The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-08-16
s'Pick a Horse AS You Do a Friend
Beauty Don't Count Ed Geers
DOROTHY DALE INTERVIEWS
WORLDS GREATEST RACE
HORSE DRIVER, AND HE
TELLS HER SOME MIGHTY
INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT
A NOBLE ANIMAL.
BY Dorothy Dale.

n. Ge6rbb the splendid Ola man OF
the track, the greatest driver of
race horses of all time. His ap-
pearance ignores chanticleer ties
and strident trousers. His speech
is straight Noah Webster. soften
ed by a slight southern accent.
And his manner Is the outward
expression Of man wholly abb
sorhed with the work he chose
because he loved 1t.
You never forget Ed Geers,
once you meet him. A man of
stature, whose gray eyes
look out from a radiating rim of
squirt burrows he came into the
hotel on a rrutch and cane.
Came is exact. He did not hob
BILE. He did nothing to attract
attention. Yet he hadn't walked
two yards before there was a
quiet kind of stir apparent that
says a big man is passing.
Geers, who stands out among
the famous horsemen of the coun-
try because of his splendid driv-
ing and the fact that he will not
stand for any fixing" of the days
schedule, was returning from a
days work. His best horse, The
Harvester, is valued at $4,000.
He talked as cheerfully Of the
work he loves as IL he had not
been thrown out Of sulky and all
bruised up at Kalamazoo.
This isn't anything to a sprain
l had in Buffalo," he said. 81
was due the next day in detroit,
SO / sent for two of the best sur
geons there. They looked /, me
over and then said the best they
could do for me was to keep me
in bed for the next six weeks.
:" All right, gentlemen; you're
not the men I'm looking for /
told them, and as soon as they'd
gone 1 got up, cinched my foot
tight in a high shoe, and went to
Detroit"
This was all without the, least
show of interest. The genial turf
man was evidently just making
talk. Just as he did when he, went
on to run over the four times his
legs and the three times his arms
have been broken on the track. lie
leaned forward with an I'm7glad-
the preliminaries are-over-and-
we're-ready-to-start attitude, as
soon as he was asked about
horses.
1.-THE only way to pick horse
Is just the way you'd pick a.
FRIEND" he said. Beauty doesn't
count. You look him square in
the face, and if he has a good
head, full face, a fine eye and a
good-natured ear. he's all right
If he looks like a convict let him
alone"
The squint burrows began to
make two smile halos.
81 was thinking of the horse
that gave me my start" he said.
He was as hairless as a NANCY
dog, and his tail was a scraggly
affair. but l coached him for a
race and sold him for 1926 more
than / bought him for.
THAT happened in Lebanon,
Tenn, where l was brought up.
My father had a store and he set
me to working in it. But every
spare minute l had was with the
horses. Finally we got a pony
on debt that father gave to me.
/ traded him for neighbor's
mare that could trot and gave $40
to boot. Then say, but wasn't
happy.
81 worked that mare on the
road till she went so well that /
sold her for $225, and then l
bought the hairless fellow, who
won me my first race"
Some way you get to seeing the
seraggly horse or any other, when
Geer talks, just as you do the peo-
pie other men describe. Yet there
is absolutely nothing horsey about
him. His suit is black, his plain
tie black, and not a sign of a dia-
mond.
mo headlights for me-" he
said. Then he laughed aloud. 81
had diamond once and l lost it,
he explained as If it were a great
joke. Then he went back to
horses. sIIoti
Bringing up a horse is just as
interesting as bringing up a
child" he went on. They hage
their family traits and you have
to take 'em into account. Some
are like a giddy girl when yeufe
breaking 'em. But that's nothing
to go by. Just get 'em into atface
and they steady down. likeAthe
girl does when she marries.
Then lots of people try to
teach 'em too much at a time. II
believe in treating 'em Just like
children. Give 'em only what
they can take cheerfully. Then
they won't break and get badlna-
tured. And as for the whip not
one horse In thousand should be
touched with one. Spare the rod
and make the horse is my motto.
What do / think of fixing
races?" This time the squint fur
rows narrowed as If they saw
trouble ahead. "Well. my horse
and have to fight anything like
that. When we see some fellow
dash for the pole, and the others
cover 30 they can open to let the
fix-up IN at the crisis, then we dol