106 CONFESSIONS OF A HOBSE DEALER. 



nificantly, and " crab" it t. e. y say that it was un- 

 sound, or had some fault; and this he did for the mere 

 purpose of keeping the horse at livery to his own ad- 

 vantage and profit. 



This is a prevalent practice everywhere, especially 

 in London. Many other disreputable things, similar to 

 these, sent him to the Insolvent Court, where (having 

 sold his business, and pocketted the money) he was re- 

 quired to give it up to the assignees for the benefit of 

 his creditors, and received his discharge. Being turned 

 upon the streets almost in a destitute condition, the 

 brewer's traveller, out of pity, appointed him as a 

 manager in his old quarters, but required him to lay 

 aside every low, quirking trick, and manage the concern 

 in a fair, business-like manner. 



A short time in this capacity, however, sufficed to 

 finish his career, for he was detected as being privy to 

 a systematic robbery (practised, more or less, in many 

 places) in the sale and purchase of hay, which, for the 

 information of horse-keepers, I shall describe. In this 

 instance the manager always bought his hay from one 

 hay-dealer, or salesman (not a farmer), and having 

 twenty horses at work, he was a good customer ; the 

 hay was of good quality, bought at a market price, and 

 weighed at the town's weighing machine. 



The proprietor never suspected anything wrong until 

 a singular circumstance revealed and exposed the whole 

 plot. It was in the winter of 1853-54, when the price 

 of good old hay rose from 1 to 10 a ton, in conse- 



