The Saint Paul globe., 1905-04-23

M FORMER Chicago policeman
M big George" Athorne = who
LIN took a conspicuous part in the
great railway strike of 1877,
has all at once become one of the most
celebrated personages in New England,
and all because of a cock fighter
rather because of a cock fight that
didn't come off. They are telling won-
derful stories up in York county, Me-,
of how the policeman-now sheriff
substituted a fist fight for the cock
fight, made solitary raid, and left a
large part of the husky male popula-
ton MANNED and bruised. He also fill
ed the county Jail.
In fact, it is agreed that there never
was anything in Maine just like the
cooking main that made Sheriff George
Q. Athorne of York county famous. 1t
was one of those cases in which the un-
expected happened, and while the sher-
iff himself regrets the whole affair, the
people of York county, not excepting
most of those who paid from $40 to $25
for their evenings sport, are very well
satisfied. Every man of them has a
wholesome respect for the big sheriff,
who in three months has demonstrated
that he means to carry out the law as
he knows it.
He had only been about six weeks in
office when the attempt was made to
pull off" the cooking main in York
village. That there would be any in
reference never occurred to anybody
connected with it. For many years
there had been at frequent intervals
cock fights in different parts of the
county, and those who attended them
thought no more about the law than
persons in Maine who sell liquor.
This particular main was to surpass
all others. Among the sporting frater-
nifty it appears to have been adver-
did not hear about it until the night it
was to take place, and even then did
not know where the cockpit was to be
located. Among the owners of the birds
in Portsmouth, n. H, and in Maiden
and Boston it was looked forward to
as one of the most important sporting
events of the year, but what really
happened proved much more interest
ing, and the sports who felt that they
were not in danger of losing business
or social standing were perfectly sat
fsfied to pay the price asked by the
most unique court that ever sat in the
Pine Tree state. Aside from the fight
In which the sheriff, single handed
knocked out eight men, handcuffed two
others, and arrested eighteen in all
there Were incidents connected with
the affair that will be told in
York county for many a day at the
expense of some of it's most prominent
citizens, for the party was a very Sc
lect one, although large in numbers
and some of the men knocked down by
the sheriff when the fight began had
been among the stanchest of his sup
porters when he was running for office
Was, Chicago Policeman
Less than year ago George o. At
horne was almost unknown outside OF
the village Of Eliot, where he lives, and
the Kittery navy yard, where he once
worked as a machinist Although born
In York county he had been away
from Maine for a number of years
and It was while in the west that he
got his first experience in police duty
Tor which he seems to be so eminently
fitted.
Six feet three inches in height, and
weighing 225 pounds, he is a well pro-
portioned man. whose every movement
Indicates great strength, and a pair OF