River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1888-03-15

HEY MEL IN FRANCE.


After Thirty Nine Rounds sullivan and
a.Ischeirs PusiIishc T. counter Is De-
clared a Draw-The British Champion
Gives an Exhibition of Sprintins-BOth
Men Arrested.
LONDON, March 1.-The fight between
Sullivan and Mitchell took place Saturday
at Creil, France. on the estate of Baron
Rothschld 1t resulted in a draw after
thirty-uine rounds had been fought
Mitchell appeared to be in tho better con-
dition before the fight, he opinion being
that Sullivan was overturned The fight
began at 12:55. Mitchell winning the toss
for corner and putting the sun and wind in
Sllivan's face
Tie first round began IN the greatest
silence and with intense excitement Sulli-
van plan ed his left Mitchell tried body
blow. but failed. Sullivan landed lightly
on NJ tchelrs head He then aimed another
body blow and stopped John for the hrst
time let go with both hands, ana knocked
Mitchell down. The latter was carried 10 his
corner by his seconds, BaIdock and Jake XII
rain Sullivan did not go down, and
walked to his corner lot of maneuver-
ing and sparring at distance for an OPEN
ing was sandwiched in between the blows
recorded. The following rounds were
like the first with variations; Sui
Ivan went to the ground but twice
on his hands, and got backwards once in slip
ping and another time in wrestling The
conclusion OF every round was brought
abous by punishment inflicted by Sullivan
or by Mitchelrs falls in running away from
his big adversary, excepting the final
FOUND, when the draw was arranged
Sullivan knocked Mitchell c,ean down
again and again, certainly not less than
f,rrk hafl ali al a
wonderful ability to stand being knocked
down. but each me Mitchell VS. being
carried of in his seconds arms he would
turn his bruised face and say; Not yet
Sullivan finished the second round by
knocking Mitchell down with blow on the
left eye which pulled out
In the seventh round MitchelPs nails
scratched Sulhvan's face and brought blood,
whereupon Mitchell claimed first blood
All laughed, but Mitchell explained that it
was because he had a bet In the ninth
round foul was claimed because Mitchell
went down TO avoid punishment
Mitchell was guilty, but Sullivan de-
clined TO press the point The referee
warned Mitchell A half dozen fouls were
claimed during the fight, but Sullivan in
variably declared he would not pot the coin
that way, and Withdrew the claim made on
his behalf each time
In the fifteenth round Sullivan could
have won the battle had he wanted 20 foul
The round concluded with an awful right
handler on the temple, which sent
Mitchell down like a shot He was
almost knocked senseless, and on coming
up for the fifteenth round had an
enormous bump on the side of his head,
and was too shaky TO have withstood or es-
capped Sullivan, had he rushed in bis old
way, but Sullivan allowed the chance to es-
cape The sixteenth seventeenth eight
eenth and nineteenth rounds We're a
succession of rapid knOck-d downs. but
Sullivan's arm had not all of his old
power back of it, and Mitchell kept COM
ing up each time. The thirty second round
lasted 81 minutes and 40 seconds, and
after that the rounds got rdiculously long.
Mitchell kept running away from Sui
livan who could not get in a hit
He was chill d by the pelting rain, and
took to standing still in the middle of
the ling, while Mitchell deliberately
walked around the edge of the ring At
last the men took TO going to their
corners without time being called, 50 that
pracic lily five roun Is were added to the
official minutes, making forty-four. The
last round was a farce, and Sullivan
seemed unable to knock Mitchell out
van except by time, and when Mitchelrs
friends proposed to make it a draw
it was accepted, though bitterly opposed by
Phillips, Sullivan's hacker, and others of
his friends The fight lasted three hours
and eleven minutes. At least two hours of
daylight remained The fight was beyond
all question fair and square one and on
its merits
CREu March II - Sullivan, Mitchell,
Philips, Pony Moore, Billy Common, Jack
Burnett. George Mcdonald and others OF
the prize-fghting party, sixteen in all,
were arrested while driving from the fight
back to Creil They We're surrounded by
mounted gendarmes and all were taken
and locked up at Senlis
After an hours suspense they were all
brought up for exam nation before magis-
trate in the b z hall # the sous prefecture.
Sullivan first, then Mitchell was brought in,
each handcutfei 10y the right wrist TO a big
gendarme There was interesting tes-
timony given by tbs multitude of
prisoners All proved 0 be in France
upon business quite distinct from prize
lighting The magistrate, Idvorably i'm
pressed, told Them they might 90 and the
great majority made straight for London
without loss of time Sull.y. Il and Mitchell
were en- back to tier cells and Mcdonald
III DldAt-bCAHs luisit tid-HttFs were q Olt
ON promising TO appear It . O'Clock this
Sunday morning. At midnight the pugilists
were visited by q doctor, whose services
proved to be sadly needed. Both men
were IN a sad plight They We're in sep
arate cells, cold and damp, without food
and without covering TO their beds
Mitchell was the worse of. His head was
covered with Jumps and his face was
discolored mass of knots and bruises On
his knees were Commissions from repeated
falls He fell more than forty times during
the fight
One glance at Sullivan showed why he
had neglected so many opportunities to
knock Mitchell out when a right handler
would have done it. His right arm
was sweled TO twice its natural size. and
the left which had been broken be-
fore in his ST. Paul night, was in bad
condition.
Sullivan and Mi chell were brought up
before the magistrate early yesterday morn
ing. They were set at liberty under bail Of
i, coo francs, and at once departed for Lon
don. Both mems hands were knocked to
pieces. Mitchelrs right was fairly preserved,
but his left was a complete wreck All his
left-dand blows after the twentieth
round were Intellectual, being deliv-
cred with the wide or h-ei Of the
hand open. Both men were pitifUliy stiff,
and, in fact, c freely able to move. Mitchell
paralyzed, a condition due TO internal in
juries caused py blows, which according TO
the French doctors, had literally caused a
cayiuU IN OF the back