The Ronan pioneer. [volume] (Ronan, Mont.) 1910-1970, 1913-03-07
NO MORE HORSE RACING
WHERE RACE IS JObBED'

vvu1ygA tUtOG ~ SO1O &0
The sallies of Colonel Crull in the
lower house while discussing the Mains
state fair removal bill, recalls a mas
terful piece of oratory delivered by him
about two years ago, when he was be-
fore Judge Cheadle in the district court
at Roundup, charged with betting on
horse race, says the Helena Record.
Here it is:
May it please the court | have a
few brief words to say, not in my de-
Tense, sir, nor in palliation of any Of
Tense l may have committed to bring
me to the humiliating position | now
occupy, but | do sincerely desire to
offer the court a short explanation as
to why am now before this honorable
presence suppiant for its clemency.
at was on a balmy Sunday after
noon in the month of October, may it
please the court, that as | wended my
way to meeting Of the Epworth
leaghe in the beautiful, bustling
metropolis of the imperial Musselshell
valley, | was so unfortunate as to
meet party of my friends who were
also going in the same direction to a
horse race. Your honor, | remember
now, how the sun bathed our little city
in brilliant opal sheen, how the brac-
ing winds from the west stirred my
fast urging pulses at the thought that
I, too, might be witness and partici-
pate as it were in that noblest and
most exciting of all the sports yet in
vented by mankind to separate the
sucker from his money, and, forgetting
for the moment my obligation as a
Christian gentleman, | forsook the
prosaic path Of rectitude to follow the
serpentine and deeply beatin trail that
leads eventually to degradation and
humiliation.
Il have noticed, your honor, that in
every new city, raising in power and
affluence in our great Westand, as is
now the modern little city of Roundup,
the spirit Of chance permeates the
very being of every progressive resi-
dent of such city. 1t seems as if the
builder is always and ever a dovotee
of Dame Fortune, ready to stake his
last dollar on his judgement that he
may win.
LAS would have you understand,
Roundup is glaring exemplifcation of
this proven fact. We arrive at the
race track, your honor, and there be-
fore me and around me was gathered,
in gallant array, the beauty and chivalry
Of the Miracle of the Musselshell. >
There were rich men, poor men, beggar
men, strong in the antici patton of
things to come, wise in their day and
generation, men that looked like horse
thieves, men who were and are horse
thieves, and a few honest men-all the
natural concomitants of horse race
in these decadent days.
There was horse race.
Prancing before me, up and down
the track, | saw the Pride of Forsyth,
heeter than the wind, more beautiful
than the gazelle, and more promising to
some there than the mines Golconda.
Also here your honor, was where | fell
aye, fell harder than e'er Lucifer
fell. And, your honor, they were ready
for the start. Even honest men and
in that assembly, were
ready to wage their all on the outcome
of this, one of the greatest speed con-
tests yet recorded on the musty pages
Of history.
"And sir, witnessing such scene,
"Lives there man with soul so dead
Who to himself has never said
Here is where | get even,
On my whole life.
"Sir, | frisked myself and found
that was the humble but honest pos
SCISSOR of tWenty-six, count EN-, twen-
ty-six simoleons, and | played the
chunk on the Pride of Forsyth. y
Some narrators have said that
chance was eliminated, opportunity
was eliminated and honesty annihilated
in the frameup previous to this speed
contest.
ut may have been so. | think it
was.
ut is alleged by some of the partici-
pants. your honor, that this race was
held within an enclosure. According to
the broad-minded views, held by us who
lived in the days of the unfenced range,
it was an Enclosure. AS fragile mem
DRY serves me, there was a barbed
wire fence partially bounding this en-
closure on the east, to the north, by
the elasticity of nv imapinatjOn