Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1920-12-02
BY MEDORA FIELD

Especial Staff Writer for The Tri-Weekly
Journal.)
Everybody knows about Cher
Ami the homing pigeon who, with
one leg shot away, carried the mes
sage that saved the Lost Battalion
from snn;h:lation. Cher Ami was
cited and awarded the Distinguished
Service Cross And almost every
body has heard of Spike" who car
ried the greatest number of messages
over the lines during the fiercest
fighting on the battle front and was
never wounded. But a comparatively
small number Of persons know about
the unique and sometimes spectacu-
lar feats that are being performed
by the pigeons of the Atlanta HON.
ing club.
It has not more than a dozen NOM
bers, some of them new enthusiasts,
while some of them have been raising
homing pigeons for ten years. They
own about 1000 pigeons between
apiece: These birds are trained and
raced from various southern points,
liberating stations they are called.
Within the past year races have been
held from Montezuma. Ashburn, VAL
dosta, Ga, and White Springs,
STd1u6SNlllG, I)dut lily anu VI MY
ers, Fla.
The Atlanta club is allied with the
National Association of Homing Pig
con Fanciers. A great many CLUBS
over the United States are affiliated
with this association and there are
also two other national associations.
Each individual loft is measured by
the official surveyors, who establish
the distances from liberating points
to home lofts.
A long pedigree comes with the
purchase of the more valuable car
riers. Guy T. Tabler has a pigeon
which is a granddaughter of Bullet"
owned by o. w. Anderson, of Fort
Wayne, which flew 1,040 miles in
Abilene Tex, to Fort Wayne in elev-
en- hours and thirty minutes: An
other pigeon making a long distance
record is known as Thomas B, and
is owned by T. B. Brouillette, of
Springfield, Mass. This pigeon e!ge9 tle W
from Denver to Springfield, 1,699
miles, in two days.
DR.. Joe Bomar sold one of his
pedigreed pigeons to "a man in Ha-
vana, and, like the cat, the pigeon
came back in a couple of days, fly
ing across the water-home.
One bird owned by w. j. Stoddard,
chairman of the racing committee,
mas HOWL CVO IIillCS III ollC ooyS anu
repeated the performance ten times.
Other local pigeons have established
long distance records almost . as
startling.
The birds are carried in coops to
the liberating station. An entrance
fee of % cents for each pigeon is
charged. Each owner entering pigeons
| may select or nominate five birds as
possible winners, putting up 81 on
each. If either one of these is the
| first bird home he wins the pool, or
| if one of his 25-cent entrants wins,
then he Was rs per cent of the net
proceeds.
When the pigeons are very small
a tiny bracelet of aluminium, with
| the pigeons name is fastened around
| it's leg Another bracelet, giving it's
countermark or entrance number is
| placed around it's leg just before the
| "take off" The birds are released
| at given moment, with Atlanta, of
| course, as the point in view.
Liberated, the pigeons fly upward
| and circle around for a few min
utes, getting their sense of direction.
| Presently a pigeon drops out, then
another and another, each making a