Evening star., 1922-07-09
ME sheriff of Viso county, 1nd.'
and the leading sportsman
and barber of Canton, onto'

II
and the leading sportsman
and barber of Canton, ohto'
had an appointment with each
other in Canton. in the back room OF
the best hotel bar. Their business
had to do with the free-for-all pace
the feature of the big Thursday pro-
gram of the Canton meeting. ana
their enyaKement was for O'CLOCK
this Wednesday evening
At ten minutes before 8 Sheriff Billy
O"Brien rolled down the stairway
from the lobby ahd into the corridor
leading to the bar. Passing the door
Of the barber shop. he glanced In.
Because even a barber knows that
molasses catches more flies than vine
rar, there sat a pretty black haired
msricuriet. in gray dress with 4
white apron She was idle. and moth
ing was more natural than thai. when
sher1ff oBrien paused to feast his
fat Irish eyes. she should look up to
return his gazs When. Irish meets
Irish there is a grim O'Brien gsinned,
n friendly politicians grin. and the
girl. nothing loath. smiled back.
frank Irish smile. That was all there
was to it, O'Brien looked at. his
watch and strolIed> on toward the
hsr. The girl turned = tired ear to
the stuDid gossip of the shop.
At o'clock the sheriff was leaning
on the bar. talking casually, With the
bartender. There was as little suS-
sestion OF the sheriff about OBrten
a. Of the race track.
There" said the bartender. "is Mr..
Edwards" and he beckoned TO a
natty. overdressed. young fellow en-
terins through the swinging doors.
EDWARDS and the sheriff adjourned
l. to the back room. Edwards opened
the conversation. I'm awfully glad
10 get acquainted with you. Mr..
o.Brien." he said. "l-uh-wanted to
talk over the free-for-ail with you II
you don't mind"
Are you in II tomorrow asked
the sheriff
Yes. am I'm very much In II.
In fact he replied. Here's the situa :
tion: The president Of one OF the
banks here owns a horse I'm hand-
ling, called White Winter. All his
friends and all my friends are going
10 be out there tomorrow betting on
ma TO win. The whole town will be
backing us
"Ob. I see. That will>be fine" said
o'Brien THE whole crowd will oe
roofing for you. Nothing like having
the crowd on your side"
Yes. ii helps Edwards resumed
hi. attempt to make himself clear
without being brutally frank. Now.
while we ARE waiting for Brown-did
I tell you 7 had asked Allen Brown to
stop in. No: There he comes now.
He has a horse in this race"
This fellow O'Brien acts like .
terrible boob" Edwards said to
Brown in an undertone as they shook
hands.
"Mr. o'Brien. this is Mr. Brown. I'm
sure you've heard OF him. Mr.
Brown has been driving up and down
the grand circuit for years. Mr..
Brown. Mr.. O'Brien IL from Indiana"
How does the race tomorrow look
to yo'?" asked Brown of Sheriff
OBrien when they were seated and
Edwards had oficiously wiswaSged .
waiter.
Til declare 1 don't know" OBrien
answered innocentIy. This is new
business to me- nd Ina q lone ways
from home. .f
I: "Mistah Edwa'ds and ! have talked
things ovuh." said Brown. THE out
look is fo' foah hosses in tn free
fo'-alI pace. Edwa'ds and his White
Winter. me and my Romeo. you.
Mistuh O'Brien. with yo'--
wedding Bells" supplied the
sheriff
wedding Bells" Brown repeated.
land Sam Tolin with a big hoss he
calls Expressnan. Tolin says ne
don't want IA hahd race tomorrow be-
cause he goes to Columbus next week
fo' two tough ones in five days Fo'
my paht, I'm not anxious to push my
hoss eithuh We thought II we could
talk things ovuh in a nice way we
might make it easier all round"
"Y'see.a interposed Edwards. I'VE
might as well put this on business
like basis. Nothin' crooked. y'under-
stand You don't want to pull your
horses head of. but there's no use
drivin' him to dehth when We can
Ndo better for ourselves by talkin'
things over
n'BRIEN wassed his head saga
- ciously, and brown nodded assent
a. Edwards added: And why not let
anybody that wants to get a little
money down on the race the way 1t
will do the most good"
carry convincing appeal to Sheriff
Billy O'Brien. Edwards and Brown, ap-
pfaising OBrien. figured he must be
swallowing their program whole, aid
congratulated themselves on their
smoothncss Edwards was nervous.
but Brown was all quiet sophistica-
ton. Brown winked very graveiy at
Edwards as O'Brien asked: We'll.
what shall we do about it,
.It doesn't matter much how we do
IT," Edwards declared. u had one
thing in mind. though. The crowd is
koing to make my horse favorite and
shorten the odds way down. We
can't win much money at short Odds"
THAT'S easy" Brown replied. You
hold back the fust two heats. Then
we can have, long odds on ouah own
bosses the fust two heats and long
odds on yo' hoss the last three