The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1893-01-26
GAME COCKS.
A Dissertation With Reference
to the Alleged Sport.
Historical Review of the Con-
tests of Medieval Days.

That cock fight at Meyers Lake, and the
raid of the posse under the command Of
the intrepid sheriff of Stark county, has
awakened interest among all classes OF
citizens. There are great many people
In this city who never saw a cock fight
and cannot therefore form an idea OF the
alleged sport. II is surprising how many
people ia Canton know nothing about
pits, gAfTs and other terms in cock fight
ing verDacular. Since the publication of
the fight at Meyers Lake aDd the extended
statement of just how the raid Of the
sheriff's posse occurred, inquiries have
been received by the NEWS DEMOCRAT
from all sources. The Canton Historical
Society, the Columbian Society, the Y. P.
S. G. E., the Twilight Club, the Lecture
Association, the Epwor.h League, the
Assembly Club and the Woman's Relief
Corps, all send inquiries to this Office,
asking for information OF this wild, wierd
and cruel sport.
Owing to this prevailing density Of ig-
norance on the part OF the people respect"
ing this subject, the News .DEMoCRAT,
which Is walking encyclopedias of
knowledge on oil subjects, both sacred
and profane, proposes to shed an electric
light of 40 candle power on the all
absorbing subject.
Many suppose, land this includes some
officers of our Humane Society and some
prominent church deacons) that cock
fighting is brutal contest between ordi
nary, wart>legged, big combsd barnyard
fowls, and that they fight and pick at each
other and roll over each other like a
couple of dunghills on straw stack.
This is gross error, The battle is always
fought between birds which are beauties in
the fowl world. When cock is young he
isn't known as a cock. He lis "staS."
When they are under two years of age
they are not so good fighters aud are cap
able of performing only the ordinary
functions in connection with being the
head of large fl 1ck of female games.
Two years is the best age to fight cocks.
| The cocks are always matched and when
they weigh within ON ounce of each other,
they are said to "fall iu.n Those who do
not "iall in'are matched to fight what are
called "byes.n
How very comprehensive this cock
| fighting parlaucs is anyway, and how
very appropriate the terms used in the
| sport. By slight contortion of meaning
the terms may be used to 1T human beings.
For instance when the sheriff of Stark
| county waved his glove in the center Of
| the arena and cast terror into the hearts
of the cock fighters, many Of whose wives
were at home deploring sad fate which
cast their husbands lots in with firms who
| have SO much Office work to do at night,
| the scales were brought into requisition.
! Some scaled the banistors, others scaled
the pillars and still others scaled the
shins of their fellow men. And then the
weighing process commenced, Those who
rushed to the doors and found there an
officer of the law who weighed within an
| ounce of as much as they weighed,
may be said to "falI in" They fell
in line and gave their names or were
brought to police headquarters later.
Those others who found that the officers
hadn't sufficient weight Of numbers didn't
"fsIl in." They "fell out" Taey fell out
of the windows and over the banisters and
over each other's necks with great
alacrity. We have never seen so many
men fall oulr on such slight provocation,
They are the ones who did not "fAil ill.,"
They are the "byes." The "good.byes" az
it were.
THE ORIGIN OF COCK FIGHTING
is lost in the miats of ohscurity. Herod'
otus, the oldest of the Greek historians
whom Cicero called the father of history,
does not mention any specific fights, but
il is known that the Greeks, at the time oi
Aristomsnes, who was a young man about
743 years before Christ, INDUCED in cock
fighting. They brought wild birds, from
the Asiatic islands-wild birds, that hat
never been domesticated and would make
fly at the drop OF the hat.
Croesus who needed not the sympathy
OF charitable minded persons, being one
OF the early millionaires of Greece, anC
who was afterwards king of Lydia, wa!
much given to cock fighting in his early
days and is said TO have invented tht
steel "gaffs,n which he used on some i'm
ported birds, brought from Sumatra, anC
to whom a number of the aristocrecy o
Canton birds proudly trace their ancestry
All the Roman generals were ad
dicted to cock fighting. Caesar
l atLST nS EeluIucu lIOlu S0uiS 6uN
after the Roman senate had erected thu
great statue of Libertas 10 his memory
gave his battalion generals a series o
evening entertainments in the smphithea
tire in which cock fighting wss interspera-
ed with wine and gladiatorial contestF
When he afterwards visited Egypt, he in,
troduced the game to Cleopatra.
The game was introduced into England
at the time OF Oliver Cromwell ia the 17tl
century and for q hundred years it Was tn
favorite pastime of kings, mobiles, dukes
earls and princes.
But with the Anglo Saxon race, cocl
!, fighting has been under u ban, for tn
past 200 years. Itisn't considered quit
. the proper thing, is too suggestive OF bru
tality and has not been regarded as ton.
sport since the 4th of July, 1776, either il
the United States or England. In Spain
. Portugal, India and the Spanish Americal
republics on this side of the Atlantic
however, il is still a fashionable sport.
l While our present American civilization
endures, 1t can never come TO the front Il
the United States and take rank with foo
ball, lawn tennis, stud poker or bicycl
riding by moonlight. Still there are man
good fellows who travel in first rate soci
| a., a.a Hona at all tho hall roomg en