The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1891-07-21
sExrr1E. TUESDAY. JULY 81.



This Il the prizefghter's week. Tomor-
row night Hall and Fitzimmons fight to
finish for sl2, 900 purse at st. Paul. What
q : przeighter9 A prizefghter is
creature that corresponds among men TO
what Z prostitute il among women; he is
! male rufIlan and loafer who Is willing to
sell his splendid body to be pounded and
abused by smother equally iow-minded
rusan and Iosfer for money. Civilization
places this brutal business under the ban
Of the law In every Christian country in
Europe, and prizefght cannot legally
take place in the United States save in
Louisiana, Texas and California. where
public opinion does not yet seem willing
70 relegate II to the lowest depth OF society
where 1t belongs--to the applause and
enthusiasm of outlaws, criminals and
other wild beasts that rage and gnash
their tseth at the base Of every civilization
In the world.
A prissfghter II as utterly useless and
contemplate member of society as the
'sroad agent" that robs q railway train, or
the lusty beggar that tramps to and fro, an
sys-sors to oil persons who love public
peace and are devoted to private industry.
4 bull dog II not useless, for be can be
trained into . useful watchdog, but
prizefightsr produces nothing but public
disorder and decentralization; he watches
no slaughter-house, but only helps to make
thc earth In spots looks like the shambles;
he guards no property; he watches moth
ins. but prowls mp and down the land
selling his person to anybody who cares to
pHt his red Drawn and bet his shekels on
his blood. He IL nuisance, and the
bigger the brute the more he
cnmbers the earth. A prizsfghter
stands for nothing but that
shameful degradation Of human nature
thst Is found everywhere and Is expressed
By the words burglar. pickpocket, pimp
and prostitute no moro wildly than
BY the word prizefghter. zefghting is
the survival Of the brutal social habits Of
the last century, wherever English cler-
gymen we're not ashamed to ride hard
after fexes and drink hard at dinner;
when men OF liberal education and high
rank we're not ashamed TO get drunk at
home and abroad; when men Of literary
genius went TO cock fights, and were not
ashamed to gamble all night over gin and
water.
The law In England and America prohib-
tn prisehghting, but in England the law Is
enforced with sternness compared with
America, whers. the law IL evaded or
ignored. Prizefighting was once under
the patronage OF the English aristocracy
and gentry; the prixetighter, Mendoza, a
Spanish Jew, was great hvorite with the
court Of George the Fourth, and the En-
glish prixefighter. Jackson, who whipped
Mendoza. taught Lord Byron how 10 boz.
and was highly esteemed by great many
very respectable people, but since tho ac-
cessicn of Queen Victoria prizefghting in
England has slowly but steadily declined.
After the famous Heenan and Savers
fight In 1859 prizeaghting in England has
had no influential support, and during the
last thirty years no rrisefght has taken
place in England that was not followed bv
the arrest and severe punishment of all
parties concerned in it.
Prixchght.ng has far more vigorous
life with as than in England, because the
law against IL IL not earnestly enforced in
certain states of the Middle West the
South and the Pacific coast. notably Cali.
fornia, where prisefghts take place under
She patronage of the Athletic club. tits
easier for England to enforce her law
against this brutal practice, because public
opinion varies greatly in the different
states. Home rule exists in every state.
while in England the central authority
can stop prizehghting in every county OF
the three islands.
Nothing can be said in extenuation Of
prizehghtingi nothing truthfally in de.
Tense Of the priseaghter, Cor he is moth.
sng bat On utterly hase-minded, unprinc,.
pled, stupid brute who defends his diSreru.
liable calling by saying "rhere is money in
q. which of course is as utterly forcele,s
3 plea in his case as il would he in the case
OF the keeper of hagnio There Is money
sometimes In infsmon. cal.
llngs TO both men and women. but nobody
bu. moral idiot seriously defends a rnf.
nanly life by saying I'D like 10 do r,,-h.
20 lead an industrious, law.abid,nr and
life, but there is no money
"a honest work, so / feel obliged to do
wrong.
There IL no courage cultivated hy nriye.
fishsins; nothing but ferccity and cruelty
to human suffering: coarse
ness Of thought speech. feeling and
action. A priEehghter is nothing hnt a
splendid animal who sells the Sanctityofh his
body for money, just as does his immoral
correlatlve, the stfnmpet, whose pet hero
ne generally Is. His venal abuse Of his
person Is an act Of seif.degradation that
sinks the prizefghter quite down TO the
level Of the strumpet; in the play Of de-
graded life he is the Ingocasr and she the
parthenia;
Twosoais with but single Thought
Two hearts that heat liks one
Granting this to be true picture of a
with sill the paint and tinsel.
AL the peacock fuss and feathers removed
and his fame viewed in cold. dry light,
what shall be said in explanation Of the