H I S T K Y OF H E E E F E D CATTLE 



273 



At the Shorthorn conspirator's special re- 

 quest, a Young Herd premium was offered, and 

 this special premium he had made spiecial ar- 

 rangements to take oft' ; but it was too glaring 

 and he failed to do so, and my young herd 

 carried off the honors. The man who was ten- 

 dered as a judge in the place of Mr. Murray, 

 was a personal friend of the conspirator before 

 and after judging. 



The Shorthorn exhibitors claimed that my 

 winnings were due to greater skill in fitting, 

 and if they could secure Mr. Morgan to the 

 Shorthorn interest, ]\Iiller and the Herefords 

 would be nowhere, and the Shorthorns could 

 regain their former position. They placed be- 

 fore Mr. Morgan the beauties of Bow Park ; the 

 respectable position that could be his at that 

 renowned institution. But Mr. Morgan could 

 not be bought or seduced. 



But this partial failure at Minneapolis did 

 not discourage tbe conspirators; they arose to 

 the surface again in 1880, at the Fat Stock 

 Show at Chicago, and took advantage of the 

 misfortune of my unfortunate herdsman. To 

 make the fullest use of their tool they must 

 attempt to prove their assertions as to my Here- 

 fords by him. "Miller and his Herefords," thev 

 said, "owe their success over the Shorthorns to 

 the slcill with which Watson has fed them," and 

 now their desire was to get Watson away, and 

 have Miller wdiere Delilah left Samson. They 

 pictured to him the beauties of the blue grass 

 pastures of Kentucky; the high standing of the 

 Shorthorn breeders in Kentucky — what a re- 

 spectable standing he could have among them 

 and in that society. "Break with !\Iiller and 

 the Herefords and your future is secure." and 

 unfortunately he sold himself for less than thir- 

 tv pieces of silver, and no doubt regretfully 

 wished to hang himself many times before he 

 was done wdth them. 



T have charged that the Shorthorn men 

 gained the position they hold by other means 

 than those of merit. I present the course of 

 the conspirators at Minneapolis in 1878, as an 

 evidence. 



I present the facts of the American Fat 

 Stock Sliow at Chicago in 1880, and these jobs 

 must attach to the exhibitors of Shorthorns at 

 those shows. These were but illustrations of 

 the plan in which they picked up the best bul- 

 locks and show cattle in the country and put 

 them in the hands of the best feeders they could 

 find, and by manipulation of the judges come 

 prepared to beat the Herefords. 



Judas took his pay in hand ; my unfortunate 

 assistant, in a time of weakness, took his in 

 promises, and as soon as through with him 



they spurned him, as did the purchasers of 

 Judas. Benedict Arnold turned traitor for re- 

 venge, and lived, cursed by those he betra}»^d 

 and those who bought him. Happily, "L^ncle 

 Willie" (|yi9.5j, as he is now affectionatelv 

 called bv his manv friends in all breeds, saw 

 the error of his wav, his inherent excellent qual- 

 ities again predominated, and returning to his 

 "first love," he attached himself again to his 

 father's breed — his first and true love, the 

 Aberdeen-Angus cattle, and has achieved a last- 

 ing reputation and position, worthy of his splen- 

 did abilities, that outshine all error, and that 

 make even this forced reference to earlier fol- 

 lies repugnant to the writer. All's well, how- 

 ever, that ends well. 



It has never been our aim to stand on the 

 defensive. Like Mr. Sotham, we ever proposed 

 to make this Hereford controversy, to the best- 



MRS. SARAH EDWARDS. 

 Of Wintercott, Herefordshire. 



of our ability, an aggressive one. The Short- 

 horn advocates for a time adopted the policv of 

 letting us alone, hoping that by the let-alone 

 policv, the Hereford movement would die of 

 itself. But in pushing their claims, thev would 

 say to stock journals, "If vou permit this Here- 

 ford question to be discussed you must look to 



