The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1881-11-10
Som Of "KaIniuck."

81 we'll remember" said the Governor,
IAN incident which occurred just before
the breaking out of the war, and which
afforded us infinite amusement ut the
time. Breckenridge, who was then Vice
President; Floyd, Buchanan's Secretary
Of War; Senator Powell, of Kentucky,
and myself, met one Sunday evening at
the residence of Mr.. Floyd, and the con
~versation turned on the sporting procliv-
tiles of Kentuckians. Breckenridge and
myself spontaneously maintained that
Ke~ntuckians were an improvement upon
the old Virginia stock in this particular,
and that, while they had inherited dash
and daring of their ancestors, they were
really the better Of the two. AS men we
are your equals, at least said I, turning
to Floyd. Our women are the handsomest
in the world. We have finer horses,
and even better chickens, than the Old
Dominion can prouuce.' To the latter
proposition Floyd demurred energeti-
cally, and proposed then and there to
arrange a main to be fought on the 'Vir-
ginia border. I agreed, and then pro-
posed to let one fight between two picked
birds at the close of the main decide tue
question of supremacy.
''This was agreed to. and we wagered
$1,000 each on the result. Breckenridge
wanted half of my $1,000, and 1 gave it
to him. The dispute was to come off IN
September, 1860, and we arranged all the
prelimiuaries then and there. When
the question had been adjusted, 1 turned
upon the party and with mock solemnity
proceeded to read a lecture. "A pretty
picture we present, do we notT' said l.
Here we are,the Vice.President of the
United States, her Minister of War, a
Senator from Kentucky, and the Cover
nor of the same State. desecrating the
Lords day arranging for q cock fight,
while the greatest crisis in American
history is approaching. The cloud is
spread over more than half the horizon,
and the storm may burst any moment
1 went on in this strain for some time,
and the company at last separated.
Imagine my astonishment and dis
gust the next day to read in the New
York Herald a full report of our CONVEX
sation and OF my lecture. The hackman
had given it away. When l read the
Herald l started for the Capital to
tell Breckenridge about it; but on my
way up Pennsylvania avenue my atten-
ton was attracted by a chorus of cock
growing which seemed to come from a
row of coops hanged in front of an ex-
press office. l stopped to see what it
meant, when l first saw that the coops
were all directed to the Vice President.
At first I did not know what to make of
it, but suddenly light dawned upon
me. Four or five months before Brock
inridge and myself had asked Gen. Pres
ton, who was about to go abroad in the
discharge Of his duties as Minister, to
send us q coop of game chickens for a
gentleman whose kind offices we were in
need, and who could not be reached in
any other way.
"Instead of one coop he had sent a
dozen or more, thinking, as I then sup
posed, that il would be an excellent joke
on us. I hurried to the Capitol, and,
calling Breckenridge from his place as
presiding officer of the Senate, laid the
whole matter before him. There was the
consignment of game chickens in con-
firmation of the Herald story, and l as
sured him that unloss he did something
promptly he was a ruined man. He
laughed, but together we made our way
to the express Office and paid the charges,
which were enormous, amounting, l be-
lieve, to several hundred dollars, and,
having 60 use for the birds, sent them to
a noted cockfghter in Lexington as q
present.
"The war breaking out soon after
ward, the proposed main was declared
off. Subsequently l learned the inward
ness of the chicken business from Cen
eral Preston. 1t seems that in visiting
Madrid, Paris. Rome, Berlin, Vienna
and other European capitals he had
prosecuted inquiries about game fowls,
and that when he reached London he
found all the birds he forwarded to us
awaiting his orders. As the easiest way
ont of the dilemma, he shipped them to
Washington. Those cocks afterward
whipped everything in the United States.
and these strains, / understand, are yet
in great demand Ex-Gov. Beriah
Magofin, of Kentucky.
PLUCK IN DEATH Col. Malleson, in
the closing volume Of his history Of the