Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-12-27

| fear. Before the duelS the mittenS were
| presented for inspection at Whitehall and
all manner of genuine assurances given that
they would be used by the principals, also
that they were of the pattern approved and
| boxed with at the Marquis of Queensberry's
amateur championships. His lordship's
name was played for all it was worth, SO
was the amateur racket. For why?
GA gate at Sadler's Wells was most de.
sirable, and the great thing was to satisfy
the police that what they permitted among
amateurs at Brompton could not fairly be
| subject for interference in Clerkenwell
simply because pros were performers in
stead of the other kind of sparrers. To
that end the agreements for the matches
were carefully drawn up as under Queens
! berry rules for endurance Those two
little words, which meant that - indefinite
number of rounds would be boxed instead
of the prescribed three, with perhaps an
extra one, made all the difference in the
world as 1 trust you now see, my lord.
For endurance meant that, instead of
points determining which was victor, a
single point would count, and that settled
by one of the combatants, who must give in
or be disabled, and these Queensberry were
not Q. rules at all Am wrong in ranking
them in their miscalled application"
Purifying the TURF
Everybody who takes anv interest at all
in turf matters must hail with delight the
efforts to kill the most thievish system of
winter horse racing that has been in vogue
in this country for many years. just as
sure as q burglar secures his Jimmy tto
rob houses certain parties have for years
kept winter racing going as means of
robbing the public. 1t may be true that
the public is old enough to know its own
1,,xf loxr ho r,rh l1n
to patronize racing of any kind. But we
have to take human nature as it is, and
the fact is that a very large portion of the
public have q strong desire to patronlZe and
invest on horse racing.
The investments are made with the un-
derstanding that everything is honest, but
it is Just here where the fraudulent work
comes in. There is scarcely anything
honest about the races at all as the events,
the disgraceful events at Garfield,
Gloucester and Guttenburg have proven.
1t is this dishonesty then that should be
stopped, this deludiEg system which per-
suades people that they are getting an
honest spin for their money when nothing
but deliberate robbery is intended. 1t is to
be hoped that the good work OF closing up
the parks of robbery will go on.
Making Things Lively.
this country matters have certainly been
extremely lively among the pugilists. So
far little of Importance has been done ex-
cept the arranging for a six-round contest
between Mitchell and Corbett, and a boxing
contest of four rounds between Dempsey
and Peter Maher. My readers must excuse
me if saw that take little stock in either
contest Both arc for money, and money
only, and if Mitchell and Corbett hadn't
made an engagement we would probably
not have heard of that between Dempsey
ard Maher.
But will anybody tell me what six
round glove contest between Charles
Mitchell and James J. Corbett will amount
to outside of their getting quite a pile of
greenbacks? As far as I am able to judge,
and Tn only speaking for myself, the con-
test will amount to very little as far as
proving who is the better fighter. Mitchell,
it is true, does not want to fight any more,
and Corbett wants to face nothing but big,
soft glove. Two desires of these kind can
soon fix matters up. OF course, if every
thing is on its merits Corbett should have
considerably the best of the contest, be-
cause of his build, and also because of the
Eastern way of Judging points. In the
Dempsey-McCafrey affair, light touch
counted for as much as a "Jaw-breaker.
This is nonsense. But Mitchell knows his
business better than anybody else, and this
being so, depend upon it, he will take none
the worst of the bargain.
History Repeating ITSELF
And now let us Just for moment ask our
selves what those Madison square contests
mean 1t is not difficult to see that they
mean Just what similar contests q few years
ago meant; fooling the public to great eX-
tent. We can all remember a few years ago
when thousands and thousands of dollars
we're made by these boxing contests of four
and six rounds. The country at that time
was full of takirs and there were really very
few real fighters. Two fakirs could get up
before the public and gather in more money
on an evening than good business man
earns in a year.
An efp-t is being made to re-establish
this swihlling order of things, because if
Mitchell and Corbett can bring off their
contest and also Dempsey and Maher, de-
pend upon it the old four-round receipt
business viii get into full swing again. It
is not intended here to mean that any of the
four boxers or pugilists above named are
fakirs They NAV or they may not be, but
what 1 mean is that their contests are the re-
commencing of a system that was very bad
one a few wears ago, inasmuch as it made
more so-cailed pugilists in IL months than
Certainly, boxing contests have their good
features when the principals are first class
or anything like it, but the adventurers and
the impostors are those who kill public
boxing.
Myers Latest Victory.
Doubtless the vast majority of patrons of
boxing and pugilism throughout the coun-
trv were surprised at the result of the battle
between Jimmy Carroll and Billy Myer.
Most assuredly was; that is, did not ex-
pect that Myer would be hailed the victor
But last Sunday it was pointed out in this
paper that if the battle was a long one
Myer would win it simply because age was
against Carroll. l further stated that there
was only one way for Myer to win, and that
was to proiong the contest until Carroll was
wearicd. Myer did this and won. But
had expected that Carroll would have forced
matters in way that would have ended the
fgh. in 20 or % rounds. He tried to do this
and failed, and his failure in this respect
was entirely due to the size of the gloves.
The contest was a good one from start to
finish and Myer showed up with improved
judgment and in probably better form than
he has ever been seen before. For nearly
two hours he acted on the defensive and in
a manner that could not be other than
effective. In retreating from Carroll he was
always on the look out for Carroll's !
rushes and when the latter did rush Myer |
almost every time. This really |
beat Carroll as Myers left hand so often |
found a stopping aplace on Carroll's body or
face that he was weakened considerably BY |
blows as well as by running around. |
Certainly for long time Carroll displayed |
the better fighting, and had skin gloves been |
used Myer would have been blinded n a |
short time. But fve-otnce |
gloves are not the Weapons for a man 40 |