The Washington herald., 1907-08-04
By SEUMAS MACMANUS.

Correspondence Of The Washington Herald
Mount Charles. County Donegal, Ire
land. July 23.-The royal sport of cock
fighting is still, despite restrictive laws,
as persistent in ireland as is bull fight
ing in Spain. Though the threatened
punishment for indulging in the forbid
den sport is very heavy. mains" or
pitched battles, in which these most mill
tant birds are the eombatants. are yet
not at all uncommon. When in these
battles birds from opposing counties are
arrayed. the affairs assume something
like international Importance Antrim
faced Kerry the other day on the famed
Curragh of Kildare. So well was this
matter arranged and so well were coun-
sells kept, that though hundreds Of Chris
tians were on the ground from both Ker-
ry and Antrim. not a single policeman
turned UP to mar the proceedings. The
Antrim cock crowed over the field Of
slaughter-for ne won four out of seven
fights. The North was ever hardy.
But the people of the midIands are, as
they ever were, the most ardent cookers.
Here in report I have taken from a
daily paper of this week: About 400 peo-
pie from Roscommon, Fermanagh. Mon
agnan. and Caven assembled on the
shores Of Lough Erne at Foxes Ferry
on Friday night about midnight. carry
ing a number Of game cocks with them.
Fifteen police came on the scene. and
chased the spOrtsmen down the lake to
Derryoone, where the cock-fghters start
ed toward BallyeonnelI, and landed on a
small island, leaving the police on the
mainland to look on Immediately one
Of the c0nsta bles diyested himself OF his
clothing. swan the channel, and endeav-
Ored to commander a boat on the isl
and rush was made at him. and ne
was obliged to return TO the main body.
Another method of effectlng a landing
was now adopted by the police. BY means
OF ladders a kind OF pOntoon bridge was
constructed. and by its aid the constables
managed to reach the island just as the
first main was completed. The crowd
again scattered all being now sorry and
sorefooted. They had completed a rec
ord march OF twenty-fouT hours, and COW
cred a distance Of between thirty and
forty miles The ardor Of the cOckfght-
ers is only equaled by that OF the police -
II Mark Twain did not steal the 950.00C
worth OF Jewels from Dublin Castle-and
suppose one should not doubt the word
Of a gentleman-then 50 much the worse
for Mark. Whosoever helped himself to
them was a utilitarian Lying up in a
safe in the Bedford Tower portion OF
Dublin Castle. growing moldy with the
centuries. they were useful neither to
King nor country-as valueless even as
the animated ornaments that. TO the
countrys grief. ill the same castle The
only kick the Dublin Castle officials can
in reason make is to protest that there
should have been honor among thieves.
They'll manage. though. TO survive this
blow. AS for the country, the only re-
pToach that it casts upon the robber is
shat he did not steal the castle also
Everlasting fame and country's bless
ing await some one Of your more ambi-
tiOus American burglars. BY the way.
the papers help to bruit il that the castle
jewels were taken by a mere professional
who burgled for livelihood. All circum-
stances point TO the conclusion that the
jewels were obtained by some one init
mately acquainted with the inside work