THE MIKE KEARNEY FOWL

Without a question or a doubt the fowl fought by Mike Kearney of New York beginning back in the 1870's and ending with his death in 1916 were the gamest fowl ever in this country. Everyone seems agreed on that part of the Kearney story but there the agreement stops with a snap. For the past 15 years or more we have devoted no end of time trying to find out for sure what the Kearney fowl are or were and we have arrived exactly nowhere.

No two people we have ever talked to have the same story on them and we have talked to and questioned at least a hundred if not more. Many of these men who were alive and active in the game not only at that time but were well acquainted with Kearney and some of them fought against him. Probably old A.P. O'Conor did more to mess up the story of the Kearneys than any other 50 men in the country. He just wrote or told what he wanted to tell without the slightest regard for the truth at any time. Its a damn shame but there is nothing can be done about it now.

For years it seemed generally agreed that Kearney came over from Ireland in 1870 and brought with him both Brown Reds and Whitehackles. But there are many who right today insist Kearney brought with him nothing but some very poor Brown Reds. Others claim the Brown Reds he brought were the gamest and stoutest fowl ever to land in America. "Quills in their wings as big as pencils, no end to their gameness" etc. etc. Several we have talked to agree that Kearney did not bring any Whitehackles with him or get any from Ireland after he got here. Still others contend he sent his uncle Mike Quinn to Ireland several times to bring back specimens of both families.

One man who knew Kearney very well tells us he never had ANY good fowl, either Brown Reds or Whitehackles until after he fought Denny Mahoney a main near N.Y. years and years ago. After he got fowl from Mahoney and those were the famous Kearney Whitehackles? One thing seems certain he did have good Whitehackles but where they came from no one seems to know but everyone is ready and willing to argue until hell freezes over that he knows without any question marks. A departed friend of ours stopped to see Mike Kearney many years ago and asked him this question. "Mr. Kearney would you show me one of your pure Kearney Whitehackles?" Kearney told him he would, reached in a feeding coop and brought out a PEACOMB cock and handed him to him. "That's one he said." Well, if there is one thing all the students of Kearney history agree on it is that the Kearney Whitehackles were a strictly straight comb family of fowl. Yet Kearney himself shows one as a pure Kearney and he has a pea comb or what we call a roundhead. With such contradictions as that to contend with, how in the world is anyone to get the straight dope on any fowl?

Kearney as far as we can learn ran a saloon and had no where to raise or care for fowl on his own property but in back of his saloon. He went to work for Duryea at Red Bank, N.J. and was in almost complete charge of the Duryea fowl due to the fact Duryea was often gone for a year or more at a time - in Europe. The story goes that Duryea had a family of Boston Roundheads he got from a Mr. Coolidge of Boston where they were well known. When Kearney went with Duryea he took his Whitehackles or some of them, with him and raised them on the Duryea estate. He bred them straight and he also crossed them with the Boston Roundheads and these were named by A.P. O'Conor and NO ONE ELSE - Duryea Whitehackles. It is claimed Kearney did not take any of his Brown Reds chickens of any kind and forbade him to bring any of them on the place. So -- Kearney turned most of the Brown Reds over to John Madden of Hamburg Place in Ky. From time to time Kearney would get some of them back from there to fight or breed, But Madden was said to have maintained the bulk of the family on his stud farm in Ky, until his death not so many years ago.

It has been said that around N.Y. city when Kearney was active some cockers would literally have given their right arm to get hold of a Kearney Whitehacle but very few of them ever got one or saw one unless a main Kearney was fighting. They say he actually didn't even want people to see them, let alone get hold of any. While Kearney was a famous cocker and had as game fowl as ever lived the truth is he was not such a successful cocker as many now imagine him to have been. One man we know contend Kearney lost more mains that any man who ever lived. Whether that is true or not we are not prepared to say. Old O'Conor used to say all the mains Kearney fought and lost were Kearneys and that the ones Duryea fought, with the assistance of Kearney were Duryeas and he won them all for thirty years. That of course is just more O'Conor hooey. They tell the story around Albany, N.Y. of Kearney fighting John Hoy a main which as we know now recall was won by Hoy 6-1. After it was over Kearney is said to have told Hoy his cocks were sick. "Your damn right they are sick now" said Hoy "but they looked OK to me before the main started." And from what they say Hoy was the kind of man who would have replied in about that manner.

Our own opinions is that Kearney fought chickens and lots of them long before he ever met Duryea. After they became associated they fought them together and at times when Duryea was away he fought some for both of them and at other times he fought them for himself. And in them they used straight ones of both the Bostons and the Kearneys and crosses of the two families. And probably Kearney used some of the Brown Reds in his own fighting, that is if its true that Duryea wanted nothing to do with that family. Of course O'Conor claims the Duryea were part Kearney Brown Reds but the less attention paid to ANYTHING O'Conr ever said or wrote the better off and more on the beam anyone would be. O'Conor would lie when the truth would answer better and that is not an exaggeration. In fact its doubtful if he ever saw Mike Kearney or his fowl. He told a long story of discussing the breeding of his fowl with Kearney and the general opinion is that Kearney discussed breeding of his own fowl with only a handful of intimates. And we believe that. At the time O'Conor tells of his conversation with him O'Conor would have been a punk of 18 and Mike his usual crabby self so we can just laugh that one off.

Still another man we know and one who was active in the Kearney era for many years claims Kearney did not bring any Brown Reds over from Ireland that he got them from a man named McCann of Albany, N.Y. So you can take your choice of what he brought with him and what he got after he was here. Certain it is that he was noted for the gameness of his fowl, whatever they were and wherever they came from. And at that time or rather the time Kearney was active and it covered a wide span of years, his vicinity (N.Y.); as noted for the gameness of their fowl. And it has been stated by many who SHOULD know that 90% of the game ones around thereat that time either were straight Kearney stuff or crosses of them.

Judge Wells story of these fowl is well written and considered by many to be absolutely authentic. Others claim its ALL wrong, none of it right! Take your choice. Back in those days cockers around N.Y. and in and around Boston considered they were very smart if they could keep the breeding of their fowl to themselves. Everything was a secret!

Many claim today that the breeding of the Hatch fowl were nothing more or less that a Kearney Whitehackle-Kearney Brown Red cross. Mr. Hatch without being asked, the year before his death and while attending the Claymore tournament in N.Y. state had this to say to this writer - Fulldrop "You have said some very nice things about me in your paper and I appreciate it. I am going to tell you how my fowl were started. I got some green legged fowl from a man on Long Island named (as we now recall) Lynch. I suppose you have heard of the Genet Pyle owned by Genet a member of the Tweed gang years ago. His Pyles were well known but few people seemed to know he also had a strain of Black Reds. I got one of the Black Red cocks, crossed him on the green legged fowl and those were my foundation stock. Of course I have added lots of new blood since then. Hatch told us that personally and with our asking him for any information at all. And yet I can name you 25 men who will claim its a lie. So how can one gather any accurate data on the fowl of others. Its fun to try but it simply can't be done. Ed.

(taken from Cocker's Gazette, Issue No: 46, 1988).

RADIOS

By Johnny Jumper

“Cecil brought me a rooster to train one time…and this rooster was very noisy. He was happy, happy all the time. So, I trained him and uh I’d exercise him and he was just so noisy. He had a great mental attitude. So, I named him Radio. I gave him the name Radio cause he talked all the time. And that…that name has stuck with those chickens since 1962. And course people call “you the man that invented uh come up with the radios?” and I say well I come up with this one rooster you know and so I bred him to 1 kelso hen then I bred him back to 7/8 of him and that’s how the…and I still have that family to this day. We call them Radios but they are red chickens with yellow legs. Their basic bloodline was 1/2 whitehackle I was telling you about and 1/2 murphy. They come from Mr. Murphy up in New   York. That’s what the rooster was made up out of, but we still have them today and they have such a great mental attitude. That’s so important…the mental attitude.”

Blue Legged Radio

by Marty Dutcher

The origin I’m about to tell you is from the originator direct so any disagreements with this should be written to me direct, as they did to the Marsh Butchers. I’m not writing a story about what someone else told me. You are getting it from the horse’s mouth as it was originated here on my two farms, one farm for breeding the other for experimenting.

It all started out back in the early 80’s when I was living in the Philippines. I saw Jumper Radios being fought in the biggest and toughest pits on all the islands, (Leyte, Luzon, and Negros Oriental) and I wondered where they came from because only the Chinese and rich Filipinos could afford them, not the so called back yard breeders – and they (Radios) were winning much more than their share so if you had money enough to bet on them you would win nearly 75% of the time. But if in a Bacolod City Pit be careful, because in this area thye had 90% Greys and the Greys by the rich cockers were hard to beat and they cuold of been Jumper Greys, maybe bought from Ray Al;exander because Ray came yearly to the Philippines at that time and was a personal friend of Jorge Araneta who owned the largest pit in Manila, which I lived only a short distance from. Many of the best birds in the Philippines came from the USA as well as Richard Bates, an American cocker, living in Cavite and tough to beat.

I decided when I returned to the USA during the molt season I’d try to buy a Radio trio. I inquired where these Radios came from and everybody told me they were Jumper Radios. So what diid I do as soon as I returned to the USA, I called Jumper and made an appointment to meet him at his farm on a Sunday afternoon. I was not only impressed with him and his set up but his birds also, so I made an offer to buy. Well, fortunately he refused to sell me any in the USA unless I payed him up front and only take delivery to my farm in the Philippines. Well this a no-no for any American cocker because my import permit cost thousands and he knew I would not accept such a ridiculous offer so I left without any Radios. My intent was to take only the so called pure Radio eggs to the Philippines and hatch them in the very hot country they were going to fight in.

I inquired at Clear Creek II Pit and Pumpkin Valley and was told that a cocker named Dennis Oakley was beating every one with his strain of Radios. So the following Sunday I went to Dennis’ yard and was really impressed with his Radios that he sparred for me. It boiled down to two pure Bull stags, so he knowing his fowl, I asked him to pick the one he thought would make the best brood cock. It ended up dark red and white legged. It had large diameter legs and the upper part of the leg was really muscled and right away I knew he had plenty of lower power. His eyes were big, his wings tough in back and the spurs were very low on his legs. I asked him to show me his pure hens and pullets and I picked out two of the smallest pullets he had, as in the Philippines many of the Radio hens were geting entirely too big with age, something that I refised to breed to.

This was two years before Dennis became cocker of the Year at Cooper State. Thank goodnes Jumper didn’t sell to me because every bit of my foundation Radios have turned out to be superior – which I accept as pure luck. God was on my side that Sunday.

Well, as the years passed Dennis Oakley became Cocker of the Year at Clear Creek II, our local pit, which is tough and if you don’t believe me try it or ask Oscar, Ray Alexander, Carol NeSmith and the top cockers in Alabama and Tennessee. Well to face the facts, here is the same blood that I’m sitting on that Dennis beat the big boys with so I was smart enough to ask the genetic experts how to breed them. I had already asked Harry Parr, after reading his book on “The Breeding of Game Fowl” and I asked Dr. Cocker as well as Dr. Goan of the University of Tennessee and also M.L. Fernando a genetic expert in the Philippines, and Gerald Ware of Arkansas. I knew how to maintain the pure family but I wanted to set a family from a cross because I had so called pure families of Wm McRae Hatch and YLH, GLH, which I understand from Carol NeSmith of Black Water Farms were Sweater McGinnis Hatch and I bred both of Carol’s YLH and green legged Hatch to my Radio cock. I have plenty of tyson single mate pens so I put a pure Radio hen in pen number one and in pen number two I put my Wm McRae Hatch hen, and in pen number three I put a Ray Alexander pure LRH hen, in pen number four I put a pure Carol NeSmith GLH hen, in pen number five I put a pure Carol NeSmith GLH hen, in pen number six I put a pure Oakley Kelso hen. So I bred pure to pure on six hens hoping that if I did get the “nick” I could get repeats. I moved my Radio cock everyday.

Well, much to my surprise, out of two of my WmMcRae hens, when her pullets were four months old they had blue legs which I understand now but didn’t at the time until Gerald Ware and Harry Parr explained recessive genes and XX and XY genes. So naturally I bred back all my Blue legged daughters to their father a white legged Radio but much to my surprise still only half my pullets came blue legged. So I did it the years of 1988 thru 1991 and in conjunction with breeding back all the pullets ot their father after the 4th generation, I bred a blue legged Radio stag to a blue legged Radio pullet and I’m now convinced it is from the Genetic trait Blue to Blue that usually produces Blue and has been set as a family as I’m getting repeats and have decided now to produce Hybrids that would be a 3-way cross consisting of 1/2 Radio 1/4 Hatch and 1/4 Kelso. I’ll have 64 single mate pens all breeding hybrids because the best combination could be 1/2 Radio 1/4 Hatch and 1/4 LRH. If I had a Harry Parr Grey stag I’d use him on top of my other breeds including my pure Radio pullets.

I saw a show of cocks fight at Clear Creek I that was only 1/4 Grey and he beat them all going 5-0 and ended up with the por. Ray Alexander did the impossible and went 11-1 in the 12-cock short knife in the toughest pit in the world using Harry Parr’s pure Grey cocks on top of Ray’s pure Democrat hens. I’ll try to catch him some day using Harry Parr’s pure Grey cocks top of my pure Radio hens also on my 1/2 Radio 1/2 LRH hens. I have never had any 4-way crosses on my yard period. That’s what they have in the Philippines and many don’t know it but when American cocker’s imported battle cross fowl into the Philippines for a specific derby, many of them imported a 3-way or 4-way cross, something that I have never ever used for breeding.

If the Lord is willing and the creks don’t go dry, I’ll be in Mexico with my Blue Legged radios and crosses in 1992. So I have a lot of people to thank because it was pure luck on my part and I fel that most the credit goes to the most famous breeders of alltime, the great Wm McRae. He put something in his Hatch blood that was instrumental in getting blue elgs because my pure hens and their daughters had greenish legs with a blue tint. Please do not misunderstand me as it makes no difference to me what color his legs are as I had one coming one leg white and one leg blue and they are barn burners but I really believe by using this Blue Legged Radio cock in producing a two or three way cross, could and should, make the best battle fowl. And once you hit the “nick” be satisfied and make repeats the way.

No way can I tell you with accuracy what went in this excellent Hatch blood and anyone that tries is completely hear say as all Hatch families have so many different bloods in them I doubt anyone knows. But I do know from experience, that whatever Mr. McRae put into his was the right blood. My opinion is for sure Blue face Hatch and McLean Hatch, because a lot of the offspring had greenish blue tint on their legs. So my expectations was to experiment and brred for 3-way battle fowl only, as it was pure luck how I got a true fmily of Radios. I started out only trying to get a battle cross of 1/2 Radio 1/2 Wm McRae and after much experimenting found the right combination. Now after four generations was a 1/2 + 1/2 and I was smart enough to produce this end of it not as a family and have found out that the blood from a 3-way cross is the best for battle fowl. Without the family to begin with you can’t get the 3-way cross. Remember, it’s very dangerous using Hatch blood as a cross, as there are many, many Hatch families that are croses to begin with so don’t give up, try them all. I have never once bred a brother to a sister so Ishould not end up with a bag of worms and many unknowns. Many cockers who think they have a 2-way cross probably have a 3-way cross.

So I will end this true Radio story by admitting it was pure luck and admit it was a team effort not by me alone and hopefully it can be one of the best pure families that you can cross to your best families and end up being some of the best battle folw of the 1990’s. Forget about the 1960’s, as competition today is by far the toughest ever. And hopefully they will not do to this breed what they did to the famous Marsh Butchers and stil call them Marsh Butchers. Come see me and I’ll show you the “proof of the pudding.” Good luck!

Hulsey Fowl

The E.H. Hulsey Fowl

Their start began prior to J.W.’s employment with Mr. E.H. Hulsey, Mr. Pipes was breeding and fighting the Barnett Wonders fowl and was very successful with them. In fact he stated that these were the best cutting fowls he owned.

Mr. Pipes had contracted to walk some cocks for John Madigin. One of these cock must have been exceptional as Mr. Madigin urged or suggested that Mr. Pipes breed the cock if he desired. Mr. Pipes bred the cock to a Barnett Wonders hen and raised six stags and six pullets. Note – These were all marked “out and out”. Mr. Pipes later was employed by Mr. E.H. Hulsey to feed and manage the Seven Acre Farm, bringing along the stags and pullets of the Barnett Wonders -Claret cross.

Mr. Hulsey at this stage of his cocking career was sold on the P. Dixon Travelers fowl. It was with these same fowl that Mr. Pipes fed and conditioned in his first main, and won for Mr. Hulsey.

The following season the six Claret-Barnett, as cocks were used in a main. In fact the P. Dixon Travelers were down 5-0. When Pipes started bringing in the Claret Barnett cocks and they won the main by winning six straight fights.

Liking their style and cutting ability, Mr. Pipes bred their hen sisters to a Roundhead cock from Vincent Hotines. This cock was the “Newell” yard of the Allen Roundheads cock and a many time winner. These were of the “Cripple Tony” infusion that Burnell Shelton made and stated that these were the best of the Allen Roundheads. Mr. Pipes stated that the offsprings from this mating were also marked “out and out”, like thier mothers.

These were the basic bloodlines of the E.H. Hulsey fowls when Henry Wortham came on the scene. That is, half (1/2) Roundhead, quarter (1/4) Claret, quarter (1/4) Barnett Wonders. At this time the fowl came both pea comb and straight comb and one could breed to which ever trait they liked.

When Henry Wortham came under the employment of Mr. Hulsey, the “Hulsey” were beginning to come on the small side and as a result their top weights were being borrowed from friends to complete their tournaments.

Henry saw a great need to raise his own top weights as this was the big weakness in the show of cocks, so it was natural that he was always on the lookout for a broodcock large enough to improve the size of the “Hulseys”. One such cock was a large pumpkin – colored straight comb that he secured from his days in Memphis Charlie Babb. Henry said that he never did know the breeding of this cock and didn’t really care as the cock was everything he wanted in a brood-cock to improve the size of the “Hulseys”. This yard was referred to as the “Babb” yard or family, and many came pumpkin colored.

Henry also made other families of the Hulsey’s, he obtained and bred a cock from Sam Bingham. This was called the “Bonehead” Family which was heavy in Marsh Butcher blood.

Another yard was from a Dark Mahogany red cock from Beaumont, Texas. This cock was heavy in Claret blood and was used by Henry in several important events. It was later used as a broodcock giving rise to what was known as the “Beaumont Yard.”

Another Sub-Family was made from the R.E. Doyle Reds. These were made by Mr. Doyle and not Henry, although Henry furnished Mr. Doyle with brood cocks on several occasions. A good number of this family was used in Florida tournaments after the Walton-Wortham forces joined together after the World War II.

In the later year of the combination of Walton-Wortham forces, Hatch blood was infused.

Today there are very few people as Transplanted Okie says who might have like them like they were in the 1930’s and 1940’s, but at one time the breeders of this grand old strain were men like Maurice White, R.E. Doyle, B.L. Saunders, Al Jacobs and last but not least Norman Paine of Oxford Mississippi. Most are all gone.

well friends, to give credit to transplanted Okies efforts on this article, satisfaction is his to have shared an insight on the history of the grand old strain of the E.H. Hulsey Fowl.

Hennies

Irish Hennies

History of the Irish Hennies!

History of the Hennies i got from Rick Bohn of California Gamefarm: In about the year 1890, there was a strain of Hen Feathered Games, in the hands of cockers in & around Jackson, Michigan. They attracted attention from the fact that they were apparently invincible.

While in the hands of John Neil & the Robson Brothers, they defeated all new comers & most of the old strains, that were represented at that time. In fact, when a well conditioned Hen Cock was theown into the pit, it was almost impossible to get a bet on him.

As to their breeding or origin, they came from a William Blair of Pontiac, Michigan, about 1880. Mr. Blair’s fowl were believed to be descendants of a trio of Hennies, from an old Irishman. This old Irishman brought them over to Quebec in a wicker basket some years prior to this. Old Jack Neil kept Hennies from this stain until his death in 1921.

About twenty-five percent of the Hennie stags will be long feathered until they molt out as cocks, nearly all then become hen feathered. Colors run from brown to black, with generally a few lighter colored feathers in hackle.

As a cross they usually put speed in another strain & produce a large percentage of Hen feathered males. In several instances crosses of Hennie have wiped out strains thought to be invincible.

Hennies

by Paul Dawson (1976)

I have been asked many times how the Hennies were made up – what crosses were used. A Hennie is one of the very few Strains of pure Game Fowls. They were first seen in India and they must have come out of the Jungles as did the Bankiva, and when you cross them they are no longer a Hennie. I believe they are just as the Maker made them. Their traits, their fighting style, their speed and cutting makes them as different from their long feathered cousins as daylight and dark.

I have bred, fought and sold them for sixty five years so I feel I am qualified to write their history.

They came into England in the early fifteenth century and the good British breeders bred them to perfection and at one time they challenged all of England with their Hennies. From the Sports and Mutations they bred them in many different colors, including the beautiful Grouse bred by John Harris. They soon found their way into Spain where the Spanish bred them over their Brown and Grey Spanish. My good friend, the late John Thrasher, bred the Spanish just as they came from Spain and many of them came he-feathered.

The first Hennies were brought inot this country by a party named Story and they proved to be great fighters in short heels as used along the East Coast. Mr. Chester A. Lamb imported the Black Thorne, also the brown Hennies in the early eighties. He bred them for fifty years and sold most all of the old time

breeders, Hennie brood cocks. Mr. Lamb also imported the Kikilia from Ceylon. These he gave to me about a year after he imported them. My first Black Hennies came from Mr. Lamb and I also imported some great fighting Brown Hennies from England.

I never aspired to be a big shot, I bred my Hennies because I love them. I fought a few each year but never enough to make a nuisance out of it. They won for me and for my customers all over the world and after 65 years my Hennies are just as fast, just as rugged as in years gone by and they are bred and fought all over this country. Not in large numbers but by men like me who like them and they win for them.

A good Texas cocker has a Black Hennie cock that has won seven derby fights. Another Texas cocker who went to Copper State last season, saw one of my Black Hennies win his tenth fight in one short pitting.

In the early 30’s I helped W.R. Hudlow run a pit south of Chickasha, Oklahoma. I only had nine Hennie stags and cocks but I won thirty-four fights without a single loss. This was reported to Grit & Steel. These Hennies were fought with any one that could match the weight, the great Sweater McGinnis included.

I married in 1935 and my wife informed me that she didn’t like game chickens. I have five stags ready to fight so I told her if she would go with me and see them fight I would dispose of them. (A man will do funny things when he is in love.)

We were having a brush fight with about a dozen of the local cockers. I matched Sweater with a 4-8 Black Hennie stag; Sweater had a hot Grey Toppie that coupled and wry necked my stag in the first buckle. When I set my stag down for the second pitting he just rolled over on his back but when the Grey reached for a bill hold it sounded like a snaer drum and the fight was over. While I was cutting off the heels my wife asked me for some money to bet on our stags. I won all five fights and the best Pal a man ever had, my wonderful wife Opal.

So as long as I live I will always breed a few of what I believe to be the greatest fighting cocks on earth, Dawson’s Black Hennies.

The gene responsible for the hen feathering is not sex linked and is carried by either the male or female in different strengths. Since this gene is an Incomplete Dominant, Autosomal, about 1/4 of the stags produced from pure Hennies will be long feathered, 1/4 will be hen feathered, and the remainder will be of mixed feathering until their second year when they moult out completely hen feathered.

From an article written in 1891 Hennies were very plentiful in Wales and Cornwall. There is an account of a main fought at Ponterfract (in the country of Yorkshire) in 1670 of hen-cocks v. long feathers. The black hen-cocks of Wales were thought a fit present for a prince, and Pembrokeshire ( a country in Wales) once challenged all England with them.

Hennies are an old-established and well-known variety of British game fowl, from which they differ chiefly in length, form and brilliancy of feather, the plumage of the male resembling that of the hens, hence the name of hen-cocks or hennies, and the more rounded, short and free from sheen or gloss they are in the hackle, cloak, and tail, in short the more hen-feathered they appear in neck, wings, body and tail the more they are entitled to claim purity of breed.

They are generally lighter in bone than other cocks, having light corky bodies that appeared larger than their wieght at the scales, and on that account were never favorite match cocks with the old feeders at the “Cockpit Royal” who preferred cocks with more bone.

GREYS

Chocolate Grey Part 1 by Rex DeRusseau

The first part of this information came directly from Rex DeRusseau, of Kansas, a breeder for Dave Ward. Ward told DeRusseau that his Chocolate Grays were an infusion of four different strains of the old Gray bloodlines; the Madigin (Regular) Gray, The C.C. Cooke’s Perfection Gray, the Deans Gray and the Four Webber Gray, from Bobby Manziel Sr. Manziel and Cooke were partners at this time.

As far as we know, only S.B. Clay, Rex DeRusseau, and Sam Bingham had these Chocolate fowl. They come both straight and pea-combed. They will come with pearl, yellow, green or dark slate colored legs. They have a superb style of fighting, and fight as well pure as they do crossed. They are smart, aggressive, and game to the end.

Chocolate Grey (HOLCOMB STRAIN) Part 2 by Frank Holcomb

We took the above mentioned strain, purchased from Robert Logan, of Mississippi, we then took an Asil hen from Vasco Sibert, of Florida, and bred her under a Chocolate cock (from Logan), called “Number 18”, alwats carrying the same punch – right-out and left-out, and still do until this day.

We then bred this cross to a Lundy Roundhead, from Jimmie Johnson, of Americus, Georgia. We then bred this down until all fowl carried 1/8 Asil and 1/8 Lundy Roundhead. By having from 4 to 6 breeder pens we were able to keep this percentage in all of our Chocolate Gray fowl. We have experimented with other degrees of blood percentages, but found with out a doubt this is the best that we have come upon.

As to my way of thinking, the Chocolate in this confusing blood mixture is the very best that I have ever run upon. It is easily kept in this percentage, but also would be just as easy to unbalance it by putting new blood into them, or by crossing and double crossing.

Chocolate Grey Part 3 by Jim Gooch

As you probably know, I have been advertising 4 Webber Grays for a long time, since 1949. Through friendship, I secured the last of the Manziel 4 Webber Grays the late S.B. Clay had. Clay wanted me to get back into the game chicken business, and told me to look over his place and pick out anything I wanted for brood stock. I saw a well built Gray cock, about 6 years old, that Clay had in a stall, that had bad feet. I told Clay I liked his looks and he was too old to fight, how about that one? Clay gave me a big smile and said, “Jim, do you know what cock that is?” I told him I did not. Then he told me he was the old 4 Webber Gray cock from Manziel, and that this cock had been fought in 5 large tournaments and derbies. This cock was marked all 4 webbs out. Whether Madigin marked them that way, I do not know. I was under the impression that was Manziel’s mark, but Grady Hamilton says it was Madigin’s. Regardless of who marked them, mine were marked that way.

I told Clay I had better get something else as I didn’t want ot get one of his best brood cocks, but he said he wanted me to have the best and to take him, which I did. This was about 1949. He also secured three C.C. Cooke Perfection hens for me to mate with this cock, and I raised quite a few, and gave most of them to Clay, in appreciation for what he had done for me. I bred this 4 Webber cock for three seasons and when the cock became sterile, due to age, I took him to Clay, and Clay told me to destroy the cock, which I could not do, and left him with Clay, and he destroyed the cock.

The year Clay passed away, I gave him 6 Gray stags out of the old 4 Webber cock and he shipped them to the islands. The same year I gave him 4 pullets that he wanted to mate with one of his cocks to ship to LA in exchange for 5 Shake cocks. I asked Clay why the name “4 Webber”, and he told me because they were marked all 4 webbs out.

Mr. Hamilton said there were 3 hens, two went to Henry Wortham and one to Bobby Manziel, Sr. I do know that Bobby Manziel, Sr. had gray fowl that were marked all 4 webbs out, (4 Webbers, as they were called.)

Manziel was associated with C.C. Cooke and they had the fowl from Law, which fowl came from Madigin. I do not know when Manziel became associated with Cooke, but they did fight lots of derbies here at Waco, and Manziel fought lots of Grays when they were fighting as Manziel and Cooke, and anyone that attended these meets knew what records Manziel and Cooke made with their fowl. Both Law and Madigin got gray fowl from Hanky Deans, so evidently they were of the same breeding. It is a fact that Law shipped Gray fowl that were red in color, so after Law got these Grays, no one but Law would know how they were bred.

Bobby Manziel, Sr. was a good friend of Law’s, and am sure they exchanged fowl. Law let Manziel have a red cock, called “Repeater”, to breed over his 4 Webber Gray hens, and lots of white fowl showed up. What this “Repeater” red cock was, I do not know, but probably a Clipper.

As to the $1,000 hen, or Chocolate Hen, it is my understanding this hen went to Dave Ward, in Kansas. She was a gray hen with chocolate colored body, with lots of chocolate color feathers, hence the name Chocolate. The information I have from Kansas, this

Chocolate hen was a Madigin Regular Gray.

Shelly Clay told me that C.C. Cooke gave the grays he had their name, Perfection Grays, and in bloodlines they were the exact breeding of the Regular Grays. Cooke had a cock that he said was what you would call “Perfection” Gray.

I still have some of the 4 Webber Gray blood, and the gray cock that appeared in Grit & Steel some time back, the one that moulted out white is a pure 4 Webber Gray, and he is still on my brood yard, and is out of the old original 4 Webber fowl from Clay.

I had a very lengthy letter from a Red Robertson (or Roberson) that worked for Bobby Manziel at the time he had these 4 Webber Grays. He said the late E.W. Law let Manziel have new blood to use with his 4 Webber Grays, and that Law let Manziel have a red cock to breed over his 4 Webber Grays, and when mated, they produced lots of white stags, and Manziel did not like the white coloring, and gave them to Clay. When in partnership with Cooke, fighting at Dripping Spring Pit in Waco (Clay’s pit during the 1940’s) I did not see any white fowl fought by Manziel. Law didn’t know Manziel gave the fowl to Clay, as he did not like to see them go into other hands. Clay tried the white stags and they were excellent fighters, and this changed Manziel’s mind about not wanting them.

I do not know how Clay got his 4 Webber blood from Manziel, whether he bought fowl or Manziel gave them to him, Clay told me they were the best he had on his yard.

After Clay passed away, I gave Mrs. Clay two of the 4 Webber Gray stags to mate with some highly inbred gray hens she had. The stags from this mating were bought by Mr. Galbreath when he was in Colorado, as I helped Mrs. Clay dispose of her chickens. Galbreath bought both red and grays and when he moved to Orgeon, he got in touch with me and wanted some of the 4 Webber blood. Galbreath won a six cock derby with 6 full brothers of these grays, winning six straight without a loss. He entered another derby and used two of his 3 Spur Grays, and won six straight again. One of Galbreath’s stags was returned to me for a brood purpose, and I have him in a brood pen at this time. Galbreath wrote me he won 10 fights with 8 stags without a loss.

There is no question about it – anyone having this 4 Webber Gray blood, has just about as good, if not better than any fowl.

I have corresponded with Rex DeRusseau, of Kansas, a breeder of Dave Ward fowl, and part of this information came from him, and as he was on the ground, he got the information first hand from those that bred this $1,000 hen, and fought stags from her. He told me the $1,000 hen was in Kansas, and he talked to the man that ran the pit at Beloit, where Dave Ward, a noted cocker in Kansas fought fowl from this Chocolate or $1,000 hen, and Mr. Ward said the Chocolate name given the hen was account, as stated, her feathering. This letter from Rex DeRusseau was dated March 2, 1959, and he had bought Choclate blood from Bob Basham. As to where Mr. Basham got his blood, I do not know.

When I bred the 4 Webbers straight, I did not get anything but gray fowl. I got a stag from Clay, a J.D. Perry Gray, and used him over the gray I had, and that is when I began to get fowl that were red in color. This Perry Gray blood was a perfect blend with my 4 Webber Grays. Don’t anyone write and ask me what are the J.D. Perry Grays, as I do not have this information, and I doubt if Clay knew.

About 1957 I bought two white hens from Bob Basham, went to his place and picked them up. He told me they were Deans Grays, and some come white. These two hens were a little too old to breed, and I only raised one stag to maturity. These hens were mated to a pure 4 Webber Manziel Gray, and this stag came light red, with lots of white in feathering, and looked more like a Whitehackle. A party from St. Louis visited me when I had this stag, and I told him the full history, and that I had this one stag, and as I did not like his color, gave this stag to him, and he was shipped to St. Louis. The white hens did not moult out completely the next season, and were very short feathered, and they would not lay any eggs; so I have them to a Waco friend of mine and told him to take them to the country and turn them loose and they might freshen up and start laying. The last I heard of these two hens, they died and none was raised from them.

If Grady Hamilton is correct about the three hens, Bobby Manziel, Sr. gave or sold the hen to Dave Ward, as that is where the $1,000 hen went to.

The 17 years I have been breeding these 4 Webber Grays, I got one white hen, but the following year after moulting, she turned gray, and is still gray. My old white 4 Webber gray cock is moulting out this year with lots of dark feathers in his breast, and red on his back. He is not solid white at this time.

My pure 4 Webber Grays did not throw any white fowl, but if crossed on the pure Madigin Claret, you would get some white ones. I made this cross of 4 Webber on pure Sam Bingham Red fwol that came out of the Old Cedar cock of Clay’s and this mating produced white dowl, but I discontinued this cross and bred them straight.

What information I have, I got from the late S.B. C.ay, Rex DeRusseau and the late Sam Bingham, and I believe what they say about these Grays. Sam Bingham told me that Madigin had lots of Gray fowl with dark legs, and they came pearl legged, yellow legged and dark legged. Sam ought to know, as he walked hundreds of cocks for Madigin, and had access to his best.

So, summing it all up, the Madigin Regular Gray, Cooke Perfection Gray (bred by C.C. Cooke) and the Deans Grays are close kinfolks, if not exact bloodlines.

English Grey

by Cocking Cousins (1992)

In Britain, there are three well known strains of English Greys. Namely Felix Leach Greys, Colonel Greys, and Hawes Greys. Their may be others but these are the most well known and widespread.

Felix Leach, a racehorse trainer of Newmarket in Southern England, is perhaps the most famous breeder of Grey fowl over here. He took great pride in these fowl during the early and middle part of this century. They were and still are a good fighting bird and are used a lot in English pits. They are around 4 1/2 pounds and are low to medium station, aggressive pressure fighting type fowl, allowing their opponent no room or rest, fighting mainly low to the ground and looking to keep on top their opponent. They need to be dead to be beaten. My knowledge of Colonel Greys is slightly better, having used this strain of Greys myself for a few years. They come slightly bigger than Leach Greys being about 4.10 to 5.4, they are long in body and narrower than most English strains, looking more American in appearance. When right they are very fast, heads high, legs in front type fighters, they are also very aggressive. When “oure” they are prone to man fight, but cross very well for battle. They are light boned birds appearing big for their weight. They perform much better when fought in lean flesh and mature early.

Hawe’s Greys are not so widespread in England. They are very much like the Leach Grey, both in size and fighting style, in fact Felix Leach and Hawes were friends and its likely the strains are of very similar blood.

At a recent sale of gamefowl by Sir Mark Prescot in Newmarket, both Hawes and Leach broodstock along with American strains were sold in good numbers. They also made a high price by English standards. It was quite an event for English gamefowl lovers, being the only public sale of gamefowl in England this century.

I’ve also seen a lot of Black Grey Hennies fought over the years, though the origin of these birds is unknown to me at present, they have been game and always deadly cutters.

Well, thank you for listening, as you can gather we are not done yet on the gamefowl front. I even know of old strains of Creel and Black Toppy that are game and deadly but we will leave it for now.

Ginn Greys

The Ginn Greys were bred and fought by Col. S.A. Ginn, of Georgia, and their blood lines are unknown. Ginn and more used these Greys in some of the biggest and best mains ever fought in the south, and they made a wonderful pit record. They are still extensively bred throughout the country. The males come a light silver grey to a solid white, with hens the same color. Both have straight and peacomb, and some show a small tassel. Red fiery eyes and both yellow and white legs. Run in weight 5:00 to shakes.

Regular Grey

Regular Grey is said to be a combination of three grey families: the Law Grey, the Sweater Gray and the Plain head Muff Grey. Regular Grays come green legged, sometimes with yellow, silver duck wings and straight comb. They are medium to low-stationed, and are known for power and gameness. Breeders note that they are as powerful and dead game as the Blue faces. Because of these, many breeders have made Regular Grey as their foundation line.

JOE HOWELL GREYS: Origin: England.. Bloodlines: Tassel Grey Cock added 1900. Description: Light to dark Grey.

MISSOURI PACIFIC GREYS: Originator, Jack Dycus, Mo., approx. 1907. Bloodlines: Irish Grey, Joe Redmond Grey, Toppie Grey, Warhorse. Description: Dark Grey, dark green legs.

GREY DRAGON MUFFS: Originator, A. L. Shapmore, R. I. Description: 90 percent Muff.

GREY TORMENTORS: Originator, R. R. Raines, Ky. Bloodlines: Four greys, Grimble, Gordon, Ginn, Mortgage Lifter.

GREY SPEEDERS: Originator, E. E. Weller, N. Y. Bloodlines: Bohler Fair-Warhorse X Smoke Ball-Sangamingo Cock.

GINN GREY: Originator, S. A. Ginn, Ga. Description: Light silver Grey to white, red eyes, white and yellow legs, st. and pea comb, some Tassel.

CHAMPION GREYS: Originator, W. H. McCurdy, Ft. Payne, Ala., 1909. Bloodlines: Dark Grey Cock X one Ginn Grey hen,, Cock over daughters and inbred. Description, Grey, dark eyes and legs, st. comb.

HOLLAND GREYS: Originator, C. Holland, Vinemont, Ala. Bloodlines: Black Hennie Cock X Boone-Redmond hen and inbreeding. Description: Dark Grey, lead color legs, st. and pea comb, Grey and black eyes.

Law Greys

Around 1935-1936, Law named his fighitng Greys, Law Greys. In published fight club reports, he used to name his fighters, Canadian Greys. This was so he could remember that some of his fighters were Hanky Dean Greys, bred in Canada for Col. John Madigan. Law Greys were yellow and white legged. All were straight combed. They were the exact same blood as the Red Madigin Clarets.
The Law Greys were infused with O’Connel Albany (hen side) under a Madigan Grey cock. The yellow leg becoming more common with a white leg still expected. A later infusion of McNerney Greys solidified the predominance of yellow legs over the white. Law crossed these on a lot of his other good fowl and advertised and sold a lot of fowl.

A successful cross was the Law greys to Madigan’s Texas Rangers. These came dark legged. Therefore, if you have dark legged Law Greys and the trait is due to Law’s breeding and not some other breeder afterward. Some Boston Roundhead was also bred into some matings.

As cocker legends have it, those Law cocks would wander for a mile and DRAW another cock into them and snuff him of his living chicken. More than a bloody heel they had the DEATH HEEL, really strong hitting roosters.
Harold Brown Greys

Harrold Brown who originated Red Fox Farm and John O Fowler were partners and developed these gamefowl. The strain goes back to 1937 J.D. Perry called them perfect chickens as Post Oak perfected the fowl even further. Some come blue legged just like Harold Browns Red Fox Farm Greys or Post Oak Greys.
The Harold Brown Greys are also known as Silver Back, colored Greys in their Purity or simply called the Silver Greys.
They are an excellent as pure stock gamefowls that can withstand heavy inbreeding for years or used as a foundation for other crosses…when you have a foundation blood that can withstand long term inbreeding to maintain their purity without losing their vigor and other attributes, that shows how special this line of Greys truly are. These greys have the “THUMP” behind their blows, you can HEAR them cut their enemies. You will be proud to own a Harold Brown Grey as part of your gamefowl stock.
The Perfect Talisayin: Regular Greys

The Regular Grey is said to be a combination of three grey families: the Law Grey, the Sweater Grey and the Plainhead Muff Grey. These three excellent and proven foundation bloodlines were improved by Freddie Wimberly who received Colonel Madigans gamefowl who late in age gave them to Harrold Brown and John O Fowler and are the basis of the regular grey bloodline and genetics. The grey feathering is a dominant trait – and an excellent bird to cross with the Hatch or Albany. These crosses are for that problem bird in a line up against you.

Greys from E.W. Law and Sweater McGuiness were perfected by John O Fowler and Jerry Hughes.

Regular Greys come green legged, sometimes with yellow, silver duck wings and straight comb. They are medium to low-stationed and are known for power and gameness. Breeders note that they are as powerful and dead game as the Blueface Hatches. They will enhance any cross with other gamefowl, providing agility, dedication, and lighting fast speed. Because of the similarities between the Harold Brown and the Law Greys, you can combine them with other bloodlines or other Greys for genetic enhancement and stability of a strain. In action, the Regular Grey fight like the whirlwind, in the air or on the ground. Most decent gamefowl can and will be hitting his oponent but the Grey has the ability to cut deep being a power hitter, and not just strike his opponent. Other fighting fowl are not deep cutters, but when you get your hands on really proven line of Greys, you have a winner….whether the moon is full or not.
Secret Breeding Tech: Infusion of Grey blood to Maintain a Bloodline.

Cocking sages often say that inbreeding problems (like more regressive traits appearing in offspring), in your pure stock or red bloodlines can be solved via infusion with GREY blood (to the reds). To restore the bloodlines vitality after so many years of inbreeding the reds.

The Regular Grey is known for power and gameness and is a bloodline from a cross of three other superior stock of grey crosses. This is why infusion is a smart remedy because it can bring the new set of genes to somewhat rejuvenate and revitalize mental sharpness, health, and other traits of the inbred red family. It is one of the best-kept secrets among old school breeders but they don’t want to talk about it too much. Another reason why most gamefowl breeders of reds, strangely do not sell off their own Greys.

Other bloodline traditionalists, usually old timers who only fight with their own strains and seldom fought gamefowl that were crosses. These were dyed-in-the-wool line breeders (using an inbreeding system, or breeding crosses only with the same bloodline, using a specimen from another farm).

The gamefowl they pit are mostly uniform looking, and uniform fighting birds, nothing special. Cockers of this cloth will exalt and vouch for the purity and authenticity of their birds\’ bloodline as their standard for competition. Until other smarter cockers defeat their pure stock with smartly-crossed murdering gamefowl.

Smart cockers of old knew better, once they notice that their strain is losing vigor, an infusion of Grey blood into the reds will be their secret tech to bring the vigor back without changing their general physical conformation. Of course, this is done as discreetly as possible, because crosses are believed to ‘taint’ pure stock and undermine the breeders reputation as providers of pure bloodlines.

But today, there is no snobbery anymore as far as infusion of bloodlines into stock is concerned. If pure stock is indeed maintained, it is done so a base bloodline with its identifiable and known traits can be used for infusion to either maintain or improve another bloodline. An outstanding specimen of a pure breeding stock (free of fault) commands a premium price to serious breeders. A pureblood sire bull cock can fetch up to a hundred thousand dollars while significantly less for any of his brothers. Serious gamefowl hobbyists are willing to pay the price to acquire the bull cock.

Crossing a pure grey cock to the red hens will produce all greys (1/2 grey, 1/2 red in pedigree), both males and females. Breeding back the grey offspring stags to the red hens wil give both reds and greys stags and pullets. The resulting genotype will be pure red although they are 1/4 grey 3/4 reds in their pedigree. Thus, the infusion introduces new blood but does not dilute the core genetic bloodline to an extent that it becomes a different fighting cock altogether.
The Fabled Grey / Kelso Cross


Like the Sweater Grey, the Grey Kelso is one of the newer strains that promise awesome fighting prowess in the pit. Combining power hitting, gameness, fighting smarts like weaving and side-stepping and NOT jumping up to meet an attacker but waiting for him to land then launching its own air attack, the Grey Kelso is an improvement of the two strains, with the Grey as the dominant genotype of the two.

Redquills

Eslin Redquills by Redquill Rooster

Long ago and far away, in England, there lived a family of cockfighters The Elsins or Eslins, which ever you prefer. This family owned a strain of terrific leg fighting fowl with unexcelled speed, topping, and cutting ability. By topping I mean that they were very seldom if ever topped. They always started fast and ferocious, shuffling and cutting their opponent to pieces. If they did not win quickly they usually did not win at all. The fowl came to a bright red-orange in color, with black over brown spangles on their chests. One other mark that will come out in greater detail later in this history is their large jet black eyes.

Anyway, the Eslin fowl, Redhorse, were starting to come smaller and more nervous as inbreeding went on. Obviously what was needed was a cross of a different blood. The Eslins procured a power strain of fowl called Redquills from a family named Winans, who lived in Baltimore. They crossed this strain on their Redhorses.

Incidentally, the Redquills had red eyes and usually came yellow legged. They were long winged and had lots of stamina. Their tails were jet black (the Redhorse had bronze tails). However, it should be noted that this first cross (1/2 Quill – 1/2 Redhorse) was not, repeat, NOT very good. So they crossed the Redquill blood down to a quarter or less, and came up with the Eslin Redquills.

Today, pure Eslin blood is hard to find, and also it should be known that the pure Winan blood is GONE. So, anybody who claims to have pure Redquill, and their fowl are red eyed and just red or brown-red in color, does not, repeat DOES NOT have pure Redquill. It just is not so.

I hope this will answer questions and also shed light on the grand old strain of Eslin Redquills.

Redquills

by W.T. Johnson & Frank Holcomb

James Eslin bred a red eyed, yellow- legged , blue-red, topknot cock from his friend Winan over his Brown/red hens, which carried the blood of the original fowl Mr. Eslin’s father had fotten from Lord Fairfax (Fairfax was a friend of George Washington and imported game fowl from Lord Derby). These were duckwings, pyles and white-legged light reds. These fowl had many fresh infusions of Irish blood. They carried the “Old Hickory” blood of General Andrew Jackson’s, Blackhackle from Jarvis Elise and several infusions of Hansbrough’s Meyell greys, and the blood of the Mexican cock “General Santa Anna” and blood from Thomas O’Neil. The produce were first called YellowJackets and later Redquills. The Wellslager rose comb Brown/Red from Ohlenschlager was later added, as well as a Brown/Red Tasseled “Counterfeit” cock from John Goss of Maryland.

From History of Game Strains by W.T. Johnson & Frank Holcomb

Whitehackles

Bloodline History

Morgan Whitehackle

Col. William Morgan of East Orange, New Jersey bred and fought some of the best Whitehackles as a pure stock gamefowl, which were pure Gilkerson cocks sourced from North Britain.

In 1858, George Gilkerson, an English farmer living in Cortland County, NY, imported some fowl from Cumberland, England from a man named Lawman a relative of Billy Lawman of New York State.  Called North Britain at first and later known as Gilkerson Whitehackles. 

The North Britain gamefowl were duckwing red, brown red and pyle.  Before his death, Gilkerson gave many of his fowl to Col. Morgan, among them a little imported Scottish hen, maybe a Lawman, which Gilkerson prized most highly.  Col. Morgan bred this hen with the old Gilkerson fowl and her blood is in all the strains of Whitehackle he created.  The Morgan Whitehackle became more famous than the Gilkerson fowl, winning against Kearney, the Eslins, Mahoney in the Pennsylvania coal mining district.

Morgan only infused two outcrosses into his strain of Whitehackle pure bloods.  Morgan got a ginger hen from Perry Baldwin, and put her in the yard of Sonny Stone of Newark.  Stone bred her, her grand-daughters and great grand-daughters with the Morgan cocks.  

The Whitehackles resulting from the mix, had the bloody heel and fighting ability of the pure Morgan's as well as the aggressiveness of the ginger [newbold fowl].  Morgan then took a fifteen-sixteenth Morgan and a sixteenth (Ginger) newbold hen from Stone, and bred her on his own gamefarm.  John Hoy of Albany purchased gamefowl from Billy Lawman, and he and Morgan exchanged broodcocks freely, so the Whitehackle was continued as a pure strain. 

Morgan bred the Lawman Whitehackle, reduced to one quarter in his own farm.  In the early nineties Morgan gave a small pen of his fowl to a Colonel in Virginia.  The colonel inbred the fowl and when he died, the Whitehackles became the roosters of a professor at Georgetown university, who knew nothing about breeding or cock fighting, but he kept the stock pure.  Neither the pure Morgan Whithackle or inbred birds have changed in twenty-five years.

Murphy Gamefowl as Whitehackle

Mr. Murphy was a very private cocker who considered his affairs his own business and saw no reason to discuss them with anyone.  The gamefowl he bred showed the most consistently uniform fowl ever seen in New York main cocking events.  He lost his fair share, but he won a majority of the mains he competed in, winning forty-nine stag mains according to a cocker who followed his gamefowl career.

Mr. Murphy was part owner of Schley and company, a large brokerage firm.  Born in Long Island, New York, he began working around the harness horse track near his home by the time he was 14.   He became a close colleague of the horse racers, who were active traders in the NY stock market, and they gave Mr. Murphy tips on investing in the market, where he made good money.  Many of the Horsemen at that time were crazy about cockfighting.  Murphy was attracted by the winnings of the sport and cocking was already in full swing around New York City.

At one time three or four horses owners he jockeyed for in Syracuse, New York, had a current account of $100,000 in the bank, from which Murphy could withdraw any time if he saw a good horse that could breed well with his horse patrons.  Mr. Murphy could have gotten any proven bloodline he desired to start his gamefarm but his independent nature led him to raise his own bloodline and he didn't want anyone to know what they were, or where they came from.   No one ever knew how he started his bloodlines and he just purchased whatever fowl he wished to start breeding cocks.

Nick Downes, an old Irish man who worked for him for 30 years, claimed Murphy fowl were Lawman Whitehackles. John Hoy, a great cocker around 1900 until his death in 1929, work for Murphy for seven years as a feeder and, Hoy was associated with Billy lawman and had the Lawman Whitehackles and Muffs. He took some of the fowl to Murphies place and a great many of the a more breed, raised and fought by and for Murphy. And, after hoy left Murphy, some of the fowl remained. They were the fowl Murphy continued to raise and fight.

The Murphy fowl were very uniform in every way, looks, fighting style and gameness. They were sort of a rusty red with white in wings and tail, call straight comb and all yellow legs and beaks.

Kearney Whitehackle

Bloodline History

The Kearny Whitehackle was developed by Floyd Gurley who bred them for over 50 years from the original strain of Michael Kearney sold down through the generations.  Floyd developed the winning Green Legged Kearny Whitehackles (Chesapeak) and the equally proven Yellow Legged Kearny Whitehackles. The last strain that Floyd Gurley developed was the Spangled Kearny Whitehackles.

Another modern breeder who developed this bloodline is Steve Sturm.

The Kearny Whitehackle is 100% straight comb. Whitehackle cocks come as yellow-legged, or green-legged (Chesapeak) and also spangled.  The Whitehackle is still considered as the most beautiful gamecock, the breed most recognized as top dog Whitehackle was the strain developed by Mr. Michael Kearney in 1871.

Breeders who Swear by the Whitehackle

Jesse Horta, a very smart gamefowl breeder, said that in order to win in today's competition, you should have bloodlines that can kill Sweaters.  The current reigning champion of the pit throughout the Philippines is the Sweater, its swarming attack always overwhelming all comers after the last infusion by Carol Nesmith enabled a bird that once lost steam in a long fight due to its relentless attacks to sustain a fight until its opponent gave up the ghost.  Because of this, almost all cockers in the country have Sweaters as part of their broodstock.  Jesse 

To make his Sweater Killers ( Jesse christened them as his White-Legged Sweater ), he  crossed a Kearny Whitehackle and Junior Belt's Cowan Roundhead together at a 3/4 Kearny Whitehackle x 1/4 Cowan Roundhead ratio.

Curt Langston, another cocker who was lucky to get original stock from Floyd Gurley himself in the 90s, before the old man retired.  Both exchanged ideas on how to cross and raise the Whitehackle for better fighters.  Mr. Langston chose to breed with Oriental fowl, and the outcome helped him win 13 straight fights in long knife in his outing with the Whitehackle hybrid crosses years ago and recently he won 4-cock derby using the same Kearney Whitehackle cross.

Most other Gamefarms in the Philippines that had the precious opportunity to acquire Floyd Gurley bred Kearney Whitehackles to cross with their own broodstocks, like RED GAMEFARM have had very good fight records against othewr local top cockers.

The Kearney Whitehackle is always bred as pure stock and are often crossed with the Sweaters and Roundheads for a modern pit fighter that can go head to head with any rooster.

Fighting Style

The Whitehackle gamefowl are straight combed with red eyes and are medium stationed. While 90% are yellow red in color, the remaining 10% are spangled, mustard colored hackles. These fighters are built with broad shoulders, fairly compact and with heavy plumage, each rooster having an average weight of 2 to 2.4 kgs.  The Whitehackle is a very deadly cutter, break high and can fight in any position available due to their agility and shiftiness, on the ground and in the air.  They are strong and power hitting fighting fowl with very deep game.  Described by veteran gamefowl aficionados as a ring general, the Whitehackle fights best using the long knife slasher type.  This beautiful rooster is a very smart fighter and has accurate timing that places deliberate blows to kill its opponent.  It is also a very aggressive rooster.  Because this strain has been carefully sustained by smart breeding over the years, it is still a consistent and proven bloodline that wins big.  

Floyd Gurley bred the modern version of the bird straight pure blooded stock to create a unifrom bloodline that consistently tops its opponents in the pit until today.
http://www.reach-unlimited.com/p/259719619/whitehackle-aggressive-power

The Kearney and Duryea fowl
By: E. T Piper

There can be but little doubt in the minds of the students in the cocking fraternity that the gamest fowl in this country, not only today but as far back as any of us now living can remember, come and came from the vicinity of new York City. Lest some of the readers get gamest confused with best. Let us hasten to assure you we used the former. there isn’t a doubt in the mind of this writer but what today or any day a main of cocks could be selected from most any part of the country and in long heels make the gamest fowl up there look very sick indeed. Ever in the short fast heels of today. We believe a main could be selected from among the better long heel fowl that could take the gamest fowl in or around new York. It`s a recognized fact among the more intelligent members of the clan that the gamer a family is the poorer fighters and cutters they seem to be. We wont go into the whys and wherefore of that statement just now. With hardly an exception the gamest families we can recall when their pedigree is traced back leads right to new York City. The few we can think of that were not descended from new York City were from not very far away and did a big shore of their fighting against the New York crowd. Examples? yes, we can give you a few ./ the gamest fowl it has been this writers privilege to see in the past 25 years were the so-called hardy mahoganies, The Hatch fowl the Albanies the Jim Thompson owl and very few others that is which filled the bill as deep game fowl in our book. Let `s see where some of them came from. The Hardys got their fowl from Jim Ford of Medina, New York. Ford got them through his brother who was a New York judge, he, in turn got them from John Madden of Kentucky, and Madden got them direct from Mike Kearney of long island, NY. the Albanys were half Hardy through a cock called the sneak and on the other side of Albany family there was some hatch blood, hatch too came from and lived all his life in or very near New York City. Jim Thompson lived at White Plains, N.Y. about 20 miles from New York City. His fowl were said to have been the result of a cross between an Adam Schreiber, Albany, N.Y. hen that Thompson had a man name Squealer Murray steal for him, and some old game stock down near New York City. they were a very deep game family, and of course the Hatch fowl were entirely New York stuff. There are plenty of winning fowl in both the north and south that seldom show bas actor, yet, we have not included then in our list of the gamest families. Those who are familiar with deep game fowl will understand why and when deep game fowl and New York are mentioned, Mike Kearney sticks out like a sore thumb. Kearney is said to have arrived in this country from Ireland in about 1870. He brought fowl with him and in a comparatively short time, was in the midst of cocking activities in and around New York. Either at or soon after his arrival, the type of heels preferred in that section were what later came to be know as slow heels. they where a regulation heel with a blade but one and one-quarter inch long in length. The blade was thick with the point more or less blunt. The rules used were known as New York rules, ten tens required to count out a cock and peck would break the count at any time. Under such conditions, deep game cocks were an absolute necessity and fighting ability and cutting ability were a secondary consideration. Just the opposite, incidentally, from today with our modern rules and faster heel. the mike Kearney whitehackles, brown reds and others were used to a certain extent as a standard to go by in measuring gameness, mike Kearney has been dead for many years, yet even today most of our gamest fowl can be traced back to his fowl. during the years E. W. Rogers published the warrior, 1927-1935, its pages were constantly filled with stories of the Kearney and Duryea fowl. nearly all of this was written by A.P. O`Conor, who contended Herman Duryea with whom Kearney was for years associated in cocking was the greatest gamefowl breeder of all times. The Duryea Whitehackles, the greatest family of gamefowl in this or any other country. That were according to O`Conor obtained by Duryea from a steamship agent in or near Boston and maintained in their purity by Duryea strictly by inbreeding for 30 years or more. During which time Duryea fought mains by the score and lost but one that one when his cocks took sick mike Kearney was Duryea feeder and caretaker,etc. in the past fifteen years we have at every opportunity questioned anyone we thought might have some information of this regard to either the Kearney or Duryea in the following we are going to tell you a few of the things we learned. Mike Kearney `s son Harry is still alive and while none f this information came to us directly from Harry, a considerable amount of it came from him indirectly. Several years a go in Troy, we met a Boston cocker who’s name we have forgotten and who has since passed away. He was well-known on the game and was an ink salesman. Tom Kelly of Watertown knows who i mean. At any rate this man told me he visited Kearney on long island one time and told him he would like to see a pure Kearney Whitehackle, Mike reached in a peb and brought out a typical Whitehackle exept he had a round head and pea comb, he told mike he did`nt know Whitehackles came pea comb. Mike said some of his did and offered no further explanation. It `s well know fact the so-called Duryea fowl came both straight and pea comb. After Kearny `s association with Duryea when a pea comb cock was shown it was assumed by most men it was a Duryea cross, or a so-called straight Duryea. Today, Harry Kearney confirms the fact that their Whitehackles came from Ireland with both pea and straight comb just as Mike previously to the ink salesman. Further more and this came indirectly from Harry both him and his dad, Mike, preferred their Brownreds to their Whitehackles. Because that were gamer, stronger, harder hitters, although the Whitehackles were better cutters. They ran a solon and had nowhere but a small back yard in which to breed and raise fowl. until Mike hooked up with Duryea and took complete charge of the breeding and fighting of his fowl. Duryea had the fowl on his estate at Red Bank, New Jersey, and he, himself maintained a large racing and breeding stable in France. He spent considerable time there. Mike mated the yards at Red Bank and generally ran things with the fowl to suit himself. Duryea very much disliked a Brownred chicken and forebode mike to have any of then on the place. For that reason Kearny bred only a few and those away from Duryea `s place, Duryea also had at Red Bank some fowl he got from Frank Collidge of Boston which we believe to be Boston Roundheads. They were oriental cross of some sort, according to Kearney they were very strong fowl good cutters and fighters but no bitter {game} enough to suit Kearney `s. However as Duryea liked then, they bread some and used them along with their Whitehackles and some crosses of the two. If the above is correct as we have ever reason to believe it is, acutely there was never any such thing as a long inbred strain of Duryea fowl anywhere but in O`Conor mind. O`Conor claimed Duryea lost but one main in thirty years. While another writer in the warrior of that era contended Kearney probably lost more mains than any man that ever lived, in view of the above both men were wrong. Duryea lost may mains and Kearney had a share in both the winning and the losing mains. as we stated above for a period of five or six years the warrior contained reams and reams about the Kearny and Duryea fowl. Gamest on earth, best winning family in history, etc. when probably the truth is the so-called duress were nothing more than Kearney Whitehackles and some crosses of them on some Jap or Asil crosses from Frank Coolidge.

Kearney Whitehackles
by M.D. Chesbro (1920)

To the genuine lover of the game fowl, the history of strains that have become famous is always interesting, and as I have never seen an accurate and detailed history of the strain or family so widely known as “Mike Kearney’s Whitehackles,” I will give as fully as may be, the principalfacts concerning them, and the man who by his skill as a feeder and handler made them famous.

It is not my intention to unduly glorify this strain, nor to contrast them with other families of games, but simply to state facts. And I may say, that in addition to my personal knowledge of the fowl many of the facts which I will record here were stated to me by Mr. Kittridge, Mr. Kearney, Mr. Coolidge and Mr. Wingate and in each instance where the statement to me was by word of mouth I immediately made a written memoranda (some of which are more than twenty years old) and are now before me, and from the basis of what I will write. I will tell this story in order of time as that may make it more clear.

The extensive plan occupying the central portion of the county of Kildare in Ireland and known as the Curragh of Kildare, has long been known as the sporting center of the Green Isle. Here racing, cocking, and all field sports were wont to flourish. Each village had its favorite trainers, jockeys, wrestlers, and foot racers, and favorite strain of game fowl. Sport in some form was the main business of the inhabitants and here was born Michael Kearney. While most of his relatives were devoted to horses, he bacame known throughout Kildare as a most successful breeder, feeder, and handler of cocks.

His favorite strain were “beasy” breasted light reds with yellow legs and white underhackles, broad shoulders, compactly made cocks with heavy plumage. In the mains which were constantly taking place, the most formidable opponents of his light reds were a strain bred in a nearby village which were dark brown reds in color, dark underhackles, and dark hazel eyes. These two strains were similar in fighting qualities and equally good, except that the brown reds heavier in bone and muscle. The sporting freedom which the people had so long enjoyed began to be more interfered with by the authorities, until just prior to the year 1870, cocking was entirely prohinited. Kearney refused to give up his beloved sport and emigrated to America bringing with him twelve of his favorite Whitehackle cocks.

These cocks were very tame and on sunny days, were one by one allowed their liberty on the deck of the vessel, which arrived in New York in Augsut. As there was no cocking at that season, it was not until the following winter that he fought and won a main using his imported cocks. The sport was extremely popular in New York and vicinity and soon the new comer was in the midst of it. He was very successful with his mains and made many friends and it was not long before he opened a road house and pit at Blissville; a suberb of Long Island City, having in the meantime taken out his papers as a citizen of the United States. Here for many years his cocks held sway, and mains were constantly being fought, sometimes two or three mains a week during the cocking season. Each year, for several years, Kearney sent a man, (usually his uncle Bob Quinn) over to Ireland to bring to New York cocks and hens of both the light red Whitehackles and the dark brown breeds. The two strains were each bred separately and pure without any crosses, and were fought by Kearney in immense numbers.

The Whitehackles were a medium weight fowl, the breast black streaked more or less with dark ginger the outer hackle a light red shading to light golden on the shoulders, the back a dark crimson, the wing long, wide, and hanging low, the tail wide and carried up, the shanks short and yellow, (never white) the body noticeably wide and short, neck medium length and the head short and broad with red eyes, and a thin single comb and white under feather.

The hens were always wheaten color. As fighters the cocks were high headed, fast enough and game beyond the test of steel. Around the pit was gathered a coterie of cockers whose constant cry was “gameness first.” and the test that these little Whitehackles were put to by that crowd not only in mains and hacks but also for days after, were sufficient to prove to any one that if there was such athing on Earth as a strain that never produced a quitter, that was it. The brown reds were amuch larger, and heavier breed, low on the leg with tremendously broad powerful bodies, and very big thighs, but were not as fast and high strung as the Whitehackles, but were harder hitters and deep game. It was for one of these game cocks that Kearney named his race horse, “Hard Brown Red.” After several years of breeding the two strains seperately, he concluded to cross them, and it was from this nick which came heroric little 4.6 cock who then blind and bleeding, but with his head in the air, won the terrific battle at Albany of one hour and fourty minutes of steady fighting against his noble whitetailed opponent. These were the Kearney fowl up to 1886.

Horace Brown, who lived at Peekskill, N.Y., was an old time cock fighter, a friend of Bill Clacker and the other worthies of the period from 1860. He was a great stickler for extreme gameness, along about 1881-’83 used to come into the law office and read with great interest the articles written by Joseph Wingate who at that time was having a controversy in the pages of Dixie Game Fowl and upholding the claims of 1 1/4 heels as the only game cock heel, and the old controversy never has been settled. In the begining of the year 1883, Wingate took some of his cocks and went down to New Orleans where a cocking tournament was held in the first week of Febuary, and challenged all comers to fight him in 1 1/4 heels. Brown was so delighted with the gameness of the man and his cocks, that when Wingate returned to his home in New Hampshire Brown sent to Wingate and bought a trio of his fowl. The cock was a dark ginger in color with dark legs and had a straight single somb; one hen was a partrige color, the other a pyle. They were from Wingate’s Irish (imported) McDermotts’ strain. Brown bred them together in the spring of 1884. Living in Peekskills at that time was Benjamin Kittridge, a wealthy young gentelman who had graduated from Harvard College the preceeding year. He was an ardent amateur sportsman, a crack pigeon shot and a successful yachtsman. He and his college classmates, Mr. Herman Duryea, then of Red Bank, N.J., and Mr. Raymond Belomnt, of New York, during their college days had become interested in cocking at Frank Coolidge’s place at Watertown, near Boston. As Brown was the cocking authority of his town Mr. Kittridge employed him to raise and fight cocks for him and they started with the pullets Brown had raised from the Wingate trio, and also fought successfully the main of stags. Mr. Kittridge sent to Wingate for a cock to breed over the pullets and purchased it – a ginger breasted white legged cock sired by Wingate’s McDermott cock out of a white legged Gull hen bred by J.B. Squires. When put on the scales he balanced the seven pound weight and a silver dollar, so he was always called “Silver Dollar.”

At the same time Mr. Kittridge and Mr. Belmont purchased some fowl of Coolidge, a cock and three hens. This cock was a broad backed low set cock with a black breast, light red hackles, daw eye, and yellow legs. He had long broad wings, and long heavily sickled tail carried up a widely spread. He had a smooth round head and was dubbed very closely indicating once a pea comb. One hen was a very light buff, with creamy to almost a white breast, light green legs, and high single comb; the other two hens were wheaten with single combs, yellow legs and spurs. It was stated that these hens were “sired by a Claiborne cock out of hens from Marblehead.” How the cock bred was not stated at the time, but the following statement by Frank Norton, of Boston, may throw some light on this cocks’ breeding. “in 1864 John Harwood was head stevedore at East Boston docks for the Cunard Steamship Company. I lived next door to Harwood. One of the steamers brought over from England a trio of game fowl. The address and shipping bill of the fowl had been lost. The company kept them about three months and gave them to Harwood, he paying the shipping charges. Harwood gave the fowl to his friend Ned Gill, who bred and fought them. I knew Ned Gill and often saw these fowl fight, and frequently saw the brood yards. They were called Gill Roundheads or Boston Roundheads. They were light reds with black breasts more or less streaked with ginger. The hens were light wheaten color. All had yellow legs. After Ned Gill died John McCoy, of Marble head, Mass., got some of the Gill fowl and crossed them with John Stone fowl. McCoy was a very successful cocker in his days in the neighborhood of Boston. The imported trio had small round heads, pea sombs, and heavy feathers. They looked like old time English full feathered fowl with a slight touch of Aseel in their makeup.”

Gilkerson Whitehackles
by the Newyorker (1907)

I note in a recent issue of an esteemed journal an interesting and I might add, an amusing history of the Gilkerson Whitehackles, to me amusing because of the many unaccuracies this fertile brained historian so proudly offers to the cock loving public, erstwhile flinging a few choice bouquets at that other grand strain of Whitehackles which stand out in the history of game cocks and which show their breeding in the pit and not paper, etc. Now whenever a man offers up such fulsome praise it creates or invites criticism and desire to ask questions and ascertain where this knowledge is derived. Perhaps these fowl are better than any Gilkerson ever dared to own but I am like the man from Missouri – you must show me. Now, consider the comparison. Gilkerson proved his by public performances against the best fowl in the country. Has the other man done so? Where did these much lauded Whitehackle ever defeat a standard strain in a public pit? He is located near Casey. Ever defeat him or Jim Wild, of his own state? Not far from Billy Howard or Kearney or Hoy, of New York state. Ever defeat them? Gilkerson played no favorites in his mains. How about the other man? I do not wish to reflect in any manner upon the qualities of these fowl am simply trying to enlighten myself and incidentally many others. Perchance the owner desires a public demonstration. If so I will guarantee to pit another strain of Whitehackles against them which will test them good and plenty. Now there is another strain of Whitehackles that my honored historical contemporary can take off his hat to and that do “stand out prominent in the history of cocking” and like Gilkerson’s they play no favorites. Kearney’s Whitehackles and Maurice O’Conell’s “Niggers.” Kearney always conditions and fights O’Conell’s cocks and the limit is taken off when you stack up against O’Conell with Kearnet to feed and when you whip one of these cocks you have got to kill them and be positive they are actually dead because they have a nasty way of coming back to life and landing another desperate smash. Such a smash as only a dead game cock is capable of making. Hats are off to Kearney and his Whitehackles. Hats off to Maurice O’Conell and his “Niggers.” By the way, I did hear that one of the Whitehackles my historical friend kindly mentions fought in a main at Nyack recently. Perhaps later he will learn how he performed, in so much as history seems to be in oder to permit me to digress for a time. Sometime in the early ’60’s a young Irish lad living in Tipperary conceived the idea of invading America with a bunch of Irish bred cocks. His country had the best breed of Whitehackles in all Ireland while the adjoining county had the best Brown reds and many were the mains fought between these counties with honors about even. When this lad started with his lot of game cocks he had one-half Brown Reds and one-half Whitehackles. He landed in New York in May, only to learn that cocking was over for the season. He managed to find walks for the cocks and returned to to Ireland, coming back the following winter with another bunch of cocks. Shortly after his arrival there was a big main and during an intermission the audience was amazed to hear a young man with as rich brougue as ever crossed the pond, cry out, “I will fight any man in the house a main for 500 pounds.” Pat Carroll, of Philadelphia, who was present, said, “I would like to get at that `greenhron’ if he would only put up,” and he forwith tackled the `greenhorn’, making the preliminaries all the time skeptical, until finally he suggested putting up a forfeit. “All right,” said the `greenhorn’. “Suppose we put up $1000 each as a forfeit,” and producing the money. This was a stagger for Carroll but he managed to come up and the main was on. Carroll, who was the breeder of the then famous “Black Hawks”, won the toss and named for the small end a 3.10. The greenhorn (who the readers have probably guessed, was Michael Kearney) had nothing so light and was in despair, when he met a man who told him where he might find such a small cock, He succeeded in geeting him and strange to say, won the light weight. Michael obtained permission to feed his cocks at this hotel where they were to fight the main and which was in Hoboken, N.Y. On moving he discovered a lot of cocks left in the coops which had big heads and swollen eyes. “Swelled head.” He had never seen anything like it before but concluded to take no chances and moved every cock to barrels in the yard, disinfected the coops and started feeding. After a time some strangers appeared and asked Michael how he was getting on. Suspecting they were emissaries from Carroll, he replied, “Poorly. I don’t know what is the matter, look here,” showing the cocks in the yard. “I never saw anything like that in the old country,” said the forthy Mike. “Oh” replied the strangers, that is the same way they act in this country. Carroll’s are just the same.” “Is that so?” said Mike. Then I doubt they could scarcely get away fast enough to report to Carroll with the result that on the night of the main the betting was 100 to 60 on Carroll. If I remember correctly fifteen fell in and it stood seven to seven with the last match to decide the main and such hedging of bets was rarely ever seen before. For the last battle Carroll produced a magnificent Black Hackle while Kearney produced a Brown Red, bred in Ireland and that he brought along with him. It was a grand battle, both cocks in pink of condition and both aggressive and determined. It was anybody’s fight for an hour or more when it was seen that the Black Hackle was getting smaller and he finally turned away giving the victory ot the gamy, persevering Kearney Brown Reds, direct from the old sod and incidentally a small fortune to the equally game `greehorn’ who dared to come thousands of miles to test the supremacy of the Irish bred cocks and the Irish system of feeding and handling against the redoubtable Pat Carroll and his seldom defeated Black Hackles. I again take off my derby to Michael Kearney as a breeder. I think he is the most wonderful breeder of the country. He still has the Whitehackles same as he brought over nearly fifty years ago and can show them in plenty at 6:00 to 7:00 in condition and has fought them every year since and from Aiken, S.C., where he defeated Jimmie Dougrey, from Boston, where two years ago fought a draw with Casey to the extreme western part of the state. He had fought thousands of these two strains in all kinds of pits and conditions and who ever saw one quit that he or Maurice O’Connell bred. He has won two big mains already this season. Can any breeder equal this? It is proper to doff your head gear to Michael. What say you, historian? on’t you now consider yourself presumptive to say at the least, to class that other strain with Kearney Whitehackles?. I will also add that when Lord Cromwell was here some years ago he visited Mr. Kearney who presented his lordship with several Whitehackle cocks and hens to take back to Ireland. Lord Cromwell bred these and last year challenged all England and defeated England with these same cocks. How about you, historian? I know of at least one case where at least $500 would have been paid Mr. Kearney for a trio and the man was shown the fowl and then shown out the back door of the yard as the “easiest way to get to the cars.” The man was not even allowed in to buy a drink in Michael’s hotel after he made the offer. I have known of $1000 being offered by a syndicate gentlemen connected with a country club to Mr. O’Connell for a stock of his Whitehackles and refused.

Morgan Whitehackles
by: E.T. Piper { Fulldrop }


Col. William l Morgan of East Oragne,N.J., bred and perfected this strain of gamefowl. And it takes its name from him. As the Morgan fowl are practically pure Gilkerson North Brittons, it is necessary to go somewhat into the history of that strain. About 1858, George Gilkerson, an English farmer living in Cortland County, N. Y, imported some fowl from Cumberland, England. From a man named lawman a relative of Billy Lawman of New York State. In this country there where known as North Brittons and later known as Gilkerson Whitehackles. North Brittons contained Duckwingred, Brownred and Pyle. On and before his death Gilkerson`s death many of his fowl came to Col.Morgan. Among these fowl was a little imported Scottish hen. Which Gilkerson prized most highly. Col. Morgan bred this hen with the old Gilkerson fowl and her blood is in all his fowl. Morgan did not know the history of this hen but expressed the opinion that she was nothing more or less than a lawman hen. That had been bred across the boarder in Scotland. All her stags looked and acted just like the Gilkerson fowl. The Morgan Whitehackles became famous than the Gilkerson fowl had ever been. He whipped Kearney, the Eslins, Mahoney and many of a less note in many mains in the Pennsylvania coal mining district. No man has ever approached this record in short heels, and the backbone of all these mains was pure Morgan Whitehackles. Col. Morgan never made but two permanent outcrosses in the straight strain. Morgan got a Ginger hen from Perry Baldwin. And put her on the yard of Sonny Stone of Newark. He had stone bred her. Her granddaughters and great granddaughters under Morgan cocks. the resulting progeny had the bloody heel and fighting quality of the pure Morgan’s and still retained some of the excessive courage of the ginger [ newbold fowl]. Morgan finally took a fifteen-sixteenth Morgan and a sixteenth {ginger] newbold hen from stone and bred her on his own yard. That is the blood in all Morgan fowl. About the beginning of the century John Hoy of Albany obtained possession of the fowl of Billy Lawman. Morgan and Hoy exchanged brood fowl freely an as the fowl were identical in general make-up and charactishtics. The offspring bred on as the pure strain. Morgan bred the Lawman cock when reduced to one quarter in his favorite pens. At the time of his death there was a small percentage of this blood in most of his fowl. In the early nineties Morgan have a small pen of his fowl to a Col. in Virginia. The Col. inbreed the fowl and on his death. They fell into the hands of a professor at Georgetown university. Who knew nothing about breeding or cock fighting. He kept the family pure breeding his favorite cock to the whole flock on hens. When he died the fowl were still inbred in N.J. Neither the family Morgan bred or the family that had been inbred had changed appearance or quality in twenty-five years. Although kept absolutely apart, bred together the young cannot be told from the parents on either side. Except that they are larger and stronger that the offshoot family.