COCK-FIGHTING MAINS.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19255, 20 August 1924, Page 10

COCK-FIGHTING MAINS.

A CRUEL SPORT IN CUMBERLAND. Cock-fighters, who are probably more numerous in Cumberland than anywnero else, suffered severe reverse recently on a moor between the River Derwent and the River Allen and near Cockermouth, reports the Manchester Guardian. A large party was surprised and many of them caught by the Cockermouth police, who carried off'the competing birds, steel spurs put on the birds’ natural spurs, and all apparatus necessary for the carrying out of a cock main on an extensive scale. It is 10 years since the Cumberland police were successful in a raid, although ■ numerous mains are conducted at every holiday time. In this case the main took place in the afternoon instead of at dawn, as is customary. It was unfortunate tor the cock-fight-ing party that the police were within the ring of scouts posted to keep a lookout. The police were compelled to watch several battles fought, and sawtherefore, the elaborate ritual that preceded the matching of the birds. Thus they beheld the birds being withdrawn from the hags in which they were brought, being blindfolded so that they might consent to being weighed on the scales, and their “heeling” with steel spurs by the “pitters,’’ who act as masters of ceremonies. In one instance a wounded bird lay on the ground while the pitter counted it out. In another case the birds were severely “heeled”— that is, had driven their steel spurs so far into each other’s bodies that they could not extract them. The pitter then separated the birds. The main had been in progress a long time before the cock-fighters were aware of the presence of the police. When the latter disclosed themselves there was o rush to cover in a plantation near by, but some 20 or 30 of the participants finding themselves identified, gave up the struggle. The police took possession of all the articles used.