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STORIES FROM IOWA'S PAST
The famous (and infamous) who have had a lasting impact on the state and the world
Rooster raises thousands for Red Cross
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A Guide For Newbies and Out-Of-Staters.
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A Guide For Newbies and Out-Of-Staters.
INDEPTHIowa
General Jack Pershing (the rooster, not the army hero) was born in Adair county during the first world war. A farm, Mark Dunkerson, had little to donate to an auction whose proceeds were designated for the Red Cross, so he offered his extra rooster. (Dunkerson owned ten chickens and two roosters; he only needed one.
The story goes that when Jack was sold, the high bidder decided that he was too feisty to take home and so he told the auctioneer, David R. Jones of Casey, to sell him again. After he was sold, the second buyer also put Jack back up on the auction block. This repeated itself over and over again and the bird helped raised $217 that night for the war effort. Jones took him home and decided to name him after the famous general.
Everywhere that Jones went he took the bird with him. At each auction, he told the story of the cantankerous general, and in each town, civic pride resulted in spirited bidding in an effort to raise more money than the folks in neighboring towns. The most successful night was in Exira, a town of 900, where $7,000 was raised in one day.
The bird and the auctioneer worked out a routine: Jack would sit on Jones’ should and crow loudly as the bidding continued. By the time the war ended, Jack had traveled nearly 8,000 miles and had been sold more than 9,000 times. After the war, he lived a life of leisure on the Jones’ farm near Casey, and when he died, he was taken to a taxidermist where he was preserved. He say in a glass case at the State Historical Building in Des Moines for years as part of a veteran’s exhibit.
Adair County had a little fun in Jack’s memory in 2001 when they painted 150 giant concrete roosters and had them located around the county. People came from all over to see how many roosters they could locate during weekend drives.
That was to celebrate Jack’s return to Adair County after 84 years away from home. The event was the auction to raise funds for 9-11 relief, and Jack was sold and resold to Adair County residents, raising $1,835. In a fitting bit of serendipity, Dunkerson’s great-grandson, Ted Wallace, was the auctioneer who oversaw the sale.