The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1904-10-08

lHe cnelh dC ~ 10 1, DefoHSSu 10 d ANef
: England clergyman / dozed back
little stretch OF fifteen years ant
dreamed there for awhile" remarked
a veteran trainer, who was better &C
) | quainted with Artfurs great-grandsir'
| Hindoo than he is with the winner 0
this years Futurity.
~"Ohe of the chara cters of the Old ST
Louis fair grounds track during The
SOS was Bricky McSweeney, whose
; freckles were as red as his hair. No
, body was ever able to figure it ou
how Bricky got by. He wes never
known to win a bet, although it was ]
matter of common notoriety that he
would bet as high as 81 whenever he
could get the 81. But he was a good
natured Jonah man and he never lost
his belief that some old day he would
be there with enough Of the sepia pa
pers TO paper a city school house.
"Bricky had the privileges of the
track, because he was always pos
sessed of some kind of badge horse. All
of Bricky's badge horses were. OF
course, gift plugs. They'd be left be-
hind by departing owners at the ter
mination of the racing season.
Whenever an owner would try time
and again to poke one Of his no ac-
counts into the money, only to have
the skate fall down. every time his kid
ding friends would hand him the sug-
gestion. 'Bricky McSweeney's waiting
for that one, and SO it happened that
for eight straight years Bricky- was
never without some kind of d hoofed
thing in his shed, emitting him to get
| in at the gate and to move around in
/ the eaddock.
1 "Brckys finish was sudden.
| One afternoon in the summer of 50
! he was standing at the paddock gate
| leading out on to the track just as the
| horses in a big field of maidcns were
| turning into the stretch. An old blind
| she hound that had been the pet of
| the stables since the days of her pup
pyhoed doddeTed out of the stab Bile and
started to cross the track.
IA hundred stable hands yelled at
the old dog, but they yelled SO hard
that they scared her, and she stood
paralyzed plumb in the middle of the
track, and the big field of horses. al
ready close to the Wire bearing down
upon her at full speed. The blind she
hound had been a pal Of Bricky's for
good many years, and he wasn't going
to see her pounded into pulp under the
hoofs Of the horses
SO just as the horses were speeding
under the wire, only fifty yards away.
Bricky, against the warning cries Of
the whole bunch f1uddled at the pad
dock gate, hoped out on to the track,
caught the old dog around her middle,
and, putting all of his power into his
arms, tossed her over the infield rail,
and she lit, unhurt, on the soft grass.
'Briciy was just turning to make
the few leaps for the paddock gate
when the first of the pulling UP horses
hit him and knocked him down, and
then about ten of the eighteen maidens !
trainpled on him. When the stable |
hands carried him to the paddock en-
closure 1t didn't take any expert eye |
TO see that Bricky was about to make |
a quick cash-in.
"One of the stable hands loped for a !
priest. The priests cottage, alongside !
his little church, was only about a
quarter OF a-mile from the track en-
trance, and the kindly old man of the
cloth was leaning over the gasping
Bricky just about in time.
''Bricky was a Catholic and the priest
anointed him. The administration Of
the final sacrament was scarcely fin
ished before Brickys freckled face
spread into one of his ear to ear grins,
and he nodded to the old priest to bend
his ear a bit closer. The priest did so.
. Father whispered Bricky, still
grinning, I hain't got no kin, so iii
leave my hoss to you
Then Bricky cracked his last joke,
with death only about a minute away
from HIM.
He hain't much of boss. father
he gasped, but you can melt him down
an git some tallow candles f'r TIL altar
out o him at that And then Bricky's
eyelids fiuttered a bit, and he piped
put.
All hands around the track Clipped
in to give Bricky something better
than decent burial, at which the old
priest who had closed Bricky's eyes
ofifciated, After they'd laid Bricky
away I rode back from the cemetery
With the priest, as benign and gentle
souled a silver haired man from the oil
1art as you ever met
What was this the poor lad was
saying to me about q horse?' the old
priest asked me on the drive in.
Il couldn't help but smile at the quas-
lion.
Well, I guess Bricky had it about
light as to the altar candles, father
said, and then | went ahead and told
him something about the kind of
lorses Bricky had always been the pro-
>rietcr Of.
i don't just remember the turtle ne
lad last said, but I'll find out when
reach the track and take look at
him, and maybe I'll be able to sell him
or You to some fellow with a milk
cute
The priest thanked me for my in /.
crest and said he'd be obliged to me if
"a take charge of the horse until it
vas decided il anything could be done
nth the mutt. When got to the track ,
strolled over to the out of the way :
,arn where the harrow mules and day
boring workhorses Of the track were .
luartered, to have a peek at the late !
5ricky's season admission crab.
We'll, the horse kind O. surprised !
ne. I'd seen the rnakings of a lot ,,
worse glue than that fellow go to the ,
aces and get something.
He was a 4-year-old maiden, but
me of those years couldn't be counted 4.
gainst him, for he had belonged to ;
3iicky since the preceding autumn, :
nd hadn't been raced in his 4-year- old !
orm. Hadn't been raced much as a {
-year-old, either, l remembered, being
ooked upon as no account.
II dug up the dope on the horse, =
racing him back through all of his
aces, and 1t wasn't such awful dope :
here were always some horses behind :
i'm, anyway. He was pretty cleverly +
red at that.
Il found him there with the work :
orses, gross and high and unkempt
nd uncared for, but the poor devil of .
neglected cast-off thorough bred had :
cme good lines about him and a :
'Teadth between the eyes that betok- I
ned his possession of a lot of patience
nd strong sense. When | stepped into
is box to get the feel of him, he knew +
light off that wasn't harrow driver :
r stable mechanic-the kind Of two +
ooted company he'd been obliged to E
ut up with fer so long-but a handler \
f blood runners of the tribe t6 which :
e knew he belonged, and it kind o. +
OF me lumpy around the neck when he !
ested his muzzle against the top but !
OH Of my vest and looked up at me