The Indianapolis times., 1928-12-31
TALKING
IT OVER
WITH JOE WILLIAMS

"a y | L
4 IN should stop writing about
Havana. After all a few other ad-
venturesome explorers may have
made the trip before me. I do seem
to recall some vague historical rel
erence to a landing made by tel-
low named Columbus a few CEN
turies ago.
But in those days Havana did not
have cock fights. At any rate there
is no record of them. I think a,
cock fight is worth seeing. Nor do
I believe a capacity for thrilling to
the swift, deadly action a fight be-
tween game birds produces should
automatically brand you a barbar-
ian. In many places it does.
Il II
Cock fighting is lawful in Cuba.
On three days a week the pits in
Havana are open from in the
morning until 6 in the evening.
For the most part the arena is
crowded, mostly by natives. A
noisy, restless excitement rules.
The atmosphere is not wholly un-
like fight night at the Garden.
It
THE SPECTACLE IS LESS SICKENING
THAN STIRRING. THERE IS LITTLE
BLOOD. WITH ONE SWIFT STROKE
USUALLY THE FIGHT is ENDED. AND
IF THE VICTORIOUS BIRD BELONGS TO
THE ARISTOCRACY OF THE BREED HE
e-Ta T1(
EMIT MILITANT. RINGING COCKLE-
DOODLE-DO.
THE birds seem to have an honest
Il enthusiasm for the wars. To
them the flash of needle-like spurs
appears to have a stimulating ef-
fect-something that changes them
from mere feathered fowl to he
roic characters in a primitive drama.
Maybe that's why I didn't find it
hard to sit through the cock fights
the birds seemed to be having SO
much genuine fun.
The birds are carefully trained
for fighting One phase of their
training is .ggestive of the road
work a prize fighter does. For
hours at time they are kept
runring' up and down a long
boarded trench. This tOughenS
muscles and increases legagility.
THE FIGHTS ARE CLOSELY SUPER
E1SED. AND IT ISN'T OFTEN THAT THE
ROOSTER RACKETEERS SUCCEED IN
PUTTING A MATCH IN THE BAG. THIS
CAN BE DONE BY TANdPERING WITH
THE SPURS, APPLYING CERTAIN
STRINGENT LIQUID DESIGNED TO
HARDEN THE BODY OF THE BIRD. AND
BY OTHER TRICKERIES OF SIMILAR
NATURE.
DIG Birds are not sent against
ID little birds. The weight must
balance or come within a few
ounces. Once in great while a
bird will refuse to fight. Instead he
will turn and run frenziedly around
the ring. But this doesn't happen
more than three or four times in a
seasons fighting.
Il
Considering the ease with which
th% birds are developed they COM
nAnd big fees. Any kind of a
fighting bird will bring its owner
S1OO. While purchase prices of
$500 are not at all uncommon,
SOrne birds have brought as high
as $4,000.
IN ONLY ONE SORDID PARTICULAR
DID COCK FIGHTING REMIND ME OF
PRIZE FIGHTING. THIS HAD TO DO
WITH THE GREED OF THE HANDLERS.
WHEN A BIRD IS CRIPPLED. BUT
STILL CONSCIOUS, HIS HANDLER MAY
STOP THE FIGHT AND CONCEDE DE-
FEAT. MOST OF THEM DO.
II Il Il
DUT there are others, desperately
Id hopeful that the bird may in
some way execute a finishing stroke,
who defer the surrender until the
last dying gasp chills the air. This
Of course is barbarous and to find
a modern parallel in sport it is
necessary to turn to the fight ring
where flouriShes the fight manager
who sends his battler out, senseless
and reeling, with these warm words
of encouragement dining in his
ears:
Finish him up, kid, ne can't hurt
US"
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