Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1886-09-11
ED ToyKIN's BIG CATTLE.
Col Pines Recollection or some
WciGhty stock.
Fgom the Ne10 York Sun


From the Net0 York Sun.
MILFORD, PA, Sept. 4.-"I often reao
IN the newspapers accounts OF cattle OF
abnormal size and weight" said Col. Z.
n pine. the sam Ward Of Pike county,
mond the bigger and heavier the man.
moth OK, giant steer, ponderous cow,
overgrown heller, or exaggerated calf Is
alleged to be, the more l gloat over the
recollection OF Ed TonkiD's oxen and
beifer. aud make myself mental oets OF
,lntold sums that for real, genuine moun-
tains of living flesh, hide and tallOw, their
ike was never seen before, has never
Leeu seen since, and will never be seen
again. ,.,,
II don't know why Ed TOnkin should
have raised bigger cattle than any one
else ever did, for be wasn't very big
man himself, and l never noticed any
snecial points about him that his next
door neighbor didn't have, and his neigh
bor was Swapping fellow, six teet three,
whose cattle. if | remember right, were
generally little smaller than any one
eeIse's. Ed Tonkin lived down in Glou-
cester county. New Jersey, fifty years
AGO. and along in $50 or 40 he had yoke
NJ oxen that he brought up from calves,
and a heter raised the same way, ana the
three, weighed together in the moor,
brought the scales down with plump to
the | 800 pound mark. One OK, called
the Earl of Jersey, carried 4,2OO pounds
around with him, and the other, the Duke
of Gloucester, was scant OF that weight
by Iust 100 pounds. The gentle helfer
cropped the meadows sweet with nay
with 5000 pounds OF beef on her royal
bones.
"Tnese cattle were all OF the short-horn
Durham breed. When they were in their
prime the oxen were sold 10 Snowman,
who took them on a starring tour about
the country, to the ruin OF the famous
TYLER OK, which until then chewed the
cud of sweet contentment under the belief
that he was the largest combination OF
rOasts and steaks, In the animate lump,
that had ever whisked flies in pasture
lot, The Tyler OK was born and raised
on the farm of Job Tyler, in Salem, n. j.;
but when the Tonkin beeves loomed up
on the sand plains of Gloucester county
and brought collateral fame to their frall
cousin, the Tonkin heifer, it was found
that the Job Ty Ter OK was hardly match
for the heiter. That was great blow to
Salem, and the show that had depended
on the hitherto unrivalled accomplish
ments Of the Tyler OK for It's prosperity,
stranded high ana dry, and the Tyler OK,
with the living skeleton and the Hind0o
snake charmer from Peapack had to walk
home on his uppers.
II don't know how long the Tonkin
oxen were before the public, but they
didn't like it, and pinned away to mere
skeletons, so that when one of them died
in New Orleans he weighed only $500
pounds, and all the avoirdupois its mate
could boast of when it was called to the
sacrifice in Washington, d. O., later on
was 3, $50 pounds.
$50, with the recollection of those pro-
duclOns Of Southern Jersey fresh in my
mind, am ready just now to make a
very large bet that nobody who reads the
Sun-and that is pretty much everybody,
/ gues6-eVer knew OF an OK, a COW, or a
heifer as big as those great Gloucester
county cattle of forty five years ago. |
have made the snqury every year for
thirty years whether any one ever had
seen or heard of cattle approaching any
where near the Tonkin oxen and heifer,
and regularly paused for reply. am
pausing yet"