The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1890-01-04

mote athletic sports IN general, ana partlc-
Z ulariy in so far as they are Denen-
cial to tue health of the members. OF
| course, as boxing is the athletic sport par
| excellence, the cub trends In that direction.
/ Our boxing masters are Peter Jackson,
whom we consider the marvel Of the day
Jack Dempsey, the Nonpareil, aud Prof.
Mccarthy. who beat Denny Kelleher IN
twenty rounds not long ago.
"Mr L. r. Fulda. As / mentioned, is
! president, aud the guidin spirit Ct the
orga ization. The o.her officers are r. b.
Mitchell, vice president; F. Vernon. secre-
tary; J. d. Gibbs, treasurer; A Wyman,
superintendent, and VIII Robinson, assist
ant secretary. TIE directors are William
R. Vice, George Ross, John Fergus n, Ed
ward Fay, Frank Mclaughlin, G. L. Fish,
aud J. +. Daily.
How do we raj e such enormous PURSES
Simply enough: by the itiatiOn fees and
monthly dues. Tne former is s25 and the
latter are 81 80 month, although on rare
occasions-I remember one instance-they
are swelled to S. a month, when it is
desired to raise specially large purse for a
fine contest"
Ii should be borne in mind that Phil
istines say there is a bylaw of the club
heavily fiaing any member who speaks of
fight otherwise than as a contest and
that on one occasion the sheriff, being
asked in rather familiar wav how lie
liked ''Che bloody fghtn-the attendants
were even then swab0ing up the blood
turned savagely aud replied:-'W hat
fight sir. I've seen no fight; presume
you refer TO the bleeding contestP
SOME ROYAL FIGHTS TO A FINISH.
"Twenty-five thousand dollars,n Major
Mclaughlin continued, as the cab jOlted him
over the cobble stones, "can be raised at
any meeti e of the California club for a
purse to be fought for. TIE great contests
been fought in a great armory building
Immediately across the street from the
club. This plan avoided interference
with the regular exercises of the members
of the club and their apparatus, much
of which is costly andEdelicately adjusted.
The juvenile members of the club, of whom
there are good many, are not permitted
until 81 years of age to be present, even in
their membership capacity, at the contests.
The ring is twenty-four feet square, raised
six feet from the center of the armory floor
and solidly constructed. All around this
stage or ring are tiers of raised seats, rising,
twenty rows in hight, from the floor to the
ceiling. On them l 800 club men may
readily find accommodations. Immediately
over the ring is a powerful electric arc
light, which makes every movement of the
contestants VlSlDle from every part OF Cne
room. On one side of the room and as near
the ring as possible is the press gallery, with
telegraph instruments, messenger boys, and
every convenience
"No one Is allow d on the stage or plat
form during a contest except the two prin-
cipals and the referee An electric clock,
with gong attachment, stands at one end
of the room, and when the gong sounds the
seconds get down from the platform, leav-
ing their principals in their respective cor
ners. The seconds sit below the corners, on
the floor, in chairs specially provided for
them, until the round is over.
Now, here is one interesting and charac-
teristlc feature of these contests Neither
the seconds nor any one else, club officer
club member, no matter who he be, is al
lowed to speak a word of any kind to either
of the contestants during the progress of the
round. For the express purpose of preventing
any violation of this rule, and also to pre-
vent any communication with the con-
testants in the way of aid, advice, etc., two
of the directors of the club sit at two cor
ners of the ring on the floor, and watch
everything that is going on. A member act
ually forfets his membership if he speaks
during the contests to the principals,
seconds, or referee. During the McAuliffe-
Jackson fight, Jackson being a colored man
and stranger, aud McAuliffe the pride
and pet of the club, not one word was
heard against Jackson, who won, and even
when he entered the ring he was recei we'd
with Just as vOciferous cheers as was Nc
Auliffe himself.