American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1874-12-05

!
q. Sseisshel,n, in Chicaso Tribune,
How Senator Chandler Squared Ac-
counts With Senator Conkling.
ZACH. CHANDLERs great hobby is his
skill as pugili-t Roscoe Conkling is
also u great boxer He has "A private
gymnasium in his residence at Washing
ton, where after dinner he invites such
of his friends as are gymnastically In
clined for friendly little bout with the
gloves. Conkiing Is Il very good anna
teur boxer, and as he is very large,
powerful man he generally has il his
own way with the guests who are bold
enough to put The gloves on with him.
For scrie time it was an open dispute
I between Chandler and Conkling which
was the better boxer of the two. Chan
dler would, after every dinner party of
which he was a member, calmly assert
that he could lick any man of his weight
in the United States. One day last win
ter Chandler dined with Conkling. and
the latter inveigled the great war Sem
ator into the private gymnasium. The
gloves were donned, and the two doughty
champions began to make graceful Sem
atorial passes toward one another ac
cording to the most approved rules of
the p. X. The bout, however. was of
very short duration. Chandler suddenly
received blow between the eyes, which
caused the huge Senatorial form to go
over backward; his trusty legs failed
him, and then he sat down so hard that
| tears came out of his eyes. 1t took four
men to get the war Senator upon his
legs, but he threw up the sponge at once,
without any further effort to punish
Conkling. The only remark he was
heard to make was: VERY STRANGE"
and IN fix him yetr'
Conkllng and Chandler were much to-
gether in a social way. and it was not
long after the above occurrence when
Chandler received another invitation tn
come up to his house and spread his legs
under Conklin's social board. Chandler
sent back word that he regretted very
much his inability to he present, but
that he had a guest at his house, val
ued constituent from Michigan, and he
could not leave him. Conkling sent
back word: Bring your friend along"
With this form of invitation Chandler
consented to come up. He brought his
friend with him, and introduced him as
Mr. Howard, of Detroit, Mich. Howard
was sad-eyed man of diffident man.
ners, who contented himself with paying
a very close attention to the themes of
the bill OF fare rather than to Join in the
general conversation of the dinner table
Conkling was in great glee during the
dinner. He told over and over again the
story of Chambers discontinue as
boxer, and never seemed to tire of ask
ing him what he thought about his
ability to lick any man in the United
States. Chandler took all these remarks
in an absent minded way. if suddenly
he had become lifted above any such
petty ambition of considering himself
fine athlete. After dinner Conkling led
his guests into the gymnasium for a gen
eral smoke and chat.
Come" said he, pleasantly, to Chan
dler, don't you want another bout with
the gloves?" and then Conkling laughed
again in his most cheerful, turkey COB
bier style. as he put on pair of gloves.
No, don't want to box" said Chan
dler, b" but perhaps my friend here would
consent to amuse you" Turning to Mr..
Howard, Chandler remarked: T" You box,
do you noty"
Mr. Howard still looked sad-eyed and
absent-minded. He did once know
something about it, but it was such a
long time ago.
"Come, come" said Conkling "let us
have friendly bout. won't hurt you"
Evidently the great New York Senator
was pining to knock some one down. The
sad-eyed Mr.. Howard, evidently fiattered
at the prospect of being knocked down
by SO distinguished a man, began slowly
to put on palr of gloves. AS he was
drawing on the gloves Chandler was OBJ
served to walk down a little to the back
ground. A contented look was on his
face, and every now and then he would
raise his huge right foot up under his
swaying voluminous coat-taii and give
himself congratulatOry kick, expressive
of rapture.
The sad-eyed man now came forward
and the round began. Conkling was for
proceeding at once to knock his opponent
not found great difficulty ir getting any
where near the sad-eyed man. The af-
fair eliminated by the sad-eyed mans
suddenly rushing forward and landing d
| thunderbolt of a fist between Conkling's
eyes. The Senator went over like grea,
tree and rolled into the corner of the
room, where he lay for a moment stunned
by the conclusion. He was heard to say
afterward that he thought house had
| fallen on him.
| Conkling had enough of boxing fol-
once. Chandler made several pleasant
little remarks about the skill of hi.
| friend Conkling, which were not received
in the most cheering way. Judge o
COnkling's feelings the next day when i
learned that Chandler had played a jokt
upon him by giving Mr. Howard one hun
dred dollars to come up and bounce AIR
Conkling. The Mr. Howard, of Detroit,
Mich. was none other than the notorious
pugilist, Jem Mace Washington Cor
Pittsburgh Leader.