[Illustration:  Franz J. Heilborn]

[Illustration:  Heilborn’s Raffles]

[Illustration:  Edward Burnett

A Prominent Early Breeder]

It seems to be hardly necessary at this late date to give a history of the dog, but perhaps for that large number of people who are intensely interested in him but have not had the chance to have been made acquainted with his origin, a brief survey may be of service.  Although Boston rightly claims the honor of being the birthplace of the Boston terrier, still I think the original start of the dog was in England, for the first dog that was destined to be the ancestor of the modern Boston terrier was a dog named Judge, a cross between an English bull and bull terrier, imported from the other side and owned by Mr. R. C. Hooper, and known as Hooper’s Judge.

On my last visit to England I found that quite a number of dogs have been bred in this way, viz., a first cross between the bull and terrier, especially in the neighborhood of Birmingham in the middle of England; but these dogs are no more like the Boston terrier than an ass is like a thoroughbred horse.  Judge was a dark brindle, with a white stripe in face, nearly even mouthed, weighing about thirty-two pounds, and approximating more to the bull than the terrier side.  He was mated to a white, stocky built, three-quarter tail, low stationed bitch, named Gyp (or Kate), owned by Mr. Edward Burnett of Southboro.  Like Judge, she possessed a good, short, blocky head.  It may not be out of place to state here that some few years ago, on paying a visit to Mr. Burnett at Deerfoot Farm, Southboro, he told me that in the early days he possessed thirteen white Boston terrier dogs that used to accompany him in his walks about the farm, and woe to any kind of vermin or vagrant curs that showed themselves.  From Judge and Gyp descended Well’s Eph, a low-stationed, dark brindle dog with even white markings, weighing twenty-eight pounds.  Eph was mated to a golden brindle, short-headed, twenty pound bitch, having a three-quarter tail, named Tobin’s Kate.  From this union came a red brindle dog with a white blaze on one side of his face, white collar, white chest, and white feet, weighing twenty-two pounds, and possessing the first screw tail, named Barnard’s Tom.  I shall never forget the first visit I made to Barnard’s stable to see him.  To my mind he possessed a certain type, style and quality such as I had never seen before, but which stamped him as the first real Boston terrier, as the dog is today understood.  I was never tired of going to see him and his brother, Atkinson’s Toby.  Tom was mated to a dark brindle bitch, evenly marked, weighing twenty pounds.  She had a good, short, blocky head, and a three-quarter tail, and known as Kelley’s Nell.  The result of this mating was a dog destined to make Boston terrier history, and to my mind the most famous Boston terrier born, judged by results.  He was known as “Mike,”