St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-25

500 side, the gate, which was worth
$50. and the lightweight championship
of the Northwest. 1t was
NEEDHAM'S TENTH BATTLE.
in none of which had he been knocked
down. That record, however, could
not be claimed after he had had one
round with Griffin. The seconds and
time-keeperS were well-known sporting
men of st. Paul and other cities, and it
was 2:O5 o'clock when time was called.
From that time there was
one of the gamiest fights
going on in that little hall of which
there is any record. Skin gloves were
used and the effect of the heavy blows
that the two men dealt was terrible.
The tight must have been an extremely
gratifying one to those present who en-
Joy straight hitting, plenty of blood and
lively action. There was not a single
cry of foul during the forty-odd min
uteS that the men faced each other.
Whenever the men clinched, a sugges-
ton from the referee was all
that was needed, and at the
beginning of the rounds, almost
without exception the men,
came up without a show of being
groggy. During those forty odd min
ufeS no one spoke ten words above a
whisper, except the referee, the time
keepers and the seconds. 1t was as
quiet and orderly as a prayer meeting.
except for the cracking blows that the
pugiliStS kept up. With them it was
swift, constant and vicious fighting. A
good deal of blood was in sight at times.
for both men got blows iIf the mouth
that brought it in quantities, and from
frequent clinchings, it got pretty gen
orally spread o7er their bodies. They
looked like butchers.
Needham was confident on entering
the ring that he would knock out his
opponent. He was almost too conf
dent, for III the earliest stages of the
game the tight was against him. He
fought tercely, but Griffin proved him
self cool man, and one who could
stand heavy punishment, and at the
same time give back pretty nearly as
good as he was getting.
IN THE FIRST ROUND,
after being once knocked down. he got
In the first blow that ever felled Dannie.
But that felled him all in heap. He
staggered in getting up. and one of Grit
fms hackers called out ''time.n Grit
lin thought it was the end of the round
and went to his chair. The timekeeper
insisted that the round was not over,
and the referee called both men from
lnelr chairs 10 go Oh with the fight.
Needham had recovered himself enough
by that time to send his opponent to
grass once more with his heavy left
arm, though before the round was over
Griffin landed terrific upper-cut square
in Dams mouth that drew first blood.
and lots of it, too. Griffin's friends
claimed that had he not gone to his
chair at the call of '.time'' by
one of his friends, but followed up
his advantage, he would have
won right then and there. As it was he
had the best of it for that round. Dan.
however, did not lose a bit of his pluck
or his head by the incident. but went at
1t in a more guarded way for the rest of
the mill. He worked his left arm for
all it was worth, and got in any number
of heavy blows Oh Griffin's neck and
face. Griffin responded gamely at each
time, however. Sometimes it was i'm
possible to keep tally on the blows, they
came so hot and thick.
Itwas anybody's fight up to the sixth
or seventh round. There it began to
come Needham's way. He hammered
away on his opponents head with regu-
lar sledge blows, so much that after the
fight his hands were swollen all out of
shape, and his opponents face was
hardly recognizable. In the first round.
after Needham's sudden drop, in
sharp set-tO he got terrible upper cut
squarely in his mouth, from which
stream of blood flowed, and which at