from Archie MacDonald Horses in the Coal Mines
Archie MacDonald, Florence:
I'll tell you a story about the horses. The horses in Florence colliery one time, and in most of the collieries, were badly used. Now it wasn't that they were poorly fed or anything, but they were overworked. A good horse, she'd work on the dayshift. And the drivers were a contrary crowd, a lot of them, and they pretty well ran the pit. You couldn't get along without them. If they had dug their heels about something, well, they wouldn't go down; they'd stay on the surface and the pit would be idle. So they were having a problem with the horses. The good horses were overworked and the bad horses would be standing in. So the underground manager, he had a half-brother that was quite a tough character, but he loved horses, very fond of horses. He was what you might call in those days a barroom fighter - a big heavy, stocky fellow, as tall as you are, and heavier. Loved horses, and he hated the drivers. And I bet you the underground manager, his half-brother, appointed him as the road boss especially in charge of horses. And he wandered around the stables and looked over all the horses. A horse that came in, the driver'd come with him, the way the law said; the contract said he had to take his horse in and secure him in the stable. He just didn't turn him loose, let him go in the stable. The horse would sense when he was getting handy the stable, and he'd start hurrying up, and the driver'd have to go along, take him in under control, and take his bridle off and the bit that was in his mouth, and the heavy leather piece over his head, where if he bumped his head he wouldn't knock his scalp off. It was a "cap" they called it.
In the afternoon and evening, when the horses would be coming in, this big husky fellow would watch them coming in, looking for any bruises or scrapes or anything like that. And if he did, he'd hold them up-"Just a minute, I want to have a look at that" - he'd hold them up - "How did this happen?" And the driver had to have a good reason for it, or the first thing he knew, the fellow'd have him by the throat and want to know how it happened. And he had to tell him. And there were none of the drivers tough enough to back this fellow up. And I bet you in three months, three months or less, the horses were in spic-and-span condition, no scrapes or bruises or anything like that, because they were afraid of this fellow. And they had good reason to be afraid of him, because when this fellow came, he said he hated drivers, especially a driver that was hard on his horse. That fellow, he had no quarter for them at all. He'd get him off that horse, or he had to start treating his horses better, or the other fellow'd go and beat him up. He'd do it. There'd be nobody around, and he'd get him in a corner of the stable and rough him up. So he knew he was up against his master then, the man that was looking after the horses. If he was taking a horse out, he was going to take it back in good shape. And it was a true story. That fellow lived to be an old man. He retired. But he loved horses. And he could not tolerate in any way, shape, or form a driver that abused his horse. Wouldn't put up with it. (And he re-trained the drivers?) He sure did. Nobody'd tackle a horse or damage a horse while this fellow was on.
Archie MacDonald's story appeared in Issue 32 of Cape Breton's Magazine (out of print.) It is now available in the book Cape Breton Works
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