The Miller press. [volume] (Miller, S.D.) 190?-current, 1923-07-12
NOW LITTLE USED
But Once the Term ITO Gyp"
Was Common.
Had Its Origin In a Particular Form
Of S~indiing Which Auto Largely
Did Away With.

Stopping at an iron gate beyond
which u crowd of lusty schoolboys
were playing, l heard the cry:
He crooked my marbles"
Sympathizers gathered around In
stantly, when l heard snatches Of
graphic exclamation. "Swiped EN-"
said one.
"Who gypped him?" inquired an
other.
Gspped, crooked, swiped, took the
place of the milder terms stole, seized
or took. ..
Listening another day, | found that
"gypped' was a word frequently en-
played by the boys, writes "Girard'
In the Philadelphia Inquirer. | fancy
not one of them had a notion of how
it came to have such a meaning as
they put into it.
Some years ago "gypped' was com
mon enough. That vas when a par
| ticular form of swindling on the part
of horse dealers was branded with
that word.
Palming off a sawbones for a good
SANNh was yin par AilN w tiN
tricks in horse-trading, SO common to
gypsies, hence the term "gyp' to de-
note that kind of a fraud.
Since the has largely replaced
the trotter and PAGER for driving pur-
poses, the gyp game is not played SO
frequently now
II was once piled Systematically by
means Of extensive advertising. Many
q rus In urbe" lured first by a con-
vinclng advertisement and then combed
down by a slick eome-on artist, paid
Il fancy price for what appeared TO
him to be a first-class horse, only to
discover next day he had bought "a
lemon.
There was q regular medical treat
ment Of horses TO make them appear
spry and spirited while under inspec-
ton. When the drug wore of and the
poor horse was recovering from his
jag, he would iikelier than not appear
a sorry animal.
Gyp operators were rs skillful in
buying the precise kind Of horses they
needed as in selling them. They usu-
ally looked for handsome animals
whose defects were vital and incur
able, but not noticeable.
That meant a low price they paid
the owner. A powerful drug would put
enough pep into such a horse to fool
the victim selected by the gyp opera.
tor. The workhorse you see in Phlla,
delphia today is q better animal than
was his predecessor two decades ago
But the Philadelphia horse is not in
a class with the London horse, the
Berlin horse or the Budapest horse.
Stop at a farm going through Hun
gary and you viii be amazed ut the
superb horses.
1.-THE brewers big horses" which
Billy Sunday sang could not run over
him, were unusually fine specimens
One coal company has also attracted
much attention with its teams of five
or six great white horses hitched Ia
one wagon.
A high city official sais to me "Our
garbage horses are a better type than
you ever saw before doing that kind
Of work in this city," and | agreed with
him.
This is about the season Of the year
when in those gala times Of fourth.
hand coaches the city had an eye
feast on superb horselesh.
And milady In her car, however
good il may be, looks less smart thar
when she stepped from her carriage
drawn by a pair Of housekeeping
hackneys, who seemed ever trying tc
hit their noses with their knees.
Jingling chains, FURNISHED harness
natty coachman and footman in at
tendance, spotless vehicle-"them wal
the days"