BREEDING THE TROTTER 



easily. I asked the owner why it was necessary 

 to drop the heat. He then confessed that he had 

 played against his gelding all the time and had 

 played my money also. I informed him that it 

 was a nice time to tell me about it and advised 

 him to play off as much of our money as he could 

 and let me win. He would not consent to this so 

 I dropped the next heat. It was won by Nelly 

 Parks. The race was then postponed and only 

 two of us were left to finish. That evening I was 

 called to the telephone. It was about the first 

 time I had used one. A friend down town in- 

 formed me that it was reported I would be taken 

 out of the sulky the next day. It did not sur- 

 prise me any, in fact was just what I expected. 

 I now figured out that if I wished to protect my- 

 self and not stand liable to expulsion I would have 

 to see to it that the gelding lost. I sat up almost 

 all night whittling a pair of wooden toe-weights, 

 which I colored to resemble the metal ones. 

 These weighed one and one half ounces, whereas 

 the horse had been using six-ounce weights. Sure 

 enough the next day, when Jim White and Nelly 

 Parks came out to trot off the race, the judges 

 took me down and put up Jimmy Goldsmith. 

 Jim White was, of course, unsteady and they 

 scored seventeen times. I was called to the 

 stand. The judges told me to stay near and 

 added that if the horses did not get the word on 

 the next score I would be put back, as they 

 thought I might make a better showing. I had 

 previously promised to try to win if they would 



14 



