Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-07-16
GOSSIP ABOUT THE BOXERS.
The Greatest Prize Ring Battle That
Was Ever Fought.
From the New York Sun.

/
| From the New York sun
The week just passed has witnessed the great
est prize battle ever fought. Those who saw i
endured priyations and hardships such as seldom
fall to the lot Of ring goers. and while the 4,00t
who had the privilege had many faults to FIND
with the railway company, the heat, and the
want Of suitable refreshments. not one of the
entire number had a word of complaint agains
| the fight itself. Eech man did his best-ths
best he could at the time-and the superior
pngilist won, but not until be received more
punishment than all his previous ring oppo.
nents put together had been able to give him
| The manner Of the mems entrance to the
| ring was characteristic. Kilrain was the first
to show himself at the squared circle. PausinR
| a moment before climbing into it. he took fis
| handsome straw hat and essayed to cast it over
the scratch, but the wind caught it and il
landed under the ropes almost outside the ring.
! This the superstitious looked upon as o bad
| omen. When Sullivan came to the arena he
wore brown felt SLOUGH hat and a blanket bath
| robe with black shamrock-like figures. He
passed hilrain without deigning him glance
| and sent his battered old chapeau to the center
| of the ring. He has an idea that he cannot win
! a ring fight unless he is dressed in green knee
brooches, and the pair he wore now were of the
most prcn ounced emerald hue.
Both the men looked very old as they sat di-
| agonally opposite each other in their corners.
hilrains face had wan, half haggard look.
while Sullivans was nearly devoid of that look
| of ferocity which has often before taken the
| tight out of a man before he struck him blow.
| When the wraps were removed from the glad
| iators the difference in their appearance was
| very striking. Jake appeared very finely drawn
| and his flesh had somewhat ashy hue. Sui
livan was far feshier than was expected
! There was very little ''paunchiness" about him.
| but his breast was fabby His skin was as
pink as sea shell, however, and his eyes
! sparkled like diamonds. Neither man appeared
| as springy or confident as his friends would
like to have seen him. Jake looked resolute,
| like a man who knew his a forlorn hope,
and John l.. was a good deal quieter and more
cautious than was his wont.
The referee, a good, honest man, who was
comparatively unfamiliar with the rules, called
! time before the men and their seconds shook
| hands. Cieary shook hands with Mike Dono-
van, and there was very little friendliness in
the grasp that Muldoon gave Mitchell. All
| hands returned to their corners, and then a
hush came over the crowd as the men advanced
| to the scratch at the second call of time They
were hardly within distance when Sullivan shot
out his left. Jake cleverly evaded it, caught
the big fellow in his grasp, whirled him across
his hip, and flung him TO the ground, adding
his own weight to the fall, ere one could say
1t lghtens." The ease with which Jake had
scored the first point made Sullivan's friends
apprehensive. and they wondered il he was to
be beaten of hand until the thirty seconds
rest sped by and time Was called.
Jake was willing enough to try for another
fall but sullivan, with considerable difficulty,
broke his hold. They clenched again in mo-
ment, and then each tried holding the other
with one arm and punching with the disen-
gagged hand The blows were not fast and
furious. but slow and deliberate Each tried
for the others neck, but neither was able to hit
OFF, nd faa rf, Is
hands against hard heads, they got to work
lower down. Sullivan got in four or five terri
BILE rib roasters, while Kilrain struck his op-
ponent three awful blows in the groin below
the belt He held his hand SO low that he must
have known that he was fOuing 1t was plain
that he was going to take advantage Of the
referees ignorance of the rules, and get in all
the effective work possible before that
official interfered in the interests of
fair play. Suddenly Sullivan quit fighting.
and grasping Jake around the body he en-
deavOred to throw him. Many thought that he
was making mistake, but the result proved
otherwise. kilrain resisted with all his might,
but struggle as he would, he could not free
himself from the grasp of the burly Sullivan.
Again and again he stepped on Sullivan's feet,
and each time his sharp spikes cut into the
leather uppers ofSullivan's shoes Finally, with
one terrific effort, Sullivan picked him up,
twisted him over his hip, and down he went on
the sod, his shoulders striking before his but
tocks, and Sulllvan's 220 pounds held him
tightly to the earth. 1t was bursting fall and
few of Jake's friends thought it was in the big
fellow to give it to him.
Then came the famous third round in which
kilrain is said to have received such a terrific
blow over the heart. strange thing about this
particular blow ia that none of the press cor
respondents seems to have seen it. They saw
Sullivan get in several good half-arm body
punches, and they saw Jake give him a smash
on the ear, which swelled up like a mashed
tomato and caused it to look as red as one; but
this particular heart stopper they did not see,
and don't believe that Jake got it. He saws
he didn't, and at that time he ought to know
At all events it did not prevent Kilrain doing
his best fighting of the battle shortly after
ward, and having such even thing of it that
Dominick McCaffrey, Billy O'Brien, and
number OF other pretty good judges of fighting
thought that Sullivan had shot his bolt and
that his defeat was but the matter of q little
while. NY sympathies were with Sullivan and
confess that began to loose heart Poney
Moore must have felt pretty confident, for he
offered Sl,OOO even money on Kilrain, which
bet was instantly taken by Barney Maguire of
this city and the money was posted with
Referee Fitzpatrick. That Sullivan was not
COCK sure OF the result was shown by the many
times he personally appealed to the referee to
protect him against kilrains foul fighting
The crisis came when Sullivan vomited in the
ring. He had received a sharp left-handed
stab in the stomach in the preceding round and
had he been defeated we should have heard
wonderful stories about the terrific character
OF this blow. In fact, it had nothing whatever
to do with his temporary illness. He had drunk
a large quantity OF cold tea, and it distended
mis- stomach. Dan Murphy put some brandy i'll
the next dose, and, not knowing this. Joe Co
burn put second portion of liquor
into it. As soon as he swallowed the
mixture it turned his stomach, and he
threw it up in four gulps. Could Kill
rain have hit him effectively while he was in
this pitiable plight? / hardly think he could.
They had been lighting under terrible broil-
ing sun for nearly or quite three-quarters of an
| or as active as cat. Sullivan kept his guard
| well up and never lowered his head an instant
showing himself magnificent general under
the most adverse circumstances. 1t was very
| clever in Jake to say: $50 on, John, 1 won't
strike you until you are through" but had he
| acted otherwise he might have failed to injure
Sullivan badly. The big fellow would surely
| have sought safety by falling to the earth at
| the slightest touch and thus gained half min
ute OF respite. He did not need more than
| that, for the instant his stomach was freed of
| Its burden he freshened right up and went at
| hiirain like a bull at red rag, and after a
| sharp exchange of blows he drove him to the
| ground with singing body blow.
| After this round Kilrain wasn't in IT, bar ac-
| cldents, as a possible winner. He had sprinted
| before. but now he began circling the ring like
/ hobby-horse OF a merry-go-round, never
| going near Sullivan if he could avoid him He
| persistently violated the rule which saws a
\ man must be at the scratch eight seconds after