Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1897-11-20
A REAL HARD LUCK STORY

After the days racing at the Bennine
track the other evening a number of horse
men were swapping hard luck stories, when
Old Bill Jones Clipped in one.
TIL toughest luck in me life that 1 ever
run up ag'inst was long bout tn season
of "a or IS, 1 think 1t was Thet- year
1 had some four or five in trainin', an
while they was all good enough, somethtn'
nuther was all tn time THROWN me down.
When tn horse was fit tn jock treated me
to pull, an when tn boy tried all right
tn horse would quit an chuck it up. An
when tn jock was givin' me ride an the
horse was fit, there was always one or two
In tn field a leetle filter. That's tn way
things went long It'll bout TIL close of tn
season, when l was bout all out an a
long, hard winter starin' in me face.
Well, as you may 'spose, l was bout
desperate like, an was undecided whether
to sell out an quit TIL game or part with
tn top of me mead by means of a shot
gun, when long comes some of tn boys
one day, an proposes to give me pull-off.
There was a steeplechase on the card for
the next day. an they tells me to put old
Skinhint in, an they'd lay down to him.
We talked the thing over, an when tn en-
tries closed there was five horses in fer
that race next day. Old Skinfiint wasn't
much, but tn others were all right, and
one.
"Of course, We kept tn deal dead quiet,
an when tn odds went up tn bookies
chuckled when they wrote 100 to l ag'inst
old Skinfiint. But they didn't chuckle half
as much as me an tn other fellows. TIL
race was cooked an dried all right tn
understandin' bein' tibet tn other four
would pull out an go wrong or tn jocks
fall off. an let old Skinfint finish lone.
Well, tn boys sends into tn ring few
dollars on me horse, an rakes together a
hundred. tn bookies givin me tn laugh as
they takes me stuff. an then makes 1t 200
to ag'inst old Skinflint. d.
"They never tumbled to it, of course,
specially as he'd a sort of crazy stable
boy on me horse, an wild me tickets calm
fur $4,000. 1 he'd visions tibet amt to be
he'd outside pipe joint Well. off they
started, old Skinfiint trailin' fifteen lengths
behind. an after clearin tn second
jump tn two in front was pulled outside
tn flags SO far tibet they couldn't git back
in time. an at tn next jump tn leader
bolted all right. tn jock slippin' of an
Skinfiint an TIL fourth horse in tn race,
an with only one more jump to git over,
tn remainin' one ag'inst me was pulled so
tibet he went wrong by an eighth of a
mile.
'Old Skinfiint got over tibet last jump all
right, an, when he struck into tn stretch,
tn horse next to him was quarter Of a
mile behind Seem tibet, me boy pulled him
GOWN an walked MIN In, an was Just
leavin' tn scales when tn next horse fin
ished, followed some forty or fifty lengths
back by tn other two tibet he'd pulled up
an then gone tn right course. l was
doin' tn chucklin act then meself although
was a leetle uneasy bout tn slowness of
runnin tn numbers up. an 1 almost led a
stroke of paralysis when tn numbers did
finally go up an seen they hedn't put my
number up tall.
"Jedges,' gays I, calm their attention to
let 10 fhnu eynt VIZ
bers up. 1 win, you know
Not at ALL says the jedges; TIL num-
bers is all right. Thet horse of yourn didn't
finish
We'll. gentlemen. you could hev struck
me dead an / wouldn't have knoWed it:
but they was right all right; fur durn me
eff me stable boy jock hedn't pulled up an
dismounted afore he crossed tn wire