Part 13

A few years ago a suit for the payment of fraudulently obtained notes for the purchase of a stallion was thrown out of court by Judge Carland, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, for want of equity. A transcript of the evidence shows that there were the best of reasons for the Judge’s action.

It was alleged by the defendants, a number of farmers, that their names were secured in a book, by reason of representations made by an agent of the horse importer that they were signing a call for a meeting of farmers to consider the matter of buying a stallion for $5,000, and that when twenty names were secured a meeting would be called.

The names were secured and the meeting called, but instead of being asked to consider the matter of buying the horse the signers were informed that they had already agreed to buy the horse and jointly and severally pay $5,000 for him in four equal yearly payments, the first payment to be in two years, with six per cent. interest on all payments. In a proof of this it was shown that a brief contract in small type was printed at the top of the page of the book in which the names were signed which bound the signers as alleged. Upon this revelation the meeting became the opposite of one called to consider the purchase of the horse, as may be readily imagined.

The evidence shows that the defendants either did not know there was any printing matter on the page they signed, or if they did see it did not read it, and were told by the agent that it had nothing to do with the matter under consideration, or to be exact, one farmer testified: “I looked the thing over: I noticed this contract at the head of it and I asked what that fine print was there. He (the agent) said that it was an Iowa contract and did not cut any figure in this State.” Another explanation was testified to by another witness, quoted further on. Some witnesses testified that a broad rubber band or a turned leaf concealed the contract. The agent testified that he did not call any of the defendants’ attention to the contract, didn’t know if they saw it, but “supposed they did, for they had the book in their hands.”

All the defendants testified that they would not have signed the book if they had known the contract was there. Regarding the matter of what the meeting was to be called for, one farmer testified as follows, and he was corroborated by the other witnesses for the defense, and by at least one witness for the plaintiffs:

“Question: State what that conversation was, what he (the agent) said and what you said.”

“Answer: He told me he was trying to sell a horse and wanted me to sign a book. I asked the object of signing the book and he said it was just to call a meeting and get the men together and see if they would buy the horse. I asked him why he wanted our names on the book if he just wanted to call a meeting, why didn’t he call it without our names on the book? Well, he says, you fellows are strangers to me, your names are unfamiliar and I want a list of them so that I will know who to notify when I get ready to call a meeting, or else, he says, I may forget some of you who would like a share in that horse. Then I asked if there was anything binding about the book. I saw some printed matter and asked him what that was and he said there was nothing binding about it. I asked him what it was and what it was there for. He said it was just a memorandum showing that the meeting was called for, and the meeting would be to make a proposition to us to sell the horse and if we seen fit to buy the horse, well and good. If not, he said he would be out so much time and no harm done. That is the sum and substance of the conversation we had until I signed the book.”

It seems clear enough that the defendants believed they were simply signing a call for a meeting to consider the subject of forming a company to buy the horse; at any rate the case seemed so clear to Judge Carland that he did not seriously consider the question of compelling the farmers to give their notes as demanded by the plaintiffs, and threw the case out of court.

Horse Peddlers’ Confessions.

A peddler is a horse sharper who buys a cheap stallion of questionable quality, soundness, prepotency or breeding, from some large horse dealing firm, and then organizes a company of farmers for his purchase at a handsome profit. The tricks of such men are many and shady, and a few of them are here quoted for the benefit of farmers, who being thus forewarned, should in future be forearmed against the wiles of these glib-tongued confidence men.

The “Farm, Stock and Home” vouches for the truth of the following personal confession of a stallion peddler:

The Sale of Les Epinards.

I had noticed in a farm paper the advertisement of an auction sale of Percheron horses to be held at the farm of a breeder in an adjoining state. I slipped down there a few days before the date of sale, and picked out a nice looking, two-year-old stallion and on the day of sale bid $320 and the horse was sold to me. A pedigree was thrown in, but as it was written in the English language and the horse had a common, pronounceable name, I discarded it and christened him Les Epinards. At that time I didn’t know what Les Epinards meant, but remembered having seen it somewhere. I shipped him to a small town and started in to organize a company to buy him for $2,800. The pedigree proposition bothered me until I heard Billie was organizing a company in the next county. He very kindly lent me a pedigree that he had in his trunk which answered very well for Les Epinards. It was natural for me to say that the Epinards were celebrated breeders over in France who always named their horses after themselves. The name and the horse made a hit, and in six weeks’ time I had the signatures of ten farmers each for $280, four of them good, and the others just well enough known to the banker to cut down his discount 15 per cent. As it was a joint note, the banker realized in full and I came out of the sale in this fashion:

Price to company $2,800

EXPENSES

Paid for the horse $320 Freight 12 Bank discount 420 Board 60 Paid cappers 150 Groom 55 Feed 18 1,035 ---- ------ Profit $1,765

Now that’s what Tummy would call “financial acumen.” I bought a horse at an auction sale for $320, shipped him to another county in the same state and sold him for $2,800. It gradually dawned on me that there was more money in the selling than there was in the breeding and raising. Tummy was a wise boy, but I was beginning to learn a few things myself.

The same paper published the following, October 1, 1905:

The Sale of Transmigrator.

The easy money I made on the sale of Les Epinards as narrated in the last issue, emboldened me to try a new dodge. A fair was being held in Winnipeg. While there I fell in with a horse breeder who had a number of Percherons on his farm, some distance to the east of that town. At his invitation I visited the farm and was somewhat surprised at the prices he quoted for fine-looking stallions. One two-year-old of necessary size and shape he offered me for $300. It was not any part of my business to tell him who I was, and I am inclined to think he took me for a farmer from the states. In the horse peddling business the less people know about you the better and easier it is for the peddler, so I never corrected him. I bought the horse, imported him across the imaginary line dividing the two countries duty free by making affidavit he was to be used exclusively for breeding purposes and by satisfying the authorities with the pedigree furnished me by the Canadian that he was a pure-bred animal.

With the rich selected feed my groom knew how to mix, helped along with artistic grooming and care, Transmigrator—the name he was to be known by—waxed fat and sleek. I could truthfully say he was imported, but as he was a bit shy on prize winnings I could not harp much on that score. Blue ribbons were cheap, however, and when we decked him out with a supply of them, he looked as fit as the majority of horses I sold for certain importers. Inasmuch as his pedigree was written in English, and certified to by officials with easy names to pronounce, I resolved to give the company a bargain, and put his price at $2,500. I always did believe in being generous. I might just as easily have sold for $3,000, but I threw off $500 on account of the understandable pedigree.

The company which bought the horse came near going to pieces after I had secured the names of six farmers to the notes. A busybody in that community insisted on making me a cash offer of $1,000. Of course, there was no profit in that for me and I was perfectly right in refusing his offer. What’s the use of farmers being educated to the beauties of the company plan which benefits the bankers, the peddlers, the groom, and the cappers, if we are going to sell the horse direct for cash. It’s only the farmers that make the money by the cash or direct way of buying a stallion. I never met a peddler who was looking out for the farmers’ interests. They are in the business to improve the quality of horses and incidentally increase the size of their own bank rolls.

This reprobate even went so far as to actually buy a stallion from a breeder for $975, and I must confess he was a good judge, for he certainly got an excellent animal. My horse, however, had one advantage—he had a longer name and was imported. On two occasions I felt like quitting. Only four of the signers of the joint note could be trusted for a peanut, so the banker said, and he insisted on my getting two additional names acceptable to him. This was not an agreeable task, and I worked like a Trojan, persuading the members of the company that it was a more sensible thing to sign notes due in two years for $2,500 at only six per cent. interest rather than to pay $1,000 cash for a horse that possibly might die as soon as paid for. I will not repeat in cold print the arguments I used—they might be considered foolish by my readers. The fact remains, however, I did get six good names on that note and four fillers, making ten signers, who each agreed to pay me $250 for Transmigrator. They could have bought a better horse for $1,000 cash from breeders, within 100 miles. I made fair wages by the transaction, as may be seen from the following:

Price to company $2,500

EXPENSES

Cost of horse $300 Banker’s discount 375 Freight 37 Board 49 Feed 25 Paid cappers 160 946 ---- ------ Profit $1,554

Some Veterinary Secrets.

Secret of Preventing Navel and Joint Disease.