San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1889-07-19
THE BED ROCK REASON.

nation to arrest Sullivan, Kilrain and
all the aiders and abetters CT the Rich
burg mill, will not down. Very much
has been said and written about I'll Q
outraged soil of Mississippi and the
| iniignity offered to the state. If
| Mississippi was so sensitive over the
outrage why did she not prevent it,
as her governor certainly could have
| done. The arrest and punishment of
those engaged in that violation of law
vindicates nothing. The real vindi-
cation would have been in prevent
ing the mill and affording to the CIV
ilized world such spectacle of bru-
tality. This is one of the cases in
which an ounce of preventive would
have been worth more than a cart
load of cure. The simple attic is, I'M
complimentary to our refinement as
Is the confession, the whole country
while denouncing the mill with their
hearts were very anxious to know who
could whip. There was very general
curiosity on this point and it is not
very far from the truth to say that
the arrest before the fight would have
been so unpopular that no determined
effort was made to prevent; such an
effort as was within the power of the
governor of the great state of Missis-
sippi to make, and which If made
would have certainly prevented the
fight. Concerning this matter the
Philadelphia News very sensibly
says:
sit was just as unlawful to prepare
for the big fight as to engage in and |
Sullivan and Kilrain and their back
ers might have been arrested at any |
time since the agreement was signed |
and punished for breaking the laws |
against pugilism. Why did not the
New York and Mary land authorities
have sand enough to do it" For the
same reasons that influenced the |
Louisiana and Mississippi authori-
ties; they knew such a move would |
be unpopular. The people wanted to
see Sullivan and Kilrain Eight to a
finish, and they had their wish.
HypOcritical denunciatiOn Of the lax
ity of the law at the South might as
well cease, at least in New York City
and Baltimore
Public sentiment as expressed wa |
against the fight, but public feeling
was in favor of it. This is the whole |
case in a nutshell. All the special |
pleading in the world will not alter |
the facts. The fight was a brutal, |
cruel, inhuman, disgusting, savage |
affair, unworthy the age and a blot
upon it. People will grant that all
this is true and yet the public wanted
that fight to take place. Ofthis fact,
in view of all the staIces,
there is now no question. Why were
the special agents and the most val
liable of the great daily newspapers
sent to that battle ground? Why
was page after page in the great |
journals of the day filled with tele-
graphic reports of that battle? Why
was column after column of editorial
leaders devoted to that matter? There
is but one answer. The people, not
brutal few, but the people, the peo-
pie who read newspapers, who keep
abreast of current events, who peruse
the political news of the world and are
interested in law, literature, science,
art the people wanted to read about
that fight. They would have been
as disappointed as little girl who docs
not get her expected doll if that fight
had not taken place. This fact is the
only one that stands out so promi-
nently that it overshadows all others.
From its logic there is no escape. 1t
is at the bottom OF all that happened
as we'll as of all that did not happen.
1t is the key to the whole chain of
investing the affair
from the hour the articles were signed
until the last round was fought. Gov
ernOr Lowry may arrest Sullivan, Kill
rain, Mitchell, Fitzpatrick, Muldoon,
and every man who was present; he
may revoke the charter of the Queen
d Crescent railway and dismiss from
office the sheriff of Marion county, but
he Will not convince the great public
that the fight could not have been
prevented and that the reason above
every other reason why it was not
prevented was because of very gen.
eral desire on the part of the public to
have the fight take place.