Murphy Whitehackle Gamefowl

Mr. Murphy was a very private cocker who considered his affairs his own business and saw no reason to discuss them with anyone.  The gamefowl he bred showed the most consistently uniform fowl ever seen in New York main cocking events.  He lost his fair share, but he won a majority of the mains he competed in, winning forty-nine stag mains according to a cocker who followed his gamefowl career.

Mr. Murphy was part owner of Schley and company, a large brokerage firm.  Born in Long Island, New York, he began working around the harness horse track near his home by the time he was 14.   He became a close colleague of the horse racers, who were active traders in the NY stock market, and they gave Mr. Murphy tips on investing in the market, where he made good money.  Many of the Horsemen at that time were crazy about cockfighting.  Murphy was attracted by the winnings of the sport and cocking was already in full swing around New York City.

At one time three or four horses owners he jockeyed for in Syracuse, New York, had a current account of $100,000 in the bank, from which Murphy could withdraw any time if he saw a good horse that could breed well with his horse patrons.  Mr. Murphy could have gotten any proven bloodline he desired to start his gamefarm but his independent nature led him to raise his own bloodline and he didn’t want anyone to know what they were, or where they came from.   No one ever knew how he started his bloodlines and he just purchased whatever fowl he wished to start breeding cocks.

Nick Downes, an old Irish man who worked for him for 30 years, claimed Murphy fowl were Lawman Whitehackles. John Hoy, a great cocker around 1900 until his death in 1929, work for Murphy for seven years as a feeder and, Hoy was associated with Billy lawman and had the Lawman Whitehackles and Muffs. He took some of the fowl to Murphies place and a great many of the a more breed, raised and fought by and for Murphy. And, after hoy left Murphy, some of the fowl remained. They were the fowl Murphy continued to raise and fight.

The Murphy fowl were very uniform in every way, looks, fighting style and gameness. They were sort of a rusty red with white in wings and tail, call straight comb and all yellow legs and beaks.