Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-01-19
TWO ODD CONTESTS

| ko"a, anu Tue OtHeT ITO" SdlTO, lii-ldp.
pened to meet in one Of the committee
! rooms on the House side of the Capitol a
| few days ago. The result follows:
| Die ever hear about that mule race we
| had on the Council Bluffs fair grounds
track" inquired the man from Iowa. Well
! that was about as bad Getting proposition
as ever took chance on. even for fun
| Happened back in 'S3. Six seven citi-
| zens of Council Bluffs possessed mules that
| had a turn of speed, and the way they
| Dragged about their mules was a caution
/! Now, while mule has whole lot of COM
| mendable points, his long suit isn't speed
and these mule owners We're a good deal
| ridiculed for their talk about their thor
| oughbred mules The managers of the
| Council Bluffs fair finally decided to put all
| Of those nifty mules down on the card for
! race on the last day of the fair. purse
| of 500 was hung out, and the mule that ran
| last was to win the purse for his owner.
| Now. that looked easy enough, didn't it?
! All that the owner and rider Of his mule
| had to do, you'll suppose, was to allow his
| mule to loaf in the race. snatch him. as
! they call pulling an animal nowadays. But
| this wouldn't have panned out, of course
| for all of the owner-riders would have
! tried the same game. and there wouldn't
! have been any race at all. Therefore. no
| owner of mule entered in the was
| permitted to ride his own mule Each of the
| lows mules. See? Then it was up to each
man on top of mule to ride his long cared
| mount for all he was worth in order to bet
| ter the chances of his own mule to finish
| last. There were two or three local books
| on the three-quarters track, and when the
| layers came to this race they made it to
l, and take your pick. That was the time
| sure enough, when all hands scrambled to
| get on dead-slow one. All of us that
| wanted to put a bet down on the race had
the privilege of looking the mules over in
the paddock in order to pick out what
looked like the dopiest and most likely dead
| one of the bunch.
There was one slate-colored mule in the
batch that looked like he couldn't and
! wouldn't run block for the honor Of the
| nation. That mule was so tired looking
| that he positively leaned against a fence in
the paddock. The wise people. including
myself, picked out that mule as the one
| that ought to be 1 to 10 chance to finish
| last. and we began to back him off the
boards. Everybody in the ring got bet
| down on that mule before the books had
| been opened long. and when the mule went
| to the post he was a 1-to-5 shot to run last
| The nervous. kicky. on-edge mules stodd all
! the way from % to to 100 to 1 in the bet
| ting to finish last. and we all thought it was
| like getting money In letter to be on the
| dopy slate-colored mule at such good
price as to L. Well. that weary-looking
animal got away in front a. the fall of the
| flag. and he simply tip-toed his field all the
way. finishing twenty lengths ahead. pulled
| up. The glossy-coated. nervous mule that
was the outside in the betting at $50 to 1,
without a bet down on him. couldn't raise
| a lope, and he beaten a furlong and
| pulled down the purse
| That reminds me-" said the man from
Cairo. ILL.,. of cat-losing We had out my
| way in '8S. Never heard of a cat-losing?
why. they've often had EN- out in my sec
| ton since the first one was pulled off at
Cairo. The way 1t happened was this:
| There was an old citizen In Cairo named
| Jim Mangum. who Dragged all during the
| of AZ that he had that
| couldn't be lost. The cat was onnery and
| a night marauder Of the despised male
| gender. and Jim had tried all sorts OF ways
| to lose that cat. he said. He had tied four
| bricks to the cats neck several differ
| ent occasions and then chucked the feline
into the Mississippi. which runs pretty
| went home latter doing this he had found
| the cat sitting on the front porch, licking
| off the wet and summing himself Jim was
| determined to get rid Of the cat. though.
! handed It to a friend Of his. mail clerk
| on the railroad, and asked the mail clerk
| to just ditch the cat. bag and all. at any
| old point not nearer than 100 miles from
| Cairo. The mail clerk did this to oblige old
! Jim. heaving the cat out In the dark some
| where on the edge Of a swamp, about 125
| miles from Cairo.
Jim announced down at the post Office
| three days later that the cat was back,
| loohing a bit hungry and with less Of it's
I left than it had had before. but still in
| the ring and pretty nifty, considering. Jim
| by this time regarded the cat as wonder.
and he made good deal of a nuisance of
| himself telling everybody in Cairo that In
| his opinion. which he was willing to back
with money. marbles or chalk, there wasn't
| cat In the state of Illinois. or. for the
| matter of that. In the whole blamed coun-
| try, that had such dead bead on home
| his cat had. Jim's fellow-citizens insisted
| that there nothing remarkable about
the cats performances; that it was only
| natural for cat to decline to be lost
| under any circumstances. and that Cairo
| was full of cats that could repeat any or
! all of the performances of Jims cat.
Somebody finally suggested that the
| thing be tried This was just what Jim
wanted. and so committee of arrange
mentS went ahead to organize the cat
losing. At first it was desired by all hands.
! and especially by Jim, that all of the cats
| to be entered in the competition should be
| lost off a railroad train. as Jim's cat had
| been when it had last turned up. But. Of
| course. the railway mail clerk couldn't
| take all Of the cats along with him in the
| mail car, and railway facilities couldn't be
| got for twenty or thirty bagged cats. Then
| somebody suggested that all Of the cats be
double-bricked and chucked into the Mis-
| sissippi from a skiff about ten miles above
| Cairo. but the women folks. hearing of
| this proposition. vetoed 1t as cruel So 1t
| was finally determined that all Of the cats
! entered should be driven out in the woods.
| in a farm wagon. and then, at point about
| five miles from town. chucked out of the
themselves. There were thirty entries. each
man who entered his cat paying s. for the
privilege. The cat that reached Its home
.rst was to pull down the $50 for its
owner.
"A good many Of the Cairo citizens who
had cats entered in the event rehearsed
their felines several times before the regu-
lar cat-losng was to come off, and all of
the cats showed extraordinary aptitude In
hustIing back to their own doorsteps from
distant points Jim didn't rehearse his cat
at ALL Amy cat, said he, that can scram-
BILE out of jute bag heaved into swamp
and more'n 100 miles from its own fireside
don't need no rehearsing That cats got
It in him, and he'll be the first cat back,
for money The betting was lively on the
event for fully week before 1t came off.
lack Grimm. who ran a saloon opened
book on it. At first he laid as good as to
on Jim Mangum's being the first cat
home, but that price was so eaten up from
the Jump that he had to rub his price to l
to 4 against Jim's cat. and finally he barred
Jim's cat in the betting altogether, saying
that he already stood to lose more than
81 600 If Jim's cat got home first There
was plenty of speculation with Jim's cat
out In the betting. Jim gave me to for
$50 that / put up the field against his
cat, so confident was he that he was going
to win.