The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-28 00:00:00

FATAL PRIZIC FIGHT.

GRAVESEND, Thursday.—This town has been
somewhat painfully excited by the fatal results
attending a prize fight. The particulars connected
with the affair are as follow :—lt having been ar-
ranged that a fight should take place between
" Johnny Walker" and " Bob Travers, the Black,"
two men well kuown as pugilists, for 1001., yester-
day was fixed as the day, and consequently at an
early hour in the morning a considerable portion
of the blackguardism of London repaired to the
Fenchurch-street station to proceed to a place
situated in the marshes opposite Greenhithe, selected
as the scene of operations. The fight, however,
much to the disappointment of the majority (f
those present, did not "come off," Walker not feel-
ing disposed to meet his coloured antagonist, who,
therefore, claimed the stakes. The populace, how-
ever, urged two other persons to fight. Their
wishes were satisfied, and two men (Sullivan and
Haley) fought for a lengthened period. At the
termination of the encounter two other person,
said to be personal friends, commenced hostilities.
One was James Morris, well known by the sobri-
quet of " The Brighton Pet," and the other was
named Philip Redwood, a young man about 26
years of age, who resided in Old Pie-street, West-
minister. The light had lasted about an hour when
Redwood fell to the ground and was picked up by
the seconds. He was unconscious, and bis friends,
finding it impossible to restore animation, con-
veyed him from the field to the banks of the river.
He was there placed in a boat, and brought over to
this side of the river, and taken from the boat to
the pier, when some of those who had come over in
the boat endeavoured to restore consciousness by
the administration of hot brandy and water. This
did not have the desired effect, and the unfortunate
proung man was placed in a cab, and taken to the
infirmary here, where he was seen by Mr. Flight,
the house surgeon, and other medical gentlemen
who happened to be in the institution at the time.
He still breathed, but, notwithstanding everything
possible was done, he expired about 7 o'clock last
evening, three quarters of an hour after his admis-
sion. Shortly after his death two young men,
named Thomas Oakey and James Donovan, called
at the infirmary to call for their unfortunate com-
panion. They were taken into custody as being
participators in the fight. They admitted they
were friends of the deceased, but refused to give
any information as to how his death was occasioned,
who his opponent was, or where he had gone. The
police, however, succeeded in ascettaining that the
fellow who had caused Redwood's death was the
person above named, and that he bad fled to Lou-
don immediately after the conflict. Mr. Superin-
tendent White at once despatched some officers to
the metropolis, but up to this evening no informa-
tion of Morris's c3pture had been received here.
He ice however, so well known that his apFrehen-
sion within a very brief period is considered cer-
tain. Up to this afternoon the identity of the de-
ceased bad not been satisfactorily established, but
about 4 o'clock an elderly woman named Margaret
Wilson, who described het self as mother-in-law of
the deceased, presented herself at the police station
andrequested permission to see the body. Of course
her wish was complied with, and she then gave the
police all the information they required. She was
much shacked at the appearance of the body, which
was frightfully contused about the head and neck.
Shestetad that the deceased was a married man,
and had left a widow and two young children to-
tally unprovided for. This evening Mr. Flight, at
the request of Mr. Helder, the coroner, made a poet
mortem examination of the body. He found dead,
to have resulted from apoplexy, caused by the rup-
ture of a bloodvessel on the brain, resulting from
the blows received during the fight. The deceased,
as described by Mr. Flight, was a rather slim• buil.
man, evidently not a fie person to engage in a pu-
gilistic encounter, and, was altogether out of condi-
tion. Oakey and Donovan remain in custody, and
will be brought before the magistrates at their nex.
sitting; and it is said so determined are the au•ho-
rities to put a step to such disgraceful transaction
for the future, that all the persons known to have
been 'present at the fight will be summoned before
the magistrates. A rumour was current this even-
ing that. Haley, one of the men engaged in the
first fight, had also, expired from the injuries, he
rewind.