Rensselaer Journal, Volume 11, Number 31, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 January 1902 — ANCIENT TURF TRICKERY. [ARTICLE]

ANCIENT TURF TRICKERY.

Method. Ro.orted To by Arabians to Win a Race. ▲ recent traveler in eastern Arabia has revived a little of the ancient history of that part of the world, tracking back for many centuries the cause of bitter feeling between two tribes that were at war for forty years, their relations being somewhat strained. The explorer found that in 562 A. D. the sheikh of one of the tribes made a foray on another tribe and as a ransom for the booty and captives taken he demanded and received a famous horse named Dahls. The extraordinary fleetness of Dahls _ was the boast of his new owner, and it was not long before a match was made to race him against a Fezara mare belonging to another tribe, and also noted for her fleetness. The wager was for 100 camels, and the length of the course was about ten miles. As the day fixed for the race approached the horses were kept without water, the plan being that the horse which first plunged its nose into the water trough ten miles from the starting point should be declared the winner. The racers were to run riderless, and to make them gallop their best maddening thirst was to take the place of whip and spur. The superior strength of Dahls told over the yielding sandy plain, and he was well ahead of his rival, the mare, which, though very fleet, had less staying power. The horse would undoubtedly have won the race if it had not been for a trick perpetrated by the tribe to which the mare belonged. They had concealed a man in a hollow on the track over which the animals were racing, with orders to check Dahls and throw him, off his course. The trick succeeded and the mare was first at the watering trough. The dishonest stratagem by which Dahls was defeated came to the knowledge of his owner.. After vain efforts

to adjust the difficulty, the two tribes resorted to war. and the feud has continued In a mild form to the present day. The war lasted for forty years, and the unpleasantness has been handed down from generation to generation though long periods sometimes elapse In which there are no active hostilities.