78 DRIVING AS I FOTJND IT. 



my mind to have him and bought him for $125 and a 

 very cheap horse he turned out to be. He was six years 

 old, perfectly sound and I could not hitch him wrong. 

 Good under saddle, and he could trot close to three 

 minutes; in fact he was a perfect all-round horse. Dur- 

 ing the time I was bidding a well dressed man who 

 stood close to me made the remark: "Why, that is the 

 horse that ran away with a lady, he looks like a bad 

 one," but his person looked familiar to me and I came to 

 the conclusion that he Avas a steerer employed by cer- 

 tain individuals to try to stop anyone outside of the con- 

 cern buying and therefore took no notiec of him. 



Persons unaccustomed to the roguery and tricks em- 

 ployed at these auctions should be very careful when 

 selling any article to properly specify the relative merits 

 of whatever they might enter for sale and personally at- 

 tend the day of sale if convenient or have some au- 

 thorized agent go there and note that the entry gets 

 proper attention. To those who wish to purchase I ad- 

 vise them to find out, if practicable, the legitimate 

 owner, and if it is a private person who sells through 

 want of use you can then bid with safety what you 

 think is a fair price. Always be careful to avoid trying 

 to buy a horse that belongs to a dealer or especially one 

 in which the concern is interested as you will in all 

 probability get the worst of the deal. 



