153 



that she could not reel off a mile in about 2:20. But this 

 animal could not have gone around the block and got back 

 the same day. She was as slow as a snail. 



Howland hitched up the old horse one day to a dilapi- 

 dated wagon and drove over to a town called Charlestown, 

 in Indiana. Beauty was tied behind. They attracted con- 

 siderable attraction as he drove into the fair grounds, where 

 the races were about to begin. Howland tried to get 

 Beauty into a race, but the farmers would have none of it, 

 for they considered her too fast for their horses and didn't 

 care to present the purse to a stranger, preferring to have 

 it won by a native. 



" Let me put in old Nance then," said Howland, point- 

 ing to the sorry nag in the shafts. 



This was agreed to, and then Howland got out a good, 

 strong, serviceable sulky from the interior of the wagon. It 

 was muddy and worn in many places, but it was right. When 

 the time came for the race he hitched his horse up with 

 ropes and straps, all tied, with no buckles, and in his hand, 

 as he rode out, he had a small sapling with some of the 

 branches on the end of it. It looked like a tree. Everybody 

 laughed, and there was many a jest concerning the old man 

 and his horse. 



Howland had driven over alone, but he had sent his 

 partner ahead of him, and the latter at this juncture began 

 to circulate around among the bookmakers and the farmers, 

 taking every bet he could get on the old nag. Before the 

 people realized what had happened, he had down about 

 $200 at odds of from 2 to 3 to i. 



It was two in three. Old Nance had no time to lose, 

 and she went to the front at the last quarter in the first heat 

 and appeared to be all out. She did not look like she could 

 make it again, and the confederate had little trouble in get- 

 ting down some more money. This time old Nance took 

 the lead from the jump and kept it all the way around to 

 the wire. Her owner collected and hastened away just in 

 time to escape a lynching. This man is said to have worked 

 this scheme all over Indiana at the fairs, and then he went 

 into Ohio, Kentucky and Tennessee, where he found the 

 farmers equally credulous. Several times he had narrow 

 escapes from losers who realized what had happened, but 

 old Nance always carried him out on the road to safety. 



