF HOG GUESSING.
KIND OF GAMBLING PECULIAR TO RU-
RAJ NORTH NEW-JERSEY.


RAJ NORTH NEw-JERsEY
OLD FARMERS WHO CAN WEIGH A HOG BY TAPE
MEAsr RE-APPLEJAcK AND STRATEGY
TWO ESSENTIAL FEATURES OF
THE GAME.
Deckertown. y. j.. Feb. 2.-This is the season ol
the year when hog guessing IS prevalent. IL Is d
species OF gambling peculiar TO Northern New
Jersey. 1t Is not known to be popular anywhere
else in the country. except possibly in remote
corner OF Long Island. Hog culture is sce"'e
In these parts. The average sussex 'ouh's 'a'"'''
knows how 10 grow the fatiest. LATEST hoss Oh
the ,east fodder OF any man IN the "o''"' az
pr.des himself on the large amount oi pun -
lard he can se; IN the shortest possible time ana
al the least expense. The breeds were nhpo',e''
and the owners say they have been 'as'S I'M
proyed Lv wa.low.ng IN the mre o. upper Ne"-Je'-
soy T. .sn't bad pns ness either, tI's business u
ra sing champion swine There = one .d'"''
Peter Scott by name. who last year ra.sed n''y-sN
hogs. averaging $50 pounds. or to'a' o. 80
pounds He got cents pound Tor Ms pork,
which made snug profit FOR Il yeaf OF pa"''S anu
failures.
The sport OF hog guessing is finely deve.oped'
There are hundreds Of experts al 'he s'"',
Most of them are old farmers. who travel aroun"
with Hachersack whiskers wear overaIs ana nav
rubber boots that reach TO the knees. Inc !ou"s
blood don't much FOR th- pds''ihe '"S
patriarcha sports understand no" 10 run '"pe
measures around the necks. !o,ns ani s'ohachs
OF the porby victims and guess within u" pouhus
or their exact weight T'hey size up hog IN
short order and they either bet their pi'-S Oh 'le
guess have the guess recorded by the 'a"u'o'
Of the hotel in front OF which the foS s"T''"N
contest always takes place. The act OF re'o'i'"e
always costs the guesser couple o. drinks o.
appieiack.
TYPICAL CONTEST
The sport Cor this season IL no" IN inl o'"o'"'
A description Of the game az one tavern - Npi-
CA OF them all This VAS held az regular
back number hotel Few miles from th.s ION"
fev days ago Nearly 800 men participated. li'Y
came from all directions. som" OF tneh "''' IT,"
or twelve miles away. They arrived in ancient
v.hi,.es Most % the contestants "noo'ed 1t. as
they expressed IT, The horses We're ted IN Dig
shed N the rear o, the tavern Four hogs were
On hand 10 be guessed They seemed a'to-
sether too ne.hy for their frail less to hold
The dfrcul, feature o, guessing contest Is 10
get he hogs 70 stand erect arl assume military
attitude These overfel creatures could no.
stand erect long enough FOR rolcail AMI IL was
hard TO Judge then, a. all When one OF ihe
farmers pro1lel them with cane ihey SGT up
uoearfhv vells ard Their huge bodies trembei
and shook Ike delicate mould o. wine l'iN.
voung man driftel in AMI soon had ihem All on
their Zee, by blowing clouds Of obnoxious csar'it"
smoke In their faces
20 sooner had 'he hogs fallen under IN" in'u-
ence OF the cigarette smoke than dozen experts
in hog products leaped the bars and began Wind
INK tape measures about them. They have a way
OF multiplying the loin measurement ny 'h"' o
the neck and dividing IT by the length rom ears
fo tai The result. they say. furnishes thr hos
weight, BEFORE any allowed 10 MAKE any
s.. eninr researches within ihe bars me nolt.
man saw 90 II that he was properly registered on
lang ifa fI.l
The sacred monosyllable pail nas reror ed op-
,+si,c M. rsfn~ m. patriarch who guessed near
-. 10 The weight vas - haN" the hos
pERsuADING HIM TO WALK
yer th. four hogs hal bcea sp"-u.af'l on the
-.af r,n began \ large par OF platform scales
a.f. rolled - the side % The incosnr"' ana ooN
on wheels olen a. one end. "as placed hS.''
Four stalaar, men th-n began 20 'rF 20 urge ho1
So % enter the box. hni n" 'o"'' %" H''r "'
Induced 90 10 80 ihan any KIND o, a hog could b"
,olyr.l 20 cross bridge. FAR mvans having
h..or,. exhausted each man triel 10 persuade
hirr ., stand .rcc, and valk gracefully On m" NIX
,nt pr0liing % shsrp sticks fhlinS IN ln's, WI W.
pie % stout plank!ng were pro,uI'n @ ann t'V Vo
beneath the hog bui when ne mon n"h'u 10 -.
~. Ranking bent. cracked ana nI9k,,, anu .'g
hos gave fen grunts % approVal w men no Vn' ,h
! could think og an ingenious scheme 10y Mn e.'
ll.usirous mammoth porN"r coul' Ds ''s.i ..,,D
fh. box ~. boy possession ~ me .i'''''
came along AMI sad he coud perform ne l.h
ana succeeded iu moving the hos 10 'h' 'pPo7'''
s,le ~ the .ncosure. ,,,u,
without Saaps oainsl '' a The deay brousn, or
som. sol--in,h 'imb.rs block and tackle ana
nai- In a short time derrick vas lSs"i h,u
when "a moose Vas placed around iIr ho- po,N
aicht men took hold and hoisted him into me
box Willie ne Ma making more h"'S' '''" '"
average sized pig under ga''
HE GUESSED WITHIN TEN POUNDS
The box Wa rolled upon the sca.'-. 'he WEIGHTS
were adjusted and the beam VAS balanced A'fer
dedaciing tn. weight OF The box. the hog weight
vas found 70 be 41s pounds 10 one guessed fiRi'.
bu, the man comins reares' I'D u tho"s"' e''
pounds anl won tfe hos. The penalty Tor the
GOOD luck was that he hal TO 'blo" on me
crowd which cost over SIS His hog. AT SIX cents
a pound was worth ~ IS and he really saved
sorneth hing over S by entering the contest In
stead OF buying outright
The other hogs weighed 1858 as and Si'is. respec'
lively. and went through the process Of
weighing except that they we're nveslei into me
box wlfhou, the derrick or the boy with the cigar
cite No one guessed The exact weights Duf srF-
eral came near them one % the experts VINO
usel tape measures 10 assist his waVtrihS oplh-
Ion got "A hog and each man th"' u'4 s'' one
hal 20 treat the crowd.
The luckiest man in the whole crowd was the
landlord. He admitted his receipts from dinn.ts
amounted to nearly 800. lie said ihere
had been guessing contests at h.s hotel ne
winter so far. and he expected several mora ne
!s getting rich from the sport
Some Of the gucssers have records they are
proud Of one Old farmer. who must certainly
have passed the seventeen milestone OF his care"r.
said Re had been guessing on hogs for nearly
twenty years. He had guessed on ABOUT so nc
on the above occasion he didn't win single sam
pie OF pork.
AN EFFECTIVE APPEAL
THE REV. DR WICK. OF JEHsEY CITY breaches
Az ELOQUENT SERMON OK THE ARME