The San Francisco call., 1898-09-24
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 FOR MERCEDC COURSING
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 Coursing men are now turning their at tention to the great outdoor meetings which will be held in Merced. the first of which will commence on November 15. It Is to be hoped, however, that the officers of the clubs will see to if that better eating accommodations will be provided this year for the leashmen and their friends who will be in attend ance The food last year was far from being anything near good at the princi- pal hotels of the great plains city. and as a consequence there are quite number of prominent coursing men who are in favor of journeying on to Fresno, which city has offered very fattering induce ments.
 Fresno should certainly be selected and for many reasons, unless the Mercedites improve on last years rations, not only "at home" but on the field. Many dol lars are scattered around Merced during the coursing meetings in various ways, but unless there is some reciprocation by which the vigorous kicks of the inner man when he Is improperly treated are appeased other fields will certainly nave to be selected.
 Tommy Hall the prince of the Merced coursing fraternity, has written to Io- cal sportsman stating that although he may not meet with good success in the inclosures he is very positive of paggln,g n,:
 
 open meeting with a few scarecroWs which he is now preparing for cross-coun- try coursing.
 a bit slow in getting away from Jim Wren's leather rope. but after they will cover a few miles or so and get warmed up to their work they are regular ter TOTS"
 Tim Cronin, ''the famous Pennie slough jumper" has his eye also on the big end of the Merced stake. Tim will chi nd ha fVVO ported dogs from the old dart" to his friend Hall to be trained for the gruelers- Joe Golman of Merced will have Sar- castle in his string, and MT. Fisher, also of Merced, will enter a ten-mile racer from Chinese Camp. Hall is authority for the statement that the tail of Fish
 It Is said that a notable feature of the meeting will be a grand barbecue pro- vided for the leashmen by Supervisor Shaffer. Doubtless 1t will be done good
 During a conversation on matters that pertain to coursing at well known sporting resort, B; Dougherty, & or royai ali his friend, John Dugan of Newark:
 Tt was of fine sunny morning in the month of July about six years ago when my friend Dugan heard two reports Of a shotgun within his fine coursing park
 Whats that?' says John. Sure, it's some thief killing your rabbits. says l, and you'd better hurry up and stop him, as he has surely found his way into the breeding paddock and won't leave hare standing.
 'John started and so did for the spot where the shooting was going on, and you never heard such shooting in all the born days of your life. Man, you should hear Dugan saying his prayers on the run. 1 never heard anything like 1t be- fore. He was puffing like steam en- zine when we got near the place where the Sunday hunter was having the sport of his life, and he says to the man with the gun. What in the h. are you doing here?' The man with the gun turned around when he heard Johns voice and said: Hush, hushi will ye? Get downi Get down quick the woods are full Of them! I've got couple of dozen jacks already. and I can easily knock out fifty more if you fellers will only keep quiet.
 Well, man alive, you should have seen Dugan's face He was tongue-tied; he couldn't say a word for two minutes he was so mad. Well, finally a big jack jumped up near us and when the man with the gun let fly two barrels at him Dugan's tongue broke loose, and the fine country air was red, white and blue for five minutes.
 took the gun away from the Sunday hunter, which was afterward redeemed on the payment of $25. But, boys, I laughed so much over Dugan's misfor- tune that I lost my appetite, and it was six days later when I found 1t again.
 Atlanta Boy, entered by J. Foley. will make his first appearance to-day. Dora, the property of C.. Q. Holzhauer, is said to be good one. T. Moran has added Royal Prize to his string. R. Dougherty made an offer of $500 to MT. Kenna for the two Bucks last week, but failed to capture his old-time stock. It Is said that the present owner has considered the offer and will sell the Bucks to Dougherty if Bernardo can be found. Evening Star is a new dog that will soon be seen raising park dust.