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GARTH TELLS SOME HARD LUCK TALES How Keen Horsemen Sometimes Make Mistakes in Horse Trades — One on Bill Scully. II may fairly be presumed thai Billy Garth, the keenest of the modern school of Virginia horsemen, knows aa much abonl bene trading as anybody. ... i groop of hoi-, much in Nea Verk a feu Bights • i .■ i. i i a hi -...in- of the sjueer phases of horse ill. kering. "There arc pretty ateh as many hard lack stories in horse Hailing as there are in horse racing." he said. "The worst of it i-- that a baraeaaaa will often tevolantariiy hand him ell a hard paste. Ive done thai myself, sol oaee, bnl often. "Once I had a mare shifty third rale painter, hut a right o m! proposition for the minor if. nits thai a w ill lo do man from my Stale who wanted io gel Into racing hail hi-- eye on. He came along io the t. n iii earl] in the spring, before the racing season i.ad begun, to look tie mare seer "I hadnt takea her Dp yet, bnl her record for the |. rev ion- season wasnt so had. I had the marc it add led and broagbl out, with a eoea bag astride lor ., .... . " Perfectly sonad i- she- Hie man -who wanted I., gel lata racing ssked ate, as the mare trudged af and the groand*. " - i ii. -w Hull. said I Never walked a lame step in her life and eaU lil-e a hire. I man. Sound as a I a w :i _.i • •••Wiiii v.. u asking for the stare? he asked me. •■ Two il and Hal. and not the price Of a i igaieite under t hi i . M id I. " Civc von til ici n hundred right there where you .i.ui.l. -ii.l he. piowatsag his roll and heginniiig ta stria ..it v. . •• Couldnt think of ii. said I. Might as well jiut iiir in. .lie.. I. .ok in your clothes. The first three paiatS the mare hauls down this season will give me fifteen hundred, and shell Still he mine. If sh»- doesnt tteipae away with nine or tea par SCI this year Ill eal her. ••He weal right ahead counting out hundred dollar hills. Iiiiall.v be got Ifteen of the hundreds sorted out. and he pot the rest of hi- wad away. • Heres yuv fifteen hundred. Dill. said be, try ing to hand me the money. Til send one of my boys over fat her. Shes mine as si,,. Steads, eli. llcii-. take lliis money. Tin tired of holding il. on i. in train her for sac yourself. Bnl sins my mare from this mmnic. and lie tried to sli| be roll into say pocket. Ive got to own up to it, hut Im as pigheaded as any Yankee. And this looked too good. If hed give fifteen hundred, why. hed soon do better than liial. " Y.I1 Musi. I yelled out to the BOO* hoy oil the mure, making a funnel OUl of my hinds. Take that in ire back lo I he shed. "Thai move of .nurse, yen see. was only to show my frl 1 that I meant it -though I didni, and hi icon hundred was more than right for the mire and to goege my pri.e ..in of him. ■Well, when I yelled that way at the dingo hoy. he Wheeled the BUN suddenly, and her head knocked agalas a projecting branch of a peach tree thai was • overt. I with blossoms. A greal shower of the blossoms lettered down upon the marcs heal, scaring her. "She jumped like a toin cat Hied with bird shot. Then she got her teeth down on the hit and happed for il. "Gentlemen, the way thai mare ploughed up my farm. The rraay ram hoy ■rapped the reins ami hung on ■round tie seek. Then, panic hitting him as she made straight for a high hoard fence, he -lid ..it. bat kward. "The in. lie. crazy wilh fear of those fool peach slissawn, tried to take the fence, head daw a. Bnl shed never been Baked lo do anything over the Sticks. Anyhow, this hoard lelee .-...•- seven ice. high. "She plunged al it. hit the top scantling with her forelegs and fell back, both of those forelegs broken. 1 hoi to shoot her on the spot, for being pig-beaded, like a Tank, I was ..in a nice mare and si.rjio. l could have saved the ,300, tayhow, by lolling il remain in my pocket when raj friend had Slipped the bUhl in there, and the miles loss would have been his. tor thats the waj Its done in hot .■ trading bargain sn-jke. bargain siick. "Another lime a Washington man wanted to hand in e ,000 for an unraccd I wo year old in my barn -this was ,i bll after the spring meeting al Benning had begun. The COlt was BOBBC uudcrsi,e.l. hut shitty and a quick breaker. lie was :! weed, all the same, and ,000 was a whole lot for him a meat big whole lot. "The man ih.it wanted him. though, seemed to be pretty macfa on the sofl Bide with his money, and -,. l figured thai I miulii as well do i little better on the dicker it there was any doing It. 1 knew that my little weed thai he wanted COUM heal a I deal ol the two-yeai oi.t truck around Benning thai spring, and 1 figured that if I could drop him into a two veal- old purse I ha I looked eas why. I might gel a race out of him never forgetting the purse Lou.- wilh the rare, son and then he in a position to ask a leelle more for him. So. said 1 to the man w ho w ante. I my eoli : " I always like to give the baby two-year-olds one run. anyhow, in mv own colors before disposing of them. Now this is a nice little colt. Supposing you bay him sftee I run him in my own name once. " Tor what the ,000 I offered? he asked inc. for he was considerably more than 7 himself. " Well- er well lalk price after the race." said I. "hut the BBaaDeal figure, of course, will he that sfl.iHKi of yours. Understand? "He understood all right, and laughed. " Vim like to give yourself these nice, large red apples, dont you: BaM he. BUl Im pretty fond of that kind of fruit myself. However, Ill give von a shade, seeing as how you like Rhades. V..i .an race him once Im buying him on his looks and his works, anyhow, and one race Isnl going lo tell anything, .tt.-i ih. race, Ill give .-on the pal . MMI for him that is. ,,: routs,., if |„. .■ ,,nt of the race all light. "I had io agree, of course, after finding out il. ai he wasnt so soft ;,s Id figured. Anyhow, Id silted one ontal the chance to win on.- purse with the eoli. So I waited nniil I eouhi stick the little chap into a two year old four furlong sprinl in Which there was nothing at all to heat: ami in; that sprint he went "lie got wedged between a COUple of horses, and tin- three together, leaning on each oilier and pa . tag each other together like s.ih herring in a barrel, couldnt make any progress. The resull was thai they all got st,.].|„.,i on by the homes behind. "Abonl everything in the race took a mm al stepping on the hocks of my little thousand dollar thing. The boy had to pull him up and walk him ha.k lo the ham. His hind I. el looked as if hed been trying to do a dagger dance on them. •lie was cut to ribbou8 in the rear, and there was no chance of ever getting hilu lo tin- races again he finally became a buggy horse. Ii Id taken the thousand* for him whin il was Offered and a thousand was jusi about live hundred too manv for him you can figure out for yourself how much Stronger Id have been to pay for oats and things I ha I year. "Im not teniag stories out of school, but Bill Scully ha- had his tumbles at trading, loo Bill sure has. liill bought a dead mare once. I nderataud, Im not saying a word resecting npon Hill Scully, because hes a "....xi friend of mine, but Bill certain sine did buy a dead mare once, and no mistake. "This idd mare— shed raced for live or sK straight yean ai sprinting distances belonged m a Chi.ac.o man. She was pretty shifty, bill no great performer. Her breeding lines were elegant. "Iiill Scully knew of a man with a stock farm in Kentucky who wauled her lor his stud. The Ken luekian was wlBJng to pa ,300 for the in.ivc. Kill went to the Chicago man who owned the Stare. it was in midsummer, " T want that old male of yours.- he said Io the hi. -ago man. •The male is all in she eanl heal a washerwoman now. oi course. Well, heres tin-eight bundled. Ill send a bo.v over fo] iiet." "The Chicago man, of course, wasnt going lo be herded up into a comer like that. He knew that the old male was about in as a runner, bin he was racing ber around hteago, ami he Igared thai there was always a rhanre of bet shooting OUl some day anil grabbing a purse. " You can have her for a thousand after Ive raced here a few more limes. Itill. said the Chicago man. "She might cop one or Iwo yet "BIU made a .haw about thai difference be tweea the eight hundred and the thousand, because he had it fixed for his little lake. low n to be 00, the difference between what the Kentucky man would pal for the mare ami what Hill offe.cd the bicago man for hei . " •Well, well lalk all thai over when I hand vou over the male. Bill, HM the Chicago man. -• I : i 1 1 wanted io put the thing through and he kept showing up ,.t the Chicago mans shed and sublet in the mate, she was running, every few days, ami tievet getttag anything or even a piece of il. and Bill was impatient to close the trade. •the Chicago man kept putting I.ill off. Iinallv. at Betty, along toward the end of October, Bill bore down on the Chicago man. •■ Look here, you." said he in his breezy way ta the males owner, lets get through wilh this, im going lo have that marc in xl week, understand? Vou can have voyi blamed old thousand lor her. but I want her dead Of alive next week. " Dead or alive, bey? said the Chi. ago man. who was about dtarnuragejl] with the mare, anyhow. ..nil he laughed over BUI 8 keenness. -|| right. lea .an have her nudei Uhwc io]U|hjons • "Now. there w.imu a tliiitg Mil mail. a with lb marc al thai lime, ami in fact, she rand tic1 v. v day after. Bnl a couple of days later she was down wilh a had ease of lung fever, and w.i-loini.l dead in her stall inside of khe week. The fiaj after She died the Chicago man met I.ill down i. w n iii t Ihteagvhj •• Fork ever that thousand, ism.- be said, and vou can go out and get the old marc Shes all in. right enough. ■ -Why. blast it. t told you that motilhs a-o. commented Hill, and licit day he went oul lo Bobf for the scare. •■They were just loading her on tlie WUgOU for the gtae works when i . 1 1 1 reached the track. He was in a horrible lather, of course, and raced back to Chicago. His thousand was hauled tight back to him. of course -the Chieag* man had never meant to keep it - but that fa.l nev-i let Hill out for buying a dead mare, and the old timers have been Shooting that one into him ever since."
