Arizona republican., 1920-08-23
TALES OF RACE TRACK TOLD BY
 TURFMAN VISITOR IN PHOENIX

lows, and it's truth may be vouched for, he says, by any who were acquainted with that body of men.
 Harry C. Wheeler, afterwards sheriff of Cochise county, was captain of the rangers at the time they got this horse, according to MT. Smith, and with a number of his men was at Naco, be- low Bisbee, when they found the nag that was a regular bank for them for several months. One night Wheeler and two or three other rangers were sitting in a saloon at the border town, talking about a fast horse owned by the troop and laying plans for a "kiIl- ing at the first convenient opportun- ity, when an old man, dressed poorly and with every appearance of the ines ter" walked in and stood at the corner of the bar. The rangers paid little attention to him, and continued their conversation about their horse. Sud- denly the old man pulled a worn poe ketbook from his jeans and slowly counted out bunch of wrinkled and greasy paper bills.
 My friends" he said, turning to the rangers, there is $500, pretty high nigh all the money I've got in the world. I want to bet that $500 that I've got a horse harnessed to my rig outside that can run the hide off your .speeder, and he can do it any time you want to match this pile of greenies."
 S'That horse outside now?" asked Wheeler.
 post" answered the hester, ''Pve got him harnessed to d blackboard"
 The rangers immediately gave the vaunted racer an examination in the light that poured from window of the saloon-and then laughed-loudly, hi- lariously, raucously-for the horse was little more than a skeleton with a dropping head and visible bones. Race that horse? They sure would, and be- fore the crowd knew what was going on $500 in ranger money was deposited alongside the greenbacks of the hester in the saloon safe.
 The race was run the next morning The bage of bones not only won, but gave such an exhibition of pure speed that the rangers simply stared as the hester made slightly cutting remarks about their horses and then collected his money.
 But the rangers were fast thinkers Before the hester could make his get away they made a proposition to him, which, in effect, was that he and his horse should ally themselves with the rangers in an expedition along the bor- der. they to pay all expenses and to divide the winnings with him. The hester assented, the bargain was sealed with red-eye and immediately the | with his horse, set out for NOgales. What the nester's scarecrow did to the people of the town of No Suspenders' was a caution. and is looked upon even yet being perhaps the cIeanest trimming ever given to a community. If the scare-c crow ran at Naco, accord ing to MT. Smith, he simply flew at Nogales.
 Then the rangers and hester started out to clean up the state, while visions of unlimited wealth disturbed their slumbers. But after the third or fourth race the hester disappeared During the night he had hitched his nag to the | buck board and silently made his exit, never to be seen again Whether he l contemplated a raid upon the Mexican l treasury, or the barren fields Of TTvaIde and the muddy reaches of the Pecos
 river lured him back to Texas was never known. But he is remembered | with respect and affection by the ran-
 gers, with eXeerations by the rest of | the population that came to know him. J And whatever may be feelings con