276 



HISTORY OF HEREFORD CATTLE 



and it is a very queer state of affairs if for all 

 these long years, both in England and Amer- 

 ica, wrong ideas have been prevailing." 



Again he says: "What authority has Mr. Mil- 

 ler for saying that the Herefords will graze and 

 feed at less cost than the Shorthorns?" 



Without quoting further, we inserted Mr. 

 Anderson's letter in full in the "Breeders' 

 Journal," that we might not be charged with 

 garbling, and took up the fight as a business. 

 When we charged a conspiracy, and the pur- 



HELIANTHUS (4841) 1549. 



Bred by the Earl of Southesk, Scotland. Weight at 4 * 

 years, 3,000 pounds. (From a water-color etching.) 



chase of witnesses, Mr. Anderson felt it neces- 

 sary to come out with a personal statement to 

 his customers, explaining how he came to be 

 in Chicago at alt; it was merely accidental. 

 Well! We will give Mr. Anderson the benefit 

 of this explanation, which is as follows: 



ANDERSON'S APOLOGY TO HIS CUSTOMERS. 



Side View, Montgomery Co., Ky., 



March 28, 1881. 

 To the Cattle Breeders of the West : 



For some months a controversy has been 

 pending concerning the respective merits of 

 the Shorthorns and Herefords, which in an un- 

 guarded moment I permitted my opponent to 

 divert from the point at issue and change into 

 a matter personal. 



As I have made and proved great charges 

 concerning the breeding and ages of the Here- 

 ford cattle belonging to one of the most prom- 

 inent if unscrupulous (as it has been demon- 

 strated) breeders of that tribe in America, if 

 not in England; and as many of you are my 

 personal acquaintances, it might not be amiss 

 to point out the way; how, by accident, I dis- 

 covered the frauds which my opponent was 

 practicing upon the Illinois State Board of 



Agriculture and upon the credulity of the cat- 

 tle breeders of America. 



Without any design whatever on the part of 

 James M. Bigstaff (a fellow Shorthorn breeder . 

 and President of the Exchange Bank of Mt. 

 Sterling, Ky.) and myself to attend the Fat 

 Stock Show, held in Chicago, we left Mt. Ster- 

 ling on Nov. 17, 1880, to attend Col. Robt. 

 Holloway's sale of Shorthorns' at Alexis, 111., on 

 the 18th, and to be in Youngstown, Ohio, on 

 the 20th, on private business matters. We at- 

 tended Col. Holloway's sale on the 18th, and 

 after the sale was over we were prevailed upon 

 by friends to attend the Fat Stock Show on the 

 19th, as by leaving Alexis at night we could 

 be in Chicago by morning, and laying over 

 there until the afternoon still be in Youngs- 

 town by the 20th. Thus seeing we could ful- 

 fill business engagements, we stopped over at 

 Chicago a portion of the day on the 19th. By 

 the merest accident, soon after our arrival we 

 met Robt. B. Ogilvie, of Madison, Wis., a thor- 

 ough gentleman, with all that implies, and an 

 old friend, and we three attended the Fat 

 Stock Show together. 



After examination of the live stock, I re- 

 marked the patent dissimilarity between the 

 quarters, flanks and necks of the said T. L. 

 Miller's cattle, as noticeable between the grade 

 and pure-bred Herefords, and expressed a de- 

 sire to know something of the breeding of the 

 cattle. Mr. Ogilvie asked me if I knew Mr. 

 Miller; I replied I did not, when he remarked, 

 I'll introduce you to him. On looking around 

 for Mr. Miller he did not see him, but re- 

 marked, I see Mr. Watson, a very intelligent 

 gentleman, Miller's superintendent, and per- 

 haps he can tell you of their breeding. He 

 then introduced me to Mr. Watson, when I 

 immediately inquired if he could tell me the 

 breeding of certain cattle, pointing them out. 

 He said he could, and immediately commenced 

 with "Conqueror," he being nearest at the 

 time, telling me of his two crosses by Hereford 

 bulls, and that his grandam was a Shorthorn 

 cow, a second of his premium steers being by a 

 Hereford bull and out of a Shorthorn cow, and 

 so on through the lot, describing each steer's 

 breeding and what he had fed him. I asked 

 only such questions in the natural way as any 

 breeder would be likely to ask, concerning more 

 than ordinary cattle he was examining or had 

 under consideration. 



This was the first time I ever saw Mr. Wat- 

 son and I never saw him again until this 

 month of March, 1881. Bigstaff and I hurried 

 off on our trip, that afternoon, and I never 

 saw or spoke to a Shorthorn exhibitor on that 



