He struggled to his feet, getting more covered in the stinking dirt as he extricated himself from the pile, his face furious. When he regained his feet, he immediately charged at the man he felt had caused his fall, even though the other worker outweighed him by 30 pounds or more.
"You black bastard, you did that on purpose!" he screamed, piling into the surprised man.
That was the scene which confronted the Cow Palace president when he rounded the corner of the barn. One worker, his back covered in shit, was attacking another, screaming curses. The black man, larger and stronger, was trying to push Ranny away after his initial shock at being assaulted, and the other men nearby helped by grabbing Ranny's arms to pull him off.
The sight of this fight was too much for the president to stand, and he didn't wait for the labor manager to deal with it. He strode up to the group, and in a tightly-controlled voice, seething with anger, snapped "Stop fighting! What in hell is going on here?"
Ranny knew he was in trouble, because any fighting, especially when there were exhibitors and spectators not too far away, was an unforgivable breach of behavior. But he put up a bold front anyway, saying sullenly, "That man tripped me into that pile of shit!"
Before the black man could give his version of events, several of the other workers who had viewed the accident jumped in to his defense, because he was well-liked and Ranny wasn't. They protested that it was just an accident, and that Ranny had attacked the other man.
"Hose that man off, take him to the office, and deal with him there," the president directed his manager, pointing at Ranny. "We're not having that kind of behavior on the Cow Palace grounds, not while I'm in charge." He turned on his heel and left the scene.
The labor manager was furious with Ranny, angry at his behavior and especially mad because it had happened in front of the president. He directed Ranny to a nearby water hose, and he was not overly tender as he sprayed the smelly residue off of Ranny's back. And he didn't seem to care that Ranny was still dripping water when he stood later in front of the manager's desk in the labor office, trying to maintain his defiant attitude.
"You've really done it this time, Worlham," he said. "You've finally handed me the rope I need to use to hang you. We've had our eye on you for a long time, but you were just sneaky enough to keep us from nailing you. We're sure you were the one responsible for that peephole in the girls' shower building, and we're sure it was you who put horseshit in the boot of one of our richest horse owners yesterday. But we've got you dead to rights this time, with no less a witness than the president of the Cow Palace himself. I'll have Accounting draw up your final check and mail it to you tomorrow. Now, give me your ID badge, get out of here, and don't let me ever see your face again."