102 AT THE SIGN OF THE STOCK YARD INN 



place to write in detail of that most extraordinary 

 event, when England and America went jointly mad. 

 The "pure" Duchess breed was now extinct in the 

 land of its birth, and the fast and furious fighting for 

 their possession did not end until the sum of $40,600 

 had been bid for the 8th Duchess of Geneva! 



The sun went down that September afternoon 

 upon an average of $18,740 for eleven Duchesses 

 and three Dukes, the top figures being paid by Eng- 

 lish bidders. EARL BECTIVE took the 10th Duchess 

 of Geneva at $35,000, and LORD SKELMERSDALE 

 gave $30,600 for 1st Duchess of Oneida. Mr. 

 ALEXANDER led the American contingent with 

 $27,000 for the 10th Duchess of Oneida. It after- 

 wards developed that the agent who represented 

 Mr. R. PAVIN DAVIES, of England, in the tense ex- 

 citement of the day had exceeded his instructions 

 in making the $40,600 bid, and the cow was after- 

 wards taken by Col. L. G. MORRIS at the price made 

 by her daughter, $30,600. 



What was the harvest? For the most part dis- 

 appointment: deaths, abortions and failures to breed. 

 The $35,000 cow became in England the mother 

 of a splendid sire, the same Duke of Underley 

 whose head in terra cotta relief may be seen any 

 day, by those curiously inclined, in one of the panels 



