348 
THE MODERN HIGHWAYMAN. 
demands, and then making a public clamor against the veteri¬ 
nary profession at large, the dealer’s claims would be satisfied, 
the extortionists get their just deserts, and the profession con¬ 
tinue to enjoy the confidence and respect which it justly de¬ 
serves. Yours respectfully, 
Robert W. Ellis, D. V. S. 
THE MODERN HIGHWAYMAN. 
The gentlemanly highwaymen of olden times relieved their 
victims of the spare cash which they happened to have about 
them without taking the trouble to present a bill in vindication 
of their right to do so, and their despoiled customers were glad 
enough to get off with the loss of their cash and jewels, with¬ 
out having their ears slit for making remonstrance. But those 
urbane gentlemen of the road ran a greater risk of their necks 
than do the bandits of modern society who go about enveloped 
in a mantle of security thrown around them by their victims 
who employ them. Gentle reader, raise the mask, and do you 
not recognize in the swell coachman the Dick Turpin of the 
age in which we live. True, he does not demand his master’s 
]uirse; it just comes to him as slick as though it traveled over 
a greased runway to get there, and the coachman looks upon 
the transfer as a right to which his position entitles him. If 
the society man, ambitious to have a swell stable of stylish 
horses, cobs and trotters, would, as the boys say, tumble to the 
systematic and autocratic pilfering which is constantly going 
on to deplete his purse, ruin his property, and rob him at every 
turn, and would employ reputable horsemen and liverymen to 
supervise his stable affairs, he would save his money and find 
greater enjoyment and accommodation for his outlay. The New 
York Telegraph very truthfully tells the story, and we commend 
it to the stable owner of society ; 
“ The coachman’s bills represent many a dollar never 
earned ; he divides with the tradesmen ; unscrupulons veteri¬ 
nary surgeons are parties to the general game for swindling the 
rich. The fact that there is an organized system of robbery in 
this city of the majority of its wealthy and fashionable mem¬ 
bers is not generally known, and the idea would hardly be 
credited by the intelligent citizen, nor would even the victim 
of the powerful clique himself believe it possible that he was 
being held up in such a matter-of-fact and successful manner at 
