Perth Amboy evening news., 1906-02-05
COCK FIGHT
DREW CROWD
Story Published of Event Which
Took Place Near This City
Saturday Might.

which it publishes This afternoon:
A|puIauding with the bloodthirsty
~herceness of their depraved natures
TWO hundred or more s~o-called sports
surrounded q cauvas-lined pit, pitch
ed in "a roomy barn on the outskirts
Of Perth Amboy. Saturday night, and
saw seven royally-bred game cocks
go TO their deaths with all the grim
determination and splendid game
ness the breed Of fighting birds is
so famous for the world over.
II was a carnival Of h-eartlessness
blood and brutality such as a half
civilized Filipino would not have
gloried in more than The gore-bespat-
tered brutes who cheered the hutter-
ing, gaping bipeds as they received
the death thrust of the wicked inch
and a quarter gaffs sharpened to a
needle point.
The canvas was spotless white be-
fore the battle started, but was soon
as bloody as a shambles. And the
gore the better pleased were the
low-browed spectators. who smoked
laughed and went into frenzied &C.
staeies owe any particularly notice
able show of gameness on the part of
a bird. They applauded the brain
thrust Of the sharp, cruel gaff, the
heart blow that pierced the vitals of
the crimsoned victims, and cheered
rs reeling, dying cocks feebly croak-
ed their last crow, game as a pebble
10 its last heart throb.
Every spectator had a wad of mon
ay big enough to choke a hippopota-
mus, and they all bet on their favor
tie with the reckless abandon of an
insurance president. Probably at no
previous affair of the kind was there
ever so much money in evidence.
1t was a cooking main between
Staten Island and New Jersey birds
FOR $1,000 a side. But the betting
IN each battle amounted to a much
Tiger sum than the purse.
The main was not finished until
he early morning hours, and result
ID in favor of New Jersey, the fowls
from that state winning by four bat
les to three.
Seven pairs of birds were weighed
IN and a finer buch of feathered game
aocks was never shown. New York
rules we're agreed upon, with steel
gaffs an inch and a quarter long. Joe
3ebaum handled the Staten Island
birds, while Patsy Frawley took care
If the Jersey fowls.
The first pair to be thrown in the
pit were a black-red for Staten Island
nd a black benny for Jersey, weigh
ng five pounds fourteen ounces.
The two heelers backed away with
heir birds to the opposite side of the
pit. The crowd settled down and the
lace grew comparatively quiet. A
moments pause and the two birds
we're released. Flop, smash. they
anne together, their deadly weapons
ringing steel on steel like Cuban ma
'netes. Both birds we're hurled back
leveral feet by the headlong impe-
us. There was no hesitation or faint
1~eartedness there. Up and at it
gain, beak and eyes always TO the
front, they sank their gaffs into each
)ther's breasts, and backs, taking
heir horrible punishment with no
sign of pain. Feathers cut and torn
away by the steel weapons rose in lit
lie clouds with every blow. A splash
If the crimson sprang out, a red med
Il of heroism. A fierce rush, a swift
.1oeh o,l Tho ho+r1a nc Cvr9u Tho
black benny lay dead with the spur
lriven into it's brain. With the steel
still in its head, the black benny sank
o the canvas, while the victor ech-
bed a crow OF victory, until pulled off
~ its handlers.
The next pair, a black-red tassell,
rom Staten Island, and a gray of
New Jersey, fought at four pounds
en- ounces for twenty vicious min
utes. Both were game to the core and
bleeding from every part after the
first four minutes of fighting. The
gray played for the red tassell's head
and had the Staten Island bird al
most blind until the final thrust of
the gaff in the neck severed the wind
pipe. He. like the other loser, was
taken from the pit and thrown into a
corner, while the sports waited for
me next pair.
A black red and a Jersey pyle at
four pounds fourteen ounces were the
e on the schedule. They battled
twenty-siX minutes. the pyle winning
with a pierce to the black-red's heart
A spangle of Staten Island defeated
4 brown-red, of New Jersey, at five
pounds five ounces, after nine min.
lies of hard fighting. Both bird;
vent TO the floor time and time agar
rom the cruel blows delivered. The
spangle finally tore the brown-red's
throat open and the bird fell exhaust.
I'd in the canvas pit.
A speckled gray of New Jersey de.
feated a black-red of Staten Island
after eleven minutes of fighting al
five pounds three ounces Ginger. OF
Staten Island, a four-pound fifteen
ounce speckle. defeated a black-red.
OF New Jersey. in seventeen minutes.
A light gray, of New Jersey. won
the rubber of the seven battles from