The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-09-09
BRIGHT BUYERS OF SWINE.


BRIGHT BUYERS OF SWINE.
Men of Keen Wit in .he Stock Yards
cf Chicago.
(From the Chicago Daily News)
Under the big hog sheds at the Union
stockyards the jolIiest traders in the world
are TO be found. When there is a luIl In
the market they gather between the Bur
lington and Rock Island divisions and swap
stories and play practical jokes. The mar
ket is divided into what is known as the
Burlington" Rock Island" 'Northwes-
| tern and Cuba" divisions. They speak
OF Cuba with a shrug Of the shoulders,
it being regarded as inconsequential and as
having first-counsinship to stub-end rail-
roads. But the three other divisions are
always mentioned as something big and
mighty. The traders don't want the Wis
itor to forget that the total capacity of
these Sheds" is 900, 900. and that during
the year 1898 the market broke the worlds
record and handled s.s17.1t4 hogs.
There Is peculiar cry that is uttered
to the hogs. Once heard, it is never for
gotten. man wouldn't hear that Shrek
in the dead of night in a forsaken house
in the centre of forest for fortune. 1t
sends a thrill of terror through the pork
ers waiting for tie developments of the
future and they wake from the sleep OF
the innocent and scurry along the run
ways as though pursued by wolves. Hogs
from all points of the compass are these
obese, slumbrous, querulous, superstitious
the same derided subject of solieitude
that has grunted over the doings o. man
for the last 5000 years.
But the men who trade for the hogs are
the reverse of sleepy. They are always
driving away at some deal-sharpeuing
pine stick and their wits-and even the
best stories lean toward a deal. Perhaps
the best known of them all are the big
gest and the smallest man. Col. Nelson
Bush is feet 2 inches and weighs over
300 pounds. Forrest Evans is about feet
in height and tips the scales at less than
100 pounds. They are the living proof that
1t isn't a mans size that makes him what
he is, and the way each has succeeded in
the business shows that neither has wor-
ried over avoirdupois or the lack Of it.
Colonel Bush has been in the hog
trading business for nearly twenty years.
employed by keenan, & Sons, now aftilia-
ted with he Rosenbaum Company He
is pike county man." and proud of II.
Missouri retains warm place in his
heart No one is more loyal to the black
soil of the Compromise State. The yete-
ran trader was acquainted with the noto-
rious James brothers when he lived in
Missouri He loves TO sit down and have
a, heart-to-heart talk with a friend on
1.-The proper way to cook a quail" One
OF the stories the boys like to recite is
the one that tells of the great and only
race ever run by Colonel Bush"
Moses Weinburg. shipper from down
the State. declared on the floor of the Ex
change building IN 1896 that Mckinley
would win. This was the gage Of battle
TO the colonel After a warm debate
Weinburg, who was about as heavy
man as the colonel, though not as tall,
challenged the buyer to a foot race. the
proposition being that the loser should
vote for the winners favorite. They say
II was a memorable scene. The colonel
lost by head and half.
Forrest Evans is the salesman for the
Paris Commission Company. If he Is
smaller than his contemporaries physically
he is a match for the best of them when
# comes TO brains. 1t is admitted that no
man feels bigger among all the traders.
He is thirty years of age and has sold hogs
ever since he was twelve. His father was
a prominent horse trader.
One of the most prominent statesmen in
this division OF the yards is Henry Lauer.
He is head hog buyer for the C. II. Ham
mond Company. Mr.. Lauer likes to lean
against the railing and hear the latest
yarns as well as anyone. He was formerly
with the Pittsburg baseball team. He
played third base and won a $500 prize
during his career on the diamond.
The hog traders are the earliest at the
yards as a rule. Usually the bulk OF the
trading is over by 9 o'clock. When the
first rays of the sun begin to find their
way through the nIultfarious yiaducts
decks. chutes, and runways. the buyers be-
gin to white and perch themselves on
the fences.
The statesmen who have sold out do Ike
wise and only the commission men who
have droyes left continue to hurry about
This is the most interesting time TO visit
the market You learn that the young man
with the diamond in hisshirt bosom is the
sport OF the yards The authenticated
youth with the Byronic brow is said only
to have been kept out Of the realm of
poetry by a desire to make enough money
to attend the theatre occasionally, and,
with the conhding air Of a bunco-steerer,
some gay Falstaf will inform you that
the melancholy fellow with the blue
eyes once leaped into the Calumet as the
result of d love affair with a northside
beauty and was pulled out by Charlie Bea-
son by the hair of his head"
And along with ali this nonsense pro-
ceeds the imperial chariot of trade. Chi
cago always to the fore-the livestock
market her great. infallible reliance and
these men the brightest dealers in the
world-this in brief is the impression the
visitor gets and he never loses the opin-
ion