The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1885-08-21
The Sheep Awards ut New Orleans.

% rams; to Z g stone, Wis, / ram; to c Nesbit,
Wis, l ram to f Weldman, Wis, l ram.
The Sheep Awards at New Orleans.
We print below a portion of the re-
ply of Mr.. John p. Ray to the letter on
the above subject recently published in
this paper. Mr.. Rays letter is so long
that we are compelled to defer till next
week the publication of the remainder
of it:
My attention has been called to a pa
per written by Miller Purvis, in rela-
ton to the awards on Meriuo sheep at
the late New Orleans Exposition. If
Mr.. Burwell and | were men of no
character or standing, morally or 9TH
erwise, and would not scruple to do
such things, we might well be content
to rest with such an accredited victory
and the distinction it would bring us,
and say, as did Tweed of old, "What
are you going to do about it," Again,
if we accomplished such a result, it
must have been through connivance
with Messrs. Johnson, Haran, Cross
and others, who were in charge of the
exposition; and they, in turn, should
share with us the responsibility. To
my mind the greatest injustice has
been done to my associates on the jury
of awards, Messrs. Robinson and Tay-
lor, by ignoring them as factors, belit-
ting their work, and removing from
them all responsibility for our awards,
which they should share alike with my
self; as no award could possibly be
made without the vote of either n or
the other of them. In the light of the
Purvis paper the jury stands charged
with knavery on my part and imbecili-
ty implied on theirs. That they were
men of individual preference and pos
tive ideas, that they made felt in the
show-ring, will be shown further on,
and that Mr.. Robinson sought to do all
science and judgment would permit
him 1 do not for a moment doubt.
When a man accepts the appointment
of judge in the show-ring he places
himself in a position to be criticised,
and the public has a right to ask that
he assign a reason for his official action.
Hence | do not object to the demands
OF the Ohio parties that arise and ex-
plain.
HOW l CAME TO GO TO NEW ORLEANS.
AT a meeting of sheep-breeders held
at the Addison House, Middlebury, VT,
at which | believe all the Vermont ex-
hibitors at New Orleans were present,
it was decided to send the names of
Geo. Hammond and f. III. Harrington
of VT. and Peter Martin and John p,
Ray of N. Y. to the management in
New Orleans, with a request that one
of the above-named parties should be
appointed as Judge. The following
letter will explain itself:
NEW ORLEANS, February IL, 1885.
John p, Ray, HemiOck Lake, n. y.
Dear Sir-Please hold yourself in readiness to
come to New Orleans to act as committee on
sheep, on receipt of telegram. But | would like
you to come at once and be in readiness.
JONI A. CROSS.
What special reason, if any, led the
management to select mt instead ofany
one of the other gentleman named ]
cannot tell. When ! arrived on the
grounds and glanced over the exhibit
of Merinos | realized at once that il
was n of the best displays ever made
in this country, and a great credit tC
our breeders. | said to Mr.. Cross thaI
it would be a very difficult thing tC
judge the sheep and give satisfaction,a al
the American Merton class was com
posed of the dense-feeced, wrinkly
sheep yielding heavy clothing wool, anC
the palmer long-staple Delaine MerinC
yielding Delaine or Merino combine
wool, and that the type would win, as
rule, that met the fancy of the judge al
between these two classes-or words tt
that effect. The other class was com
posed of Silesians, Saxons and French
and in Judging you may take you
choice between broad-cloth wool or
huge carcass. So much for the task as
signed the committee.
We come now to the consideration o
Mr.. Purvis' paper. and this | will groul
under two distinct heads: LIST, Tha
the awards at New Orleans were tn,
outcome of ~chicanery and trickery, ow
ing to a conspiracy between Henry c
Burwell, Bridport, VT, an exhibitor
and John z. Ray of N. Y, one of thu
judges; I'd, The evidence adduced 70
conviction.
In answer to the charge of chicsner,
and trickery on our part l will say il
the outset that l suspect that the ques
ton on which the public in general i
interested is not whether Mr.. Gliding