National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1884-06-05
SORROWS OF A PRIZE FIGHTER.
Hard Work, Hard KNOCKS, aud Poor Pay
for the Hnnk and File.

NeW Iork Tribune.
"Oh, yes, we have an easy time" said n
prominent member of the slugging brigade,
whose face bore tho scars of many hard
fought battles in tho twenty foot ring
and with the gloves, to Tribune reporter.
1--WE only have to work from in the even
ing until or 4 in the morning for from $l6
to $25 week. Yes VIC make q regular
business of it. We are hired just like long
shoremen or hodcsrriers, have our regular
hours, do certain work, and get paid for IT,.
You wouldn't think that it was very hard
work to get up on the stage there and spar
for five or ten minutes time of au evening,
but that's because you never have tried 1t.
You think soft gloves don't hurt Well,
perhaps they don't. See this earU pointing
TO his left auricular organ. which was knocked
all out of shape, and was swollen to twice its
natural size. "Well, that's one Of the results
Of this hippodrome sparrlng It's all fixed,
and we go In not to hurt each other, but in
tho heat of debate we sometimes forget and
hit little harder than we intend, and then
black eye or cut lip or q swollen car
arc the results. Thon, you SEQ. unless we
keep our namo up as fighters We are no good,
and can't get an engagement, so we have to
get up occasional glove fights and get our
names in the papers. In a majority of cases
these fights are fixed, and while there is great
talk of $3.50 or $500 or some other sum q side,
who get up tho fight scoop the balance. The
fighters are generally careful not to hurt each
other but sometimes there's n rivalry or some
hard feeling between the men, and then you
got genuine milling with vengeance. You
have no idea how hard blow eau be hit with
hard glove. They are little moro than n
protection to the hands, aud | can give
good deal moro punishment with them than
| can with tho bare knuckles. This nose of
mine was broken in q hard glove fight that
was intended for joke" but which turned
out to be genuine fight before We finished
up" The aforesaid nose was entirely minus
q bridge and was tip-tilted at an angle of
forty-hve degrees.
IL should say" continued the speaker,
that there were between forty and fifty
sparrcrs-feather weight, light weight, mid
die weight, and heavy weight men-in the
business in New York. They are oil cham.
pions, and can all whip each other If you let
them tell it. good many of them never
faced man with bare knuckles or even hard
gloves, but they arc all tip-top fghters-on
| the bills-and they help TO catch suckers. A
part of our duties and not the easiest, is to
sit around tho house and cap for drinks.
! There arc any number of fools who consider
| it an honor to be permitted to drink with q
| prize fighter, and to have the privilege when
they bring some green friend in the place TO
walk up to some sparror and say Hello,
Jimmy, or Tommy or whatever his
| name may be, won't you take drink p
| They think it makes them tough and shine
in the eyes of their friends as 'rounder.' If
it wasn't for the fools we would have to go
| into some honest business. Why don't |
| leave 1t? Because / was u fool and went into
it, and now late hours and irregular habits
have untitled mo for anything else. haven't
brains OF education enough for reporter,
and that's the only business that requires the
night hours that l am used to. A good
sparrer is lucky If he gets $3.50 q night, and
they run from that down to $1.50. Some of
the boys have been talking about getting up
trade union and striking for higher pay.
We ought to bo pretty good at striking by
this time, don't you think so2"