The Northern Pacific farmer., 1883-09-20
PRIZE FIGHTERS
Ben H"gans Experiences In the Ring and
FE r ,kecolieetiOns of Pugalists.

s f. skecolleetions of Pugalists.
From the Chicago Newa
you want to know how much damage
prize fighting does to the human anatomy
+ do ou?" said Ben Hogan, the evangelist
andex- prize fighter: We'll, take look at
me-; am in much better condition than l
was when / reformed, three and half years
ago; butI estimate that my vitality is only
fifty per cent. of what it would have been
If / had never been q fighter. The shocks
and bruises that a man gets in the ring hurt
him more, ten years afterward than they do
when he gets them have been terribly
beat on the head in nv time, and those old
wounds reopen. regularly once q year.
and healthy that nothing could tire me.
Who got tired. But at present, when I
ought byfighh to be stin stronger. it wor-
ries'me even tossstand on q platform and
talk, - go: PSF s"aI -
>. :'They die prematurely of weakness and
disease brought onby their injuries. In
fact, they die at Or about the time when, if
they had notbeen prize: Fighters, they would
have been at the prime of life. Charley
Gallagher died at the age Of 30. of con-
sumption, caused by an injury received in
bis fight with Davis. Davis fell on him,
planting his knee in his upper left breast.
Brandy bears the blame of killing Tom
Sayers, but, in my opinion, he died Of the
injuries inflicted by John G.. Heenan.
Heenan jumped off train and hurt him.
self end some lay the blame of premature
dea,h on that accident, but he died OF
consumption, produced, in my opinion, by
over training. and by the punishment he
got in his fight with Ssyers and King.
John Morrissey's death is 1ayed on Bright's
disease. but he had stood beating enough
I'd kill ten men, and Ibelieve that is what
killed him. Yankee Sullivan is said to have
been killed by a vigilance committee,
but the truth is that he went crazy from
injuries to his head he had received, and
committed suicide. by opening an artery.
Patsy Riordan, one of the grandest men
physically that ever lived, died at SO. a
complete physical and mental wreck. Bob
Ri : die died the same way, the very flesh
dropping off his fingers. Joe Womble died
in a Montreal insane asylum. And SO they
50, all of them dying at what ought to be
the prime of life."
"What do you think Of the effects of the
training that prize-fghters undergo, when
they are going to fght?"
IT 1T is possible to overdo it, and then it
is an injury. But these seldom happens.
Generally it is very beneficial, and it is
great pity that everybody isn't trained the
same way. II had gone into training al
20 years of age, and never left it until
/ died. would have lived 100 years, with
out doubt. am q great advocate of
physical trimming, and think boxing good
exercise, though somewhat Objectionable
on account of being q sort Of temptation to
fighting"
aWhat do you think Of the immoral ten
denotes of prize -fihting?"
"Is the i'll. health of fighters due to the
pounding they get or to dissipaticn?"
1T is due to both, and to one about as
much as another. But the terrible bodily
injuries they receive are beyond dispute.
The worst injuries are not always those
which knock q man out of his senses, like
Sullivan's last blow A. Ryan. It is evident
that that blow landed on the jugular vein.
This is we'll understood and much covet-
ed blow among prize. fRhters, not because
il permanently disab!es man, but because
it makes HIM insensible 80 long that he
can't come TO time. Severe bruises about
the chest and ribs are much more apt to in
Gct permanent injury,
q How do prizs-6ghters die, as far as
your observation goes?n 80 80
Of prize-fghting there is no difference of-
effects more particularly than most people.
Just as squarreling leads to fighting, SO
fighting leads to quarreling and hatred. It
is useless to say that people ever fight with
out hating each other. The very passions
OF the pit rage among sporting people, and
especially amoung fighters. They begin
with their fists but they soon get past that,