The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1907-03-10

Z
/ his English brother In spite Of a test
match between packs of English hounds
I and packs OF American. each side still
clings to its original view.
/ A. Henry Higginsou, Of Boston, master
| Of the Mtddlesex Hunt, says the Boston
/ Herald. Is easily the foremost champion
/ Of the English hound on this continent
/ the fact that he is one Of the best known
/ and hardest followers OF the hunt giving
! the weight Of experience to his opinion.
I have no use at all for the American
/ hound, says BIr. Higginson. THE Amer
/ lean hound Is uncomfortable, he has no
! manners. and he is just as likely to run
+ on rabbit line or a mouse line as on the
\ fox"
! AT his kennels at Lincoln Mr. Higgin-
son has more than fifty couple Of English
! hounds. They constitute the pack OF the
/ MiddleseX hunt. bat were bought by Mr.
/ HigginsOn in England or bred by him
/ from English stock Even the famous
/ pack that Foxhall Keene formerly hunted
/ did not win the reputation acquired in
/ recent years by that Of the Mlddlesex.
They are, too, comparatively recent
! acquisition. In May Of 1897 the Middle
/ sex hunt possessed a pack Of Ridgeway
/ beagles, and Mr.. Higginson and r. B
/ Baker were joint masters. In those days
/ the AIiddlesex Hunt was in its infancy,
it had not begun TO approach its present
/ enviable position. But four years later
"a start in this direction was given, when
/ the hunt was recognized by the National
/ Steeplechase and Hunt Association. This
/ recognition was followed by the purchase
/ of fo1h0unds to replace the beagies In
\ 1902 But the American hounds did not
/ satisfy the master Of the MiddIesex Hunt
/ Mr. Higgiuson went g. England for his
/ hounds. securing them in 1903 from the
/ Brookside pack. It was all drag hunting
/ around Lincoln and Waltham in those
days, and he hunted the pack himself
/ So we'll pleased was he with the English
/ hounds that IN the year following he i'm
/ ported others from G. W b. Fernie. Of
/ LCicegtershire, and since that time most
/ Of the AliddIesex pack have come from
Mr.. Fernie's kennels. Twenty more cou-
/ pie were brought over in August Of the
same year. and VIII Ryder. man OF
some repute IN the English hunting field,
came 10 the Aiiddlesex Hunt TO act as
[ Whipper-in- Owing to an attack Of ty-
phOid. Mr.. HigginsOn was compelled TO
/ rellnqulsh the duties Of master for that
/ season, and the pack was hunted by Mr..
/ Chamberlain as master
/ The Meadow Brook Hunt had been gain
1 ing a great reputation during these years
| under the mastership Of Foxhall Keene
/ ana when Mr. Keene gave up the pack
! the MiddleseX Hunt finally obtained three
I or four OF his best hunters. and secured
! the services Of Mr.. Keene's huntsman
/ Robert CoteswOrth, who had been with
/ the Belvoir, Adhesion. and Brocklesby
/ hunts in England. with more than thin 3
/ years experience in the field 10 his credit
/ During these months the Middlesex
Hunt was steadily growing, aud so was
/ the pack. Mr.. HigginsOn obtained more
/ hounds from Mr.. Fernie during 1893. and
/ fourteen couple had been bred al his ken
/ nels from English stock. So good was the
strain and so high was the class Of some
\ Of the individual hounds that a number
were exhibited at the New York. Long
/ Island. and Boston dog shows, and they
carried all before them.
Hunting in Virginia.
/ During the last four years drag hunting
| has been the order only for q portion of
the weeks work, the majority OF the runs
being In pursuit Of Reynard himself The
country around Lincoln and Waltham is
/ by no means an easy country 10 hunt over
+ There is considerable wire and lots Of tim
/ Der. and 1t is not sufficiently open to give
La fair run. In fact. the hunt seldom sees
/ the quarry and kills are seldom register
I ed. Yet three kills were registered last
year. and the AIiddIesex again had two e
J their credit during the season just closed
/ There is no finer country to hunt over
/ in America than in Virginia" said Mr..
I4igeirs"n. Il came back on February
= from hunting the AIiddlesex pack there,
la number of members Of the hunt being
with me. We hunted in the Piedmont
/ Valley. making Leesburg our headquar-
/ ters having gone south at the invitation
I OF the Piedmont and LOudOun hunts. II is
/ a fine open country. Get a fox going, and
| he viii run there. We have had an unin-
terrupted run Of nearly an hour after a
\ fox in Virginia, which is something that
would be impossible in this section"
/ The AIiddIesex hunts at home four DAYS
/ a week Mondays, Wednesdays, Thurs
/ days. and Saturdays. from March Is "a
/ May 30. and from August Is 10 October /.
| But Mr.. Higginson, the master, is so de-
voted to this king of sports that he cannot
/ see the winter months pass by without a
run 10 hounds. So for the past two years
/ he has taken the pack to Virginia for
three months OF hunting, going there first
/ in 1895 in response TO an invitation from
I the Piedmont and Loudoun hunts With
( the Nidd!esex Hunt TO the south went
I J. I Chamberlain. John Casweu. Leonard
] Ali r. Mrs Tobr, Mention on7
/ Mrs. Mortimer Smith, Richard R. Bar
rett, of Concord, and a BOstonian from
/ the Norfolk Hunt
MALBORN C. RICHARDSON.
( Few runs of English packs furnish the
sport that the AIiddlcsex Hunt enjoyed
| in Virginia. II was no child's play, but
stiff. hard work, the sort of work that is
dear 70 the bred-in-the-bOne sportsman.
Mr.. HIgginsOn had a couple of losses. the
worst in negotiating fve-fOOt seventeen
snake fence. Although the spill knocked
out a weak shoulder, he was in the saddle
I for the next meet
Fine Run for Reynnrd.
I'VE had one of the best runs Of the
season on Monday, December To-" said
/ Mr.. Higginson, and it will illustrate
what sort of sport the Virginia country
offers to the hunters The first fox that
day gave US a good chase for two or
three miles, but the second furnished the
sport of the meet. Il gave us a grand
run of fully fifty minutes over the finest
country imaginable. The second kill OF
our stay In Virginia was made on very
rainy day. The hounds. after swimming
Goose Greek twice, finally got away from
US. The last time they crossed the creek
they were only forty yards behind the
fox. and 4 Kill seemed certain if he did
not get to earth pretty soon When they
came in they were covered with blood
and other signs showed a kill for GER
tain"
Although his pack were at disadvan-