A photograph from around 1915 of a cock fight in the Tower City area, Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania.
This brief story (and photo above) comes from the Centennial History of Tower City and Porter Township, 1868-1968 published in 1968:
One of the favorite spectator sports was cockfighting. It was illegal, but dozens of local men bred, raised, trained and fought their roosters in scheduled in New Jersey, New York, Maryland, and Virginia, and at least one breeder entered his birds in international competition. “Jack” Slingwine developed a strain of fighting cocks that were reputed to be the best in the world and today [1968] the blood-line of his breed is evident in Mexico and other Latin American countries where the sport is legal.
Many cockfights were staged in our locality. One occurred at Orwin pavilion in the 1920s, but someone must have warned the State Police of the affair and during the main bout the cry “police” was heard, and a hundred or more escaped through the windows.
The sport has been virtually forgotten, and few, if any, today raise or fight chickens.
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