| Show JF ii ils maom an al annual af affair by rich ric elchard ili ard hill wilkinson walli anson AST YEAR WE appointed barney L LAST bridges chairman of our annual fair in Burn crest 0 old 1 d J jake ke FI fletcher etcher had been chairman for 15 11 years and there were those who disapproved of ousting h him 1 m in favor favo of young 3 barney fiction cyrus GUI gill the towns leading and richest citizen voiced the sentiments of the majority jake ran a good enough fair but jakes getting old and his ways are out of date we gotta keep up with the times out hero here in Burn crest like everywhere ery where else barney bridges is young and has modern ideas this was true enough barney promised to zip up the fair the first thing he planned to do was modernize the horse racing event heretofore wed just had races that were run for the honor of the thing trotters with folks making side bets barneys barneis Bar idea was to import some famous promoter and make the betting open lips its a heck beck of a lot worse to have a lot ot of undercover betting going on with no system to it than it will be to have open betting with everyone being given a chance to throw in his bis dimes worth every one but jake fletcher agreed the only trouble with that is he allowed this professional promoter jigger youre going to import aint oin t known to none of us it if hes a slicker look out Ps pshaw hawl declared barney tolerantly er antly the man I 1 have in mind has been in the business for years lle he dare try bothin funny dunno about that said jake you got to figure that every last man of us is endowed with criminal instincts oh were honest enough on an the surface because were smart but you give us a chance to pull a fast one an well jump at it it if were sure we can get away with it A barney imported this chap dana easton dana easten had promoted everything from prize fights to steamboat races when we put the proposition up to him he said hed sure be glad to promote the horse racing angle 4 of f our fair the day 0 of f the fair arrived and it seemed that most or of the money was bet on a mare named homing pigeon driven by charley colewell charlie had won plenty of races in past years and it looked like he be was going to win again I 1 sat in the grandstand and watched the sulkies line up they made a pretty sight the band was playing the sun shinning and everybody was happy and feeling festive dana easton had proven ja 1 A r every v e yone one but jake fletcher agreed lie ile allowed it if hes a slicker look out his showmanship by decorating the track and grounds and issuing silk s shirts and caps to the drivers lie he had also hired the band and installed a loudspeaker system then the race started around the track they went six of them burnsides best stretching out their necks in perfect stride homing pigeon led up to the halt half then jasper bushs buchs horse came abreast of him then ahrn hector dryson came alon abreast tast of them then fergus cross c caino abreast of them it imbed like a neck and neck affair which struck me as being strange then suddenly I 1 stopped citing alling and just stared coming down the stretch the tour four lead horses hordes had slowed down and by cripes 15 yards from the finish tape they all stopp edl it until late that night that I 1 got all the details dana easton had bribed charlie colewell and jasper bush to pull their horses so hector dryson could win lector hector was a long shot and would have paid plenty rut but it work that way why because jake fletcher had figured what nhat dana easton was up to and had secretly and individually bribed the other four racers to hold la in their horses with all six drivers bribed the race simply came to a standstill and nobody finished which jake fletcher pointed out just proves my contention that every mans a crook if he thinks he can get away with it |
