THE SHOCK OF SHOWYARD WAR 535 



in their capacity as purveyors-in-chief to the farm- 

 ers of the Mississippi Valley, and latterly to the 

 ranchmen of Texas and the southwest in general, of 

 all that was deemed best in the way of good cattle. 

 Accustomed for two generations to the patronage of 

 the leading cattle growers of the west they scoffed 

 at the pretensions of the Herefords, and were slow 

 to admit what their colleagues in the north had al- 

 ready conceded that the newcomers from Here- 

 fordshire were destined henceforth to divide the 

 honors with their favorites. 



The two leading shows of 1886 in "the Blue 

 Grass " were scheduled for Shelbyville and Lexing- 

 ton. At these two points the charge of Pickett's 

 heroes at Gettysburg was in a bovine sense dupli- 

 cated, and with like results. At the risk of weary- 

 ing somewhat the readers of this volume, the author 

 ventures to incorporate at this point liberal ex- 

 cerpts from his own attempt at telling the story of 

 this undertaking practically his first reportorial 

 effort in the way of a detailed account of an event of 

 such character. We quote from "The Breeder's 

 Gazette" of Sept. 2, 1886: 



"THE HEREFORDS IN KENTUCKY. 



" 'And darest thou then 

 To beard the lion in his den, the Douglas in his hall?' 



"The sensation of the showyard season just in- 

 augurated, so far as the beef breeds of cattle are 

 concerned, is the ' nervy ' attempt of leading breed- 

 ers of Herefords to force a hearing in the most 



