THE MANLY SPORTS OF NEVADA

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXI, Issue 4820, 2 September 1876, Page 3

THE MANLY SPORTS OF NEVADA

(From the Virginia Chronicle, May 8.)

: Yesterday afternoon the novel' contest described below took place at the racecourse : “Grand wildcat chase.—A match has been made between Bing Williams’ bull-terrier dog ‘Paddy’ and a wildcat, at the race-track, Sunday afternoon, May 7, 1876, at 2 o’clock. —The terms of the match are as follows : Williams bets lOOdols. that his dog will cateh the cat and, kill him in thirty minutes after being let loose from his. cage. If the . dog turn four times he loses the .match.— Matt Bean, proprietor." At about half-past three o’clock the track and stand were crowded with nearly three hundred spectators, and a few minutes afterwards the fight began. The end of the cage containing ithe cat was knocked in, and the bulldog made a vicious dash into the box, bringing the wild cat out hanging on his head and nose with its ■ claws. For the first five minutes the fight was tolerably even, but at the end of that time the cat was so disabled that it keeled over, and fought the remainder of the battle on its back and sides. The tactics of the bulldog were rather, 1 scientific. At first he worried the cat around the forelegs and foreshoulders for about four, minutes; then he' tackled the head and’ upper shoulders, and finally the back and breast. After about twelve minute’s fighting, the dog frequently : stopped to catch his wind, meanwhile walking in a circle around the prostrate cat to prevent her escaping. During some of these in- ; tervais the dog’s backers seized the opportunity and sponged him. Several of the outsiders, sympathisers of the cat, yelled out vociferously,. “ Sponge the cat.” But evidently the cat did not understand the charitable kindness, and met the sponging with a vicious clawing and spitting. At last the dog satisfied himself with getting a bite in wherever he could, and in 20 minutes from the commencement of the fight the wild cat gave up the ghost. It washardto tell which bite had killed her. She seemed to have died from a loss of blood and receiving too many bites all over, administered too viciously. The bulldog never turned at all during the fight, ■ but stuck to his post as a bulldog generally sticks. At the end of the battle it was hard to tell whether he was a dog or a cat. During the first'five minutes of the' fight the cat had clawed and bitten him fearfully. His head and back were streaming with blood, and he was scratched all over.