Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-31

such teams as Boston, New York and Pitts
burg that look for the merit that mean.
By the time that the Western clubs get
through with their Eastern trip, begun
yesterday, we will know more about
the respective merits of the various
teams. The Eastern teams have not bv any
means made a great showing in the West,
and expect that the Western teams will
do much better in the East, that is, better
than the Eastern teams did in the West.
There has been one very satisfactory feature
during the week, and that shas been the
good attendance at each city. Of course l
except Cincinnati, because matters are not
all pleasant there During the week there
have been two ball games going on and a
race meeting. The ball games suffered, and
it is to be expected that one club or the
other will resolve to transfer its team. 1t
is useless and indeed exceedingly foolish to
keep two teams in Cincinnati. One would
do well, and the other moved to another
city would also do well, whereas they are
both losing now. 1 am inclined to think
that change will shortly be made, and
that we will find the Association team no
longer in Cincinnati.
Among the Pugilists.
Last week had much to say regarding
the affair between Corbett and jackson. 1
have few more words to say on the matter
simply because the case has developed some
what since last week. When 1 last wrote
about it the decision of the Board of Di-
rectors was not given, but since then they
have decided to give each man s., 500, and
as far as l know the two pugilists have ac-
cepted the money. To me there is some
thing very strange about this offer or gift of
the California Athletic Club. At first sight
one would think that the two pugilists
should either have all the purse, that is the
$4,000, or nothing at all. If the fight was
an honest one and neither man could win,
then by all means each man has right for
$1,000. If the fight was dishonest one,
then neither man should be given cent.
If the decision of the referee and the club
directors means anything it means that the
contest was of a questionable kind, and
this fully justifes all that 1 have
to say regarding the affair last week. Every
body who indorses the judgment of the ref
cree and the club directors must indorse
what / said on the matter. 1 have every
right to believe that Mr. Cook, who refereed
the affair, and the directors of the club are
honest men. At any rate 1 have no reason
to believe that they are dishonest, and this
being so, am forced to the conclusion that
they had good reasons for dealing with the
contest as they did. People who contend
that two men can stand up and fight more
than four hours under Queensberry rules
simply do not know what they are talking
about. 1t is difficult to tell whether or not
they shall meet again. If they do it will
be quite a while before the meeting occurs
because Corbett is already booked for the
show business. If they do contest again, I
will certainly have something to say about
it in due time. There is report to the
effect that jackson is quite willing to fight
again, but that Corbett declines. But no
matter how that may be, am inclined to
think that Corbett will be quite ready to
mount the stage again if the money is salts
factory.
The Next Big Affair.
Attention generally is being turned to the
Slavin and Kilrain contest, which is to
take place on June It, Both men are in
excellent condition according to report, and
already there is some betting on the result.
One or two of Kilrain's friends claim that
he will easily win. That means that he will
not be knocked out in ten rounds. In fact,
there are some people who think that Kill
rain can defeat Corbett and jackson and
Slavin or anybody else. Those who hold a
notion of this kind are very foolish indeed,
because one of the poorest of heavyweight
pugilists to-day is Jake Kilrain. But he
has extremely favorable conditions in his
proposed contest with Slavin. The latter
has to knock kilrain out in ten rounds;
that means that Slavin must be the
man to force matters. This is quite
different from contest where there
is no such limit and where the
conditions are equal. While it may be safe
to bet to 1 on a man defeating another
man quite easily, it might not be safe to bet
that the man would knock his opponent out
in 10 or even 20 rounds. 1t may, therefore,
be harder task for Slavin to knock out
Kilrain than he thinks. say 10 may be,
but am induced to think that Slavin will
accomplish his task. His style of fighting
is entirely of the knocking out kind, and if
he cannot settle Kilrain in ten rounds he
will not be very likely to settle him at all
Judging from the way in which Slavin went
at McAulitfe don't think that Kilrain will
make very strong stand against the Aus
tralian.
Carney ard Burge.
The great battle between Jem Carney and
Dick Burge, for the English lightweight
championship, has taken place, and it has
had very unsatisfactory termination, in
deed. According to the reports from Eng
land about the event Carney had very much.
the better of his man, but the referee de-
cided the affair in favor of Burge on account
of an alleged foul by Carney. L have been
unable to find out what the foul was and
nothing can be said about it until we do
know. But do know that in England they
are very particular about rules, and it may
have been that in frenzied moment Carney
lost his head and made mistake If he
did he would lose, even though he had his
man quite beaten. believe at all times in
the enforcement of the rules and whenever
it has been my lot to act as an official in any
contest 1 have enforced the rules very
rigidly. 1t is because the rules are not
enforced that has made so many
burlesque battles under Queensberry rules
If referees would insist that the rules be
strictly adhered to then it would be much
better for the business. But to resume
about Carney's fight. 1t seems that he had
all the best of it from start to finish, and
proved himself vastly superior to his young
er and active opponent. Carney has been a
wonderful man, and don't think his equal
at weight has lived in this generation.
There may be cleverer men, but he is more
vigorous in the ring than anybody his
weight. 1t is pity that he and Jack Nc
Auliffe never got their argument thoroughly
settled. There are few people now who
contend that McAuliffe was Carney's equal
or that the latter was fairly treated when
they met L don't think that ever Nc
Auliffe and Carney will meet, but I also
think that Carney has always ranked higher
than McAuliffe.
The Local Races.
We have gotten fairly into the racing
season, trotting mean, and matters look
very well here The spring meeting at
Homewood has been tolerably successful: it
could and would have been better had the
weather been more favorable On Thurs