The Mastiff 565 



face and with a peaked skull, but a grand-bodied dog and one we knew 

 well. 



Our first acquaintance with mastiffs in America was in connection with 

 the New York show of 1880 when Turk won in dogs and Rab in the open 

 bitch class. Turk was a good-bodied dog, but poor in head and expression. 

 He was bred from a pair that Mr. Delafield Smith got from Bill George, 

 and there was no pedigree with them. Leah was a pedigreeless bitch of 

 which we have no memorandum in our catalogue. She turned up in the 

 champion class next year as "imported." Boston was quite strong in mas- 

 tiffs even before that date; and at the Boston show of 1878, 21 mastiffs were 

 entered in the one class. We have no record of the awards, but probably a 

 dog called Austin's Jack was pretty high on the list as he was bred to con- 

 siderably in that neighbourhood. He was by Kelley's imported Dash, out 

 of Austin's Juno, also imported. Austin's Jack was the sire of a little dog 

 called Grim, just fair in head for that time, owned by Mr. C. W. Fraleigh of 

 New York. In 1881 at New York this Grim won from Gurth, a big coarse 

 dog, straight behind, and in third place came Salisbury, Mr. C. H. Mason's 

 big English winner. Salisbury was worth more than all the rest of the mas- 

 tiffs at the show. It was generally understood that the judge explained his 

 decision by saying he had never seen such a dog before. Grim should have 

 been third, behind Salisbury and Gurth. Creole, even more pronounced in 

 type than Salisbury, took the bitch prize, showing that the judge was an apt 

 pupil. In 1882 we judged mastiffs at New York and put Gurth over Grim 

 in the champion class. In the absence of a marked catalogue we presume 

 that an imported son of Alston's Colonel, named Zulu, won in the open dog 

 class. Some good puppies came from this dog. 



Mr. J. W. Alsop of Middletown, Conn., was the leading importer at 

 that time and got over some well-bred stock, including the Rajah bitch 

 Boadicea. Mr. Charles E. Wallack was another who took great interest in 

 the breed and was quite prominent as a breeder for a year or two. Interest 

 in mastiffs grew rapidly, and when we again had the duty of judging at New 

 York, the following year, there was great improvement in all the classes. 

 Nevison, a dog brought over by the late William Graham of Belfast, had 

 won at Pittsburg and thus got into the champion class at New York, where 

 he won. Creole, a complete wreck, was beaten by a far inferior mastiff, 

 Lioness, owned by W. H. Lee of Boston who also had a Turk, by Rajah out 

 of Brenda. Turk was one of the popular names at that time and it is now 



