SPECIAL EXPERIMENTS. 49 



that, each day before my regular exhibition, if the people 

 would remain twenty minutes in the center of the town, I 

 would take any kicking, runaway colt they could produce, 

 lead him from them outside the town, and, within the time 

 named, would subdue and drive him back to a carriage, 

 without breeching. Or if I found a horse that had recently 

 run away, and which could not be controlled, I made it in 

 this way a startling card. For example : In Hornellsville, 

 N. Y., I obtained a pony that had only the day before run 

 away with a constable, a large, strong man, causing him 

 serious injury, and breaking the wagon to pieces. In 

 twenty minutes, I drove him in on a run, with breeching 

 straps loose, and cross-piece striking against the quarters. 

 Having almost reached the crowd, I purposely fell out, and 

 when the horse had gone six or eight rods, I called 

 " Whoa ! " sharply. He stopped instantly. This incident 

 enabled me to make a large class there. 



In one instance only, I did not dare make the attempt. 

 This was at a little place near Rochester. The colt se- 

 lected was running in a field, and I accompanied the owner 

 to get him. As soon as I saw the colt, I knew I could not 

 control him in the time specified ; but I raced around with 

 the owner to catch him, in the meantime thinking how I 

 could manage the matter. Failing to catch the horse on 

 account of his extreme wildness, I finally took the owner 

 into my confidence, and told him that I did not want to 

 catch the horse ; that I knew I could not subdue him so as 

 to be able to handle him in the time stated, but that I 

 would show him how he could break him, provided that he 

 would help me out of the scrape, which he promised to do, 

 and so reported that the colt could not be caught. Fortu- 

 nately, at this point I saw a young man driving a spirited 

 horse up the street. Ready to catch at any point, I ap- 

 proached and asked, " If the breeching-straps were to break, 



