Omaha daily bee., 1915-08-31
FRENCH OFFICERS
PICK WAR HORSES
Head of Buying Staff in United
States and Associates Begin In
speotion in Omaha.
BRITIsHERs READY TO BEGIN

| nounced these words continually ana
emphatically, with a swift thrust OF
| lls right hand as first one, then an
other prsncing steed dashed down
the road from tire South Side horse
and mule market, scattering the 200
or more spectators who lined the
highway.
Captain Francois Lacombe stood
prominently in the center of the road
before a newly erected sun shed, sur
rounded by two fellow officers. The
! inspection of the unofficially an
rounced French war order" of u.s.
! 900 or more American bred horses
for service In the war had begun.
President Proctor of the Omaha horse
market, now the largest single mar
ket of its kind in the world, stood
nearby directing the parade Of the
horses.
Work Begins early.
Yesterday the work Of inspection for
the tremendous order was begun. Major
Courtois, Captain Locombe and Lieu
tenant Cayrou. direct representatives OF
the French government, were hard at
work. completing the inspection at 10
o'clock.
Major Courtois, who Is superintendent
Of the French buying and inspecting staff
In the United states. was the honored
guest at the heal yards yesterday. After
tour of the important markets OF the
country he had come to Omaha.
Tho major saefnOd highly indignant of
having his picture snapped, but finally
consC nted to the procedure after several
action plants had been taken. He is here,
= delegated by his government to keep
buying horses for war purposes until the
war is ended The French order, al
though formerly announced as a $1,000, 900
affair. Is much the same as the English
order, regular buying one.
The major and his staff are very par
ticular about the kind of horses they
buy. They are expert judges as to age,
breeding and other characteristics of
horses
From now on the inspection will be
continued daily from $3.50 a. m. until
2 or 8 o'clock in the afternoon. The buy
ing will be carried on indefinitely with
the English and French buyers working
| mornings and afternoons.
= Steeds Ridden and Driven.
The South Omaha Horse and Mule
company is showing the buyers the
= horses 1t has for sale and one by one
they are examined, stepped up and down
, in front of the big barns, measured, rid
den. driven and then accepted or reicc.ed
by the officers. Many are turned down for
minor defects and no arguing or coaxing
! on the part of statesmen suffices to
change the decision of the officers.
1 A horse is trotted out from the barn
, 1t is stopped before the judges Quickly
their trained eyes run over the animal
and If q blemish is even family visible
Captain Lacombe rolls out a positive
reject" and the horse Is led away II,
however, a horse is led out that pleases
the eye of each buyer he is trotted about
some more He is measured, he is ridden,
, he is driven and If accepted is branded
, on the right fore foot with the service
mark Of the branch of the army for when
l he is intended.
, Cavalry and artillery horses are chosAn
, II a horse intended for artillery service
. throws his feet little too far out as
= he runs. he is rejected because of his
e possible interference with other horses &C
, his team.
! Three hundred thousand horses ore how
in the French artillery alone. AMI as vet
, less than 100000 American horses have
been shipped to France. Lieutenant ay-
rou has been in America for ten months
and has bought about 10000, and captain
Lacombe has bought about tie same
number. other buyers have been in Amer
: lea for shorter period and haze bought
fewer horses than have the two now 1T
n South Omaha,
). Deny War Horses ShOrt-Lived.
e None of the three wish to be quoted
4 and are rather careful about saying any
e thing that might be misleading, although
= they seem to be rather incensed over the
y prevailing idea that the life of a horse
+ on the battle front is but a few days.
o They insist that year would more nearly
i approximate the average life of an army
q horse in the present war and say that
/ they have great many more horses now
than they had at the beginning of the
war, and that they have lost less than
they have bought.
NO orders have been received by the
: buyers as to the number OF horses that
should be bought and they announce
d that they will buy until the end of the
$ war, or until the American supply runs
G out. High prices are prevailing, but of
: several hundred horses examined in the
1 morning only sixteen were accepted
e 80 - - to omaha.
:. Lieutenant Cayrou and Captain La
/ combe will probably make Omaha their
$ headquarters for long period, as they
have found that large number Of horses
are always available here, and 1t seems
probable that their purchases may total
millions OF dollars
: When asked IL they preferred buying
horses to fighting in France the officers
8 answered unhesitatingiy that they in
e fintely preferred the fighting, but that
= orders we're positive and had to be
= obeyed
: 1T is much less dangerous. OF course,
L in America" said someone.
n Just then a vicious horse kicked the
cane from Lieutenant Cayrou's hand. He
a jumped to one side and laughed.
I'm not so sure" he said.