Omaha daily bee., 1884-10-30
SWEIlLS OF THE PRIZE-RING.
The New School Pugilists Compared
With the Old.
New York Star.

New York Star.
With the disappearance Of the old time
styles and customs of the prize ring, as
well as the manner and kind of its cham.
pions and vo taries, nothing is more sur.
prising to those whose affiliation
with the sport have caused them to make
it study than the gradual dying out as
well of tho phases which, almost since
the very commencement of pugilism as a
pastime and science, have accompanied
and seemed a very part of il.
That the sport itself is in Its decadence
not all will admit, but it has almost de.
cidedly lost by degrees its most distinc.
tive features-vu]garity. This is most
notably shown in comparison of the
phases used in an old time prize fight and
modern one. The fact cannot well be
attributed to the circumstance of men
of fashion and ari3tocratic tendencies
giving 1t foT the first time their
patronage for as Lord william Pitt Len.
nox wrote in his Pictures Of Sporting
Life and Character" ''pugilism was in
much higher favor forty years ago 1910.
lS20l, than it now is, and even crowned
heads patronized the ring. The
proper nse of the boxing-gloves was con-
sidered part Of gentlemans education. "
At the fight between Daniel Mendoza and
Harry Lee, March u, 1906, at Grimtsead
Green, short distance beyond Bromlsy,
in Kent, for forty guinies, the reporter
noted the following personagss az being
present: LORDS Albemarle and Seton,
Count Beaujolais, Sir Watkins Williams
Wynne, Sir John Shelly, Sir Eden Nagle,
Captain Halliday, Squire Thornhill and
General kep2el, and at previous affair
of a similar character at Newmarket there
had been noticed their Royal Highnes,
and the Prince of Wales and the Duke Of
York, the Duke of Orleans and the Duks
dc FitztimeJ.
In the same way men who stood and
pummeled each other wsre not all OF
them rough and ready class. 1t is
stated of Richard Bumphries, who was
known az. the gentleman boxer" and
who gave exhibitions of his skill between
1884 and 1890, that his genteel charac.
teristics drew many to sec him who
would otherwise no more have thcnght
of witnessing 2ugilist:c exhibition than
would the ladies of our present. day.
John Gally, celebrated votary of She p.
r., whose picture may be seen in one of
Harry Hills private rooms, become 30
well thought of and was of such an intel
lectual nature that he finally bscame a
member of parliament and died an
hono,ed and respected public Official.
But in spite of the few exception
among theu, and regardless of its royal
patronage the rank and file of tho select
body of men who contest with bare
kauckles for supremacy in the roped
aIena coGld no moro be compared 10 the
Ougilistic class of the present day than
can their terms be said to DO as elegant.
The dandy sorapper" Of to-day wear
tall silk hats anu are all be diamond
and bs.jeweled with their proportion OF
the gate receipts received for putting on
pair of gloves and standing up for foul
minutes before similar being. They
cannot be classed with the pug" of l0C
years ago--a WOODEN comforter wounG
about his throat, and an old pea. jacket on
his eyes bunged up and wearing yisag'
that looked as though some one had
been pounding it with rocks. The
slang terms of the ring that seemed
suited to the old. time fighter don't seeE
to fit the new race of "pugs' at all,
1t is interesting to read old'time re