The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-06-15
REAL Or SHAM ?

The Coroner's jury have found verdict
of murder against Frank la Rue for the
homicide Of Mcbride. In view of the testi-
mony they could not have done otherwise.
Spectators of the fight testified that the
murdered man was unable to defend him.
self; that he was "all Wild; while the doc
tor who made the autopsy testified that he
had received a horrible beating; that his
nose was broken, both eyes blackened, his
face mashed to a pulp and his body and
arms badly bruised" The fact that his
antagonist broke one of his own arms in
striking him shows that the blows must
have been terrific. a clearer case of muir
der has seldom been made out
- Tie public are anxious to know what is
going to come Of it, So far as the club
under whose auspices the killing took
place is concerned, it does not appear
that there is any law by which it can be
closed. But it is clear that the officers of
the cub who made the arrangements for
- the fight are acComplices in the murder, and
that every person who was a witness and
did not interfere to stop it is also an accom-
plice. The provisions of the code on the
subject penal Code, Sections 412 and 413)
are unequiyocal. ANY individual taking
.Tart in, aiding or abctting prize fight is to
be adjudged guilty Of felony, and IS liable
to imprisonment for term not exceeding
two years, while fines, in the discretion of
q Judge may be imposed on visitors 1t is
said that this law has never been enforced.
Ii SO, the fact is net to the credit Of the
authorities. Anyway, there could not be
better time to enforce it than now.
There is no weight in the pleas which are
urged in extenuation of prize-fghting when
the evils which it entails are set in the op-
posite scale. If all were granted that is
urged regarding the advantages of muscular
development these are small gains to offset
against the decentralization which the boxing
arena invariably engenders, and the brutal
instincts which it develops. The manly
art" as its devotees call it, begins
with a friendly set-to with padded
. gloves; it ends with savage eneoun-
ter, in which one pugilist, after breaking
his antagonists nose, and beating his face
into a jelly, finally kills him by striking
him on the head so heavily and so often that
conclusion of the brain ensues. The one
grows out Of the other. The people who
take pleasure in Witnessing boxing match
with gloves need, after a time, fiereeer
emotions, and arrange for bare-knuckle
fights in which one of the pugilists is liable
to be left dead in the ring. 1t was by such
graduation that the people Of Rome were ed
ucated up to the point of gladatorial shows,
and cultivated so savage an appetite for
blood that nothing would satiate it at last
but the spectacle OF the bodies Of Chris
tians torn in pieces by wild beasts.
But philosophy is one thing. and practice
. quite another. Here is law SO plainly
written that child may understand it,
which has been openly broken in a crowded
public resort, in the presence of well-known
citizens, and by reason of the breaking
an unfortunate young man has lost his life.
VIII anything be done about it? Arrests
have been made. Will convictions follow?
Rave any Of the highly respectable gentle
men who stood by when poor Mcbride was
done to death been laid by the heels? Or is
this another of the splendid list of laws
which figure in the code for show, Just to
dem to the world how extremely
moral a people we are, until the time comes
to enforce the law?