The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-15
BIG HORSE SWAPPIN' TINE.
CRACKERS FOL HUNDREDS OF
MILES MEET IN HINDER, Ga.

5000 or Them spend Three Days Spinning
Yarns and TradinE-OId Lem FORESTER
stn Remains the Bo.s Tighter OF Three
Ceantes-Tosn RIerriss Pistols and Ills Fun.
wINDER. Ca, Aug. 1L-Tho first and only
horse swappers' convention ever hold In this
State closed this evening after having been in
session three days. From twenty-five hundred
to three Thousand persons have been in attend
ence every day.
There were hundreds and hundreds OF swaps
made, and the same animals changed hands
many times. The convention was the result
OF the announcement made In q Populist
weekly paper sonic time ago and taken up
by weekly papers In thi, and surrounding
States. 1t attracted attention all over the
South, and veteran horse swappers. men
who mako business a speculation, came
from the mountains OF East Tennessee. the hills
Of North Carolina, the plney woods OF Alabama.
and from ms far as Texas and Missouri. One
gang OF Irish gypsics from Birmingham, Ala,
drove $50 miles through the country with forty
or fifty horses and mules to participate In the
bargaining.
Local horse dealers. the Caruthers Brothers,
were the real starters OF the scheme, but it
spread like wildfre. till old whiskered moon
sinners. who had been dodgine revenue officers
for years, came from their hiding places, al.
lured by the chance to dispose of their
stock Of mountain dew. An organization
was formed. and George Camp, q typical
Georgia Cracker, who never owned the same
horse for q month in his life, was elected Presi.
dent. Rules were established that there was to
be no gambling. fighting. or other infractious Of
law. Every man had full latitude in dealing
with his antagonist so as to get the better OF
him in swapping IL he could.
One man. George Arnold. snapped thirteen
times. and rode of on tho same horse he started
with the first day. This was a typical trans
action. Moonshine liquor flowed freely. If
the newly appointed Collector OF Internal
Revenue Henry Rucker had had his
negro deputies on the ground they might have
made trouble, but neither white nor colored
deputies would have cared to tackle that crowd,
for the most fearless, reckless. independent peo-
pie on earth are these horsemen from the hills.
"Oli Lem Forester OF Hog Mountain, with
cronies Abe Brown and Pid King. were on hand.
Lem has q record of never having been whipped
in q fist or q skull fight in the three counties
which come together In q corner in the town
that limits Jackson, Walton and Gwynnett.
Hls two cronies are as full Of fight as Old Lem.
Every now and then Old Lem would mount a
stump. nap his arms. and crow like a rooster as
he declared himself the bully of three counties
and the =" boss dog OF the boneyard."
Old Tom Norris. who lives among the hills
on Appaliachee River, was with Norgan's men
during the war. He was shot all TO pieces and
badly crippled. He had kept two large six.
shooters which he carried on the wild rides with
Morgan, and has worn them buckled around his
waist ever since the war. So infirm 10 he now
that he has TO ride in a ricketv buggy. but he
still carries the pistols e%yeTywhere he goes. and
DO you ever have any occasion to use
miEhsy hand, .yhsn hiOeknds hunters airo
fsCap Snn .tIII rsa theu, barduvs 90
Jest try me: ! kin hit a possum's eye by
torchlighti in the tallest ~persimmor tree in the
bottom an / kin drive the cork through q pint
bottle OF corn Ticker at fifty yards, best two out
About . o'clock in the day, when the sun had
grown too hot for swapping horses, old Tom
Norris retired to the woods. where soon there
gathered q crowd around him. He commanded
the boys to show up. From various receptacles
eighteen pint beer bottles and TASKS Of corn
Tom ordered the exercises to begin by every
man drinking a toast. II a fellow could not get
couldn't Sing RI he had 10 dance. Thec one ~ makinS
the best show Of accomplishments was permit
ted to take the first drink out of his choice OF a
Such a pandemonium. never was witnessed
and such = flow Of Cracker wit was never, ex-
hibited before in Georgia. Another noted char
acter was Frank Fuller, whose tavorite express
} sion in speaking of the comparative merits Of
q know, big wood from bresh from the size of
Frank began swapping on Friday. and snapped
so often and treated himself so often that he
could not pick out the horse last snapped for
from n string OF nifty tied TO n big rope street he'd
across what they call the bone yard, where
the swapping stock was kept on exhibition. Az
ter trying in vain 70 get his horse he set out to-
ming and hiccoughing.
Pilgrims like in the desert sand.
King Jews walking in aweary Land"
The crowd cheered him as he passed. All
crackerdom WAS IN a blaze OF glory. Every sort
from Pine Lodge 10 the brande,i BTonCho rom
, the plains OF Montana, with mules OF every color
and condition Of servitude. were In evidence.
, for the majority OF he stock. One man rode an
animal branded with the previous price, which
3 looked like ID cents. Another snapper yelled
out;
y that's Jest my crest mark. Hain't put on
! Gimme twenty-five cents and I won't tell the
? turkey buzzards which way you went" retorted
=, Joke and repartee ran riot and tho humor OF
5 Georgia crackers, stimulated by corn Juice, over.
r flowed anG spread like a contagion until for a
. mile or two "round everything was in n upro1r.
Tho darkies were dispensing watermelonS. gen
5 erously ~helplng themselves frst, and, choking
5 with mouthfqls OF the juicy red heart. cried
their wares in stpntorian tones. Two old no.
: Crocs clubbed in and got assistance from white
;, friends and gave a grand barbecue, which sat
! istiei the hunger OF many a swapper from up
t Tho crowd camrcd during two nights under
trees in the outskirts o town, did It's own cook
: ing about nm open fire, and a grinier set % men
t was never seen around a Confederate bivouac.
2 ra As oS . riGTx fn The s't striDS Of sHG ri ners e exiend Ped
through the village and lined the road for a
mile.
4 Old Confederates, with saddles with C. g. A
:, still appearing on Them. some barebackcd, and
! others with only sheepskin and rome hridles
t SOM barefoot. and nearly all In shirt sleev yes
participated in the parade.
Finally all clustered around President George
Camp anu srnt up three cheers that sounded 81
much like the old rebel yell that many OF thu
more antiuu ted mules pricked. up their ears
IA Then the crowd dispersed and the first Conven
tlon OF the Cracker Horse Swappers was ended