The Magnolia gazette. [volume] (Magnolia, Miss.) 1872-current, 1882-09-22
FATAL FIGHTS.
"REMINISCENCES OF THE NOTED
PRIZE-FIGHTERS OF THE PAST.
rERRIBnH RESULT or shEDeE-HAMMER
BLOWS.

BLOWS.
Some time ago controversy arose as
to the comparative merits Of blow de.
liyered with the naked hand and one adj
ministered with the digitorial member,
encased in buckskin aud covered with
horse-hair. The daring Of the Boston
Strong Boy in Offering to have his hands
mufied while his adversary would use
natures Weapons in their native state,
set the wiseacres thinking. and many
learned dissertations, opinions, and utter
ances on this subject were placed before
the public. Professors, who were sup.
posed to know all about the art of chit,
stop, and get away rushed into print
with their ideas, while the newspapers
teemed with articIes which, while very
verbose, containing nothing but gener.
alities. Tue one great fact that there
meyer was a man injured IN boxing bout
nor one killed in glove fight, was com
pletely lost sight of. This oversight
was undoubtedly brought about by the
indiscriminate challenges thrown out by
those who aspired to premiership in the
''magic circle" Had these men, who
we're soloud in pronouncing that the
glove leut additional force to the striker
taken the trouble to go through ''1'istl-
ana, Boxiana, or Pugillstia,9 they would
have found out that several men had
been stricken down in death with the
naked fist, while the greatest injnry IN
fiic;ed on an antagonist with the
gloved hnnd was 'the knocking out pro-
cess" Instances Of this method o. put
ting an enemy hors du combat are nu-
merous, but history fails TO record where
any man has ever yet been killed by any
such blow or even disabled for life. Had
some of the blows been struck with the
uncovered hand that have been admins
tered with the boxing glove, the recipi-
ent would not now be alive to tell the
tale, and the athlete who delivered the
blow would now be in durance vile.
Probably one of the severest blows ever
struck was during the boxing tourney
for the amateur championship, in the
year 1878, when H. e. Beurmeyer, of
the New York Athletic Club, Knocked
Geo. Lee, Of the Union Club, Of Boston.
out OF time by terrific right handed
cross counter, which landed on the Jug.
ular vein. When this blow was received
Lee shook all oyer like a leaf, and then
fell forward like a dead man, and every
one thought it certainly would develop
into case Of manslaughter. The au-
thorities evidently thought so, as more
than one Of the interested parties were
placed under arrest. Now, had this
blow been delivered thenaked hand,
Lee would have been put to sleep forev-
er, if it had not broken his neck. It Ger
tainly was one ofthe most terrific hits
ever administered by any human being,
and Sulliyan's sledgehammer blows were
insignificant compared to its awful force.
Reverting back to ancient history and
mythology, many instances are found
where the gladiators Of those times sac
rificed tlieir own lives and tie lives OF
others in the arena;but these can scarce
" be called pugilistic encounters, as the
combatants used all sorts Of artificial aids
10 reducing each other to state Of in
sennbility or subiection. The cntus
and the boxing glove bear about the
sams relationship TO EACH other as the
buttoned foil does to the fighting rapier.
1 Yet even with these terrible instruments
of warfare, deaths in the arena were not
nearly SO numerous as one would sup.
pose, and It is mooted point whether
the onslaughta Of the ancients with theii
hide. lead. leather. or wooden hand Gov
eringe, were more terrific than straight
shoulder hits of sucn men as Broughton,
Figg, Cribb. Spring, King, Heenan and
Sayers Or Sullivan. They certainly were
much slower Of necessity than the mod
ern prizafghter, as the heavy handicap
or their hands rendered their hitting
much more methodical and studied. Il
it were possible to resusciate some of the
famous athletes whom the Greek and Ro