The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-04-25
,xcLE MuNGo, CHICKEN SHARP.
Tbe Old Man Ruined the Local.
sports.

sports.
Gloom deep and dark rests like pail
,- the Savannah chicken sports. Uncle
,,,,ro has met them, and they are his n.
o,. old man and his friend, the waiter,
Xix off with s2l5 of their money. and
che sports are broke.
,rbe chief manager of the mains having
.a.,d that Uncle Mingo was ''fancier,"
asked the old man if he had chicken he
uou,d like to enter for fight.
me- old man allowed he had bud
.i,lt he would be willing to back where
'.1on he was informed that the local con-
.t-asnt had a rooster which they were
..s1,ared to fight against anything that
e. il was arranged that Uncle Mingo
.,ld hiring down his bud In time for
tbe next weekly main.
several years before, the old man had
.arqbt a young eagle which he had car
,4.5 home and put In his kitchen. The
bird had now grown up, and was tame,
Inv dirty and ungainly, but very strong.
At the appointed time, with his eagle In
Covered basket on his arm, he proceed
cd with his now inseparable friend, the
waiter to the scene of the main.
The sensational finish of the last main,
.oge+ber with the report that the old man
had bird which he was foolish enough
20 nit against the pride of the club. had
attracted an unusually large attendance;
The house,. e., vacant lot-was full.
The earlier matches awakened little in
,erast. everybody was eager for the chief
event. which had been put last.
The manager then announced that the
dosing event would be fight between
Dr{,, 4
hird backed by MIR. Mingo Young, from
'Possum Hollow.
"R1ack Prince" was produced; he was a
fine bird. though not very large, and had
easily defeated everything put bfore him.
All eyes were centered upon Uncle
Mingo's basket The old man raised the
cover and took out his eagle.
There was general exclamation of sur
nrise. which gradually changed to a long
howl of derision. Certainly a more UNI
promising looking bird could hardly be
imagined. He was very dirty and grimy,
and except on the wings and a patch on
the tail had scarcely any feathers to
speak Of
Two to one on Black Princer' was the
crv. and the stakes were soon up in the
hands of the referee. Uncle Mngo had no
trouble in finding $500 against his $780, the
waiter although feeling very dubious at
the sight of Uncle Mingo's champion,
lovally backed his friend to the extent of
his pile, and put up $50 against SIS. Then
the birds were placed opposite to each
other in the pit.
The noble bird of freedom was evidently
annoyed at having his nap in the cosy
basket so rudely interrupted, so on being
set down he at once relapsed into a condi-
ton of somnolence, with his head drawn
down between his shoulders and his eyes
closed.
Then the fun began; the crowd thought
it beat a minstrel show.
BLACK Prince" was clearly the most
astonished individual present, as he look
ed auizzically at the curious opponent be-
fore him After Growing a few times he
proceeded to dance sideways around the
eagle and as Uncle Mingo expressed it,
played de banjo fust on one wing an
den on de udder." The eagle took no more
notice Of him than if he had not been
there
Black Prince" didn't know what to
make of it ALL he stood facing his adj
versary with his head down and his neck
feathers in ruff1e.
The crowd shrieked with delight, when
the rooster. to awaken his enemy, gave
him sharp peck. This angered the
eagle; true he was not meddling with other
peoples business, and yet they Wouldn
let him alone.
He skinned one eye open for about two
seconds, then shut it again and stepped
back inch or so.
Finding his first attempt of no avail,
the rooster proceeded to harsher meas
ures He hoped lightly in the air and
gave the inoffensive eagle a sharp dig,
causing shouts of laughter.
This was going too far; the eagle start
ed little and If the rooster had paved
more attention, he might have been
warned by the CLEAN from the eagle
eyes, both of which were now wide open,
although his position was not changed.
Say, old man." called out the owner
of Black Prince" ''you better make your
bird show more fight"
You lum lone" retorted Uncle Mingo;
ef he amt got sinse huff to take care of
hssef den dat he own lookout"
The rooster now concluded it was time
TO stop all nonsense, to put an end to this
ridiculous affair and win his owners
money. So he hoped up in the air again
10 infiict the final coup de grace.
But the blow never landed. Instead a
most extraordinary thing occurred.
The eagle suddenly Strengthened out to
MS full length His left claw shot forth
ana seized the rooster by the back pin
nlng him to the ground
lnen with his right claw he grasped the
off!
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