540 THE HORSE OF AMERICA. 



Brodhead had told them this property was paying twenty-five 

 per cent, on a capitalization of one hundred thousand dollars, and 

 he thought it could be made to pay more. Like many other 

 fools, they thought it was a machine that when fired up in the 

 morning would run itself. Next to the rich men sat a good 

 sprinkling of farmers 7 sons, some carloads of whom had been 

 brought from Kentucky, and all ready to swear they were breed- 

 ers. As Brodhead explained this incident to a gentleman who 

 stated it to me: "If there was any attempt to pack the convention 

 he was ready to do some packing himself, with these young men 

 he had brought from Kentucky." 



On the outside circle there was a large number of young men 

 and some older ones watching the proceedings with great in- 

 tensity. They were restless, and some of them looked hungry, 

 and every one of them was looking for a place if the purchase 

 went through. One had a copy of the Bungtown Bugle in his 

 pocket containing a report of the racing at the last county fair, 

 written by him, and he thought that was sufficient evidence that 

 he was qualified to take charge of the Monthly. Another had 

 made, with his own hands, as he asserted, a tabulated pedigree on 

 a large scale and shaded the letters beautifully and artistically 

 with pokeberry juice; and what evidence could be more satisfac- 

 tory that he was qualified to take charge of the department of 

 registration? Every one of them seemed to think that there 

 would be a good place for him in the new deal, and hence his 

 enthusiasm at every incident that seemed to point in that direc- 

 tion. Thus the little cormorants as well as the big cormorants 

 were all anxious for the prey. 



While the soreheads were wrangling over how best to get hold 

 of my property, and what they would do with it when they got 

 it, I had several hours in the privacy of my own apartments to 

 look over all the conditions of the situation, and the conclusions 

 I then reached I have never had reason to change. It, there- 

 fore, may be of interest to all to know just what I thought at 

 that crucial period, and I will give these thoughts as contem- 

 poraneous with the event: 



"This meeting is a miserable sham, but the action of Mali and 

 Packer has given it a pseudo-type of regularity as a national 

 convention of horsemen, and this idea of 'regularity' will carry 

 weight with many who know nothing of the bottom facts. 



"The members of the press will, substantially, be a unit against 



