A HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND 



arise, a summary settlement was soon effected 

 by the appointment of a referee in whose 

 judgment both parties had confidence. A 

 defaulter rarely appeared in the numerous 

 assembly. The loud bawling of anxious 

 bettors, the frantic efforts to get on the odds 

 or hedge previous bets, as the advantage in 

 fighting swayed from one to the other of the 

 panting and exhausted birds, was deafening. 

 Most of our readers probably do not know 

 what ' poundage ' means. It is a bet when 

 taken up of jTiO to 5*. If not taken up 

 before forty is deliberately counted, the match 

 is concluded in favour of the cock backed at 

 such long odds. The offer of such a striking 

 difference jio to a crown is generally 

 resorted to for the purpose of bringing a 

 battle to an end. A betting man named 

 Clarke a small tradesman and one of the 

 yeoman class, residing at Broughton, a small 

 market town on the confines of west Cum- 

 berland and north Lancashire used to win 

 the ' poundage ' about once every season for a 

 great number of years. He probably won 

 the long odds oftener than any other betting 

 man in the habit of attending cockfights. 

 But he was such a judge as was seldom met 

 with. He had, owing to his acumen, a 

 singularly successful career in the betting 

 arena. He could detect what is termed a 

 ' throat ' in its earliest stages with remark- 

 able celerity and certainty. A ' throat ' is 

 inflicted by and arises from a deep body blow. 

 The unfortunate recipient of the deadly stab 

 bleeds internally, and in a majority of cases 

 soon after the infliction of the wound dies. 

 In most cases when the effects of the blow 

 are fully developed there is a loud ruckling in 

 the throat and attempts to void the blood. 

 The serious nature of the injury is then 

 quite plain even to a novice. All cocks im- 

 mediately after receiving the blow may be 

 seen by a close observer to draw in the neck 

 and make a gasp as if for breath. Mr. Clarke 

 being quick to see the fatal signal would fre- 

 quently get on a round sum before it was 

 noticed by others. He would often drop on 

 a half awake bettor when a cock was knocked 

 down and deprived of the use of its legs. 

 There is a great difference in the condition 

 of a bird when the legs are stretched out stiff 

 and when they can yet be drawn under the 

 body. In the former state it is all ' up,' but 

 in the latter, when the legs are not quite 

 useless, a vicious cock will occasionally ad- 

 minister a blow that seals the fate of its 

 standing antagonist. A thoroughly good 

 judge like Mr. Clarke was alive to these and 

 other important indications which will fre- 

 quently occur during the progress of a pro- 



478 



tracted fight. Mr. Clarke had at one time a 

 breed of game cocks which, judging from 

 appearances, seemed to be without any per- 

 ceptible fault. They were thoroughly true 

 game stood cutting up without any flinch- 

 ing whatever ; but were unable to inflict any 

 return injury on their adversary. They were 

 tried time after time, and invariably lost. It 

 did not matter who the feeder was, the up- 

 shot was always the same. Ten or a dozen 

 were thus sacrificed before it was discovered 

 or surmised that they had no proper fighting 

 leg action. They could not in striking get 

 their legs apart so as to make the blow have 

 any damaging effect. After so signally fail- 

 ing in brown reds Mr. Clarke tried a breed 

 of white game, and they turned out exceed- 

 ingly well, in fact were thoroughly deter- 

 mined game, wary scientific fighters, quick 

 and sure with their spurs, and with no end 

 of endurance. 



The big cockfights were usually an ac- 

 companiment to the race meetings at the 

 larger towns. Ulverston without the attrac- 

 tion of a race meeting could keep up with 

 hlat its annual three days' cockfighting on a 

 raised pit in the large assembly room. The 

 opposing party to the Ulverstonians was 

 generally a Mr. Benn, a celebrated breeder 

 in west Cumberland, and a few friends. For 

 generations the name of Benn appeared in 

 the annals of northern cockfighting. The 

 Mr. Benn alluded to as an opponent to the 

 Ulverston gentlemen resided at Middleton 

 Place near Bootle, and for a quarter of a cen- 

 tury bred some of the best game cocks in the 

 kingdom. His brown reds well known and 

 feared throughout a wide district were big 

 slashing muscular hard-feathered birds, capable 

 at any time of worrying a moderate antagonist 

 and by their prowess occupying a conspicuous 

 position in the Ulverston and other mains. 

 Previous to breeding brown reds, Mr. Benn 

 had for three or four years a lot of beautiful- 

 looking, gay-plumaged birds. They were 

 white with yellow or straw-coloured saddles. 

 When in tip-top condition, eyes bright, 

 sparkling, and feathers shining like silver, they 

 made a showy, slashing fight, hitting when- 

 ever they lifted a leg, but if ever so little off 

 fighting pitch, they were not to be dreaded. 

 A gentleman, looking admiringly at one of 

 his black reds just about to be set down to 

 engage its white and yellow foe, exclaimed, 

 ' Yan'l see my cock will strip every feather off 

 the white one's back,' and sure enough in a 

 short time the surface of the pit was strewn 

 with white feathers. To illustrate the amaz- 

 ing power there is in the stroke of a game- 

 cock, we may remark that one of those white 



