The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1890-12-13
JOE COBURN DEAD.
memorable Chilli, with
icoooie at CharIestown
IN This County, over
20 Years Apo.

recall, ~ vi Joe Coburn, the pugilst
h., 'ne recollection of the prize fjgl
''"een him and Mike McCooI viii
sooK place at Charlestown in this counr,
tuesday, May ). 1868, and the follow
1 notice of which is taken from Tg
"ni' OF Saturday May oh. of that yea,
monday afternoon last our tow
was thrown into quite an exo,temert h
b., no o dropped from the LII p. m trai,
'i"h agent VIM. II. Eler, announc
hos, .n"' number OF "iaucy" wero Oh
. Do"'u' and that contrary to the reguIa
s.o Vi the Company the train wouI,
p "' Onariestown to let the party off
sehents having been made for .
piAs night at that town. On tn, recein
o, LIB news Deputy Sheriff Jan1ey-tL,
Sheriff being temporarily abseptyoom
-. 'ui'i!nonlnG posse to prevent
n' from taking place. Divers
.' 'nois were Id circulation as to The time
.le nsn' would take place. Some said
'nat evening, others the navt ror,i,o,
-" ',uerS again, that the grand "AIil''
w, "'1'u come eff tie following afternoon,
Inc i've O'clock train hrnuo,,. dou,
-a,, ''' OIL line sporting gentry, and
tep'ftea numbers behind at Wilmine.
ton' Del, By the 10 o'clock freight .ti,I
|
''n. "ccesions were made to the
''o"u OF sporting characters. During
~ e" moments the train stopped at
INC hik'oa depot, several persons were
'o'.e'eu ol TIE conteuts of their pockets
anu Their hats. The crowd appeared ia
o0 lhaue up principally of thieves, pick.
pocSets' and cut-throats of yarious
S'nds' The principal part of these
worthies were from New York and Phila.
ue'pAla; aud stopped off at Charles,own.
North East and Peryyville. Sach an
accession to these villages Of hungry
people, soon cleared them Of provisions,
The news in definite form reached
hikton on Tuesday morning that the
hght would take place at Charlcstoyu
that day at / clock, and immediately q
general rush was made for vehicles tc
charter for the scene of the grand nrize
hshG. hIk5on Was in consequence minus
a large portion Of its inhabitants the
greater part OF that day. We did no,
hear anything further OF the posse tc
prevent the fight, The cfiicers we be.
lleve wisely concluded that they could
not muster sufficient force to prevent the
pugillstlc encounter, aud decided to PC
and have quiet look on at the '.Mill.'
The principals II the affair were Joe
Coburn of New York who has recently
served out term il The penitentiary fol-
stabbiDg man, and Mike McCool OF
CINCINNATI. The stakes were originally
two thousand dollars a side, which were
increased several hundreds subsequently
and the championship OF America.
The fancy began to assemble early in
the morning, aud the ground was staked
off short distance from the shore OF
North East river. The parties met about
II O'clock, the preliminaIias were ar.
ranged aud the bottle holders Al d judy es
appointed. At six minutes past one, the
contestants Tor the championship stcpl ed
into the ring in the presence OF about
two thousand persons, McCoole was some
twenty four pounds heavier than his
antagonist, but Coburn was the fAvorite.
Sixty eight rounds were fought, and
those who witnessed the contest declare
that it was evident from the first round
that Coburn would be the victor He
vas however several times thrown
| heavily to the ground, but exhibited re-
drew the blood from McCoole, and in
almost every round delivered his blows
fairly and with tremendous effect in the
face of his antagonist, without having
received blow in the face. McCoole
stood up we'll until the sixty. third round.
when it became evident that he was
nearly exhausted from loss of blood, and
the severe punishment he had received.
At the close of the sixty eighth round,
the Judges decided the victory in favor of
Coburu, and McCoole was taken by his
friends and removed to house where
his wounds were washed and dressed,
some three hours after the fight he was
placed in wagon in a badly used up
condition and driven off. The fight which
lasted one hour and eight minutes was
conducted without molestation by the
civil or military authorities.
The following is IA part of card from
the Sheriff md States Attorney OF the
county in reply to some structures OF the
Philadelphia Bulletin, and is properly a
part OF the history of this aif!ir at is
not true that the time aud locality of the
fuht were we'll known for several days
before if occurred. Whatever others
MIGHT have known, not the slightest in
timation of the affair reached Elkton
until Monday evening, and then only by
mere rumor which laid the scene of the
fpbt somewhere on the Susquehanna.
An application of the Deputy Sheriff to
the commander of troops at Havre de
Grace for troops, was met by the reply
that the fight WAS to take place in Har.
ford county. In consequence of our alb
,ence from the County, both of us being
!, attendance upon the Hartford County
Corrt we heard of the intended fight
for the first time on Tuesday morning
.bout two hours before it commenced.
We telegrapled at once for troops to be
sent to Charestown, and went ourselves
70 the village to direct their operations.
Not A soldier came, aud to make arrests
and stop the disgusting exhibition we
oo,Id not have raised dozen unarmed
men whlie to resist Us there were over
.horsand ruff ms and cut-throatS with
rsvolyers openly displayed.
We are convinced that an attempt to
~. Ia arrests at any time after the infor-
,.ior If the affair reached US, unless
backed by a strong military force would
not only have proved abortiVe, bnt would
h.vs called down the vengeance OF the
blood thirsty crowd upon the village OF
Charlestown and its defensoless inhabi'
tants while the fact is, that Phila delP ia
'a" 70 tbe SIGHT fully five hundred OF
s ! Gu v III ruffilus uumher sufficient to
ne saronme ten times the largest police
S"rns which could possibly have been
ioiIo ,r.er information reached this