St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-09-08

throughout the whole journey from be-
! ginning to, end. Thieves, swindlers.
| confidence men and pickpockets would
| ply their trades, and the crowd suffered
| greatly. The unfortunate who hap
| pened to be relieved of his money and
| Jewelry usually-had too much sense to
make kick" over his loss. as .eype-
rlence of such excuses had generally
taught him that any remonstrance
would only secure for him outbreaks OF
laughter and
Unlimited Ridicule
In those good old days, too, it was not
always the better man who proved the
victor, for, as rule, the crowd at
the ring side had much more to
say about the settlement of doubt
full point than the referee had, and the
tighter who had the strongest party at
his back was reasonably sure to win,
unless the man with the weaker party
proved bis superiority before any point
requiring the Intervention of the referee
had time to arise.
Or course, there was not nearly as
much money in prize fighting in the old
days as there is now. OF course, the ex-
curslon money should have footed up
considerable sum, and, as the excursions
were nearly always oyercrowded. the
ASCOfPoo nave DCcu SOt1CtlltIIS
| enormous had everybody on board paid
his fare. which was generally something
| eXOrbitant. There were many of these
eXcursionists who had not the price Of a
| ticket for many years. as it was neces-
| sary to have crowd of ruffians on each
| side to assist the referee in arriving at
| decision In favor of the man W no had
paid their railway or stea mboat fare.
Then, as prize fighting, in the conf
mon acceptance of the Term. had long
been under the ban of the law, those
who attended the old time battles were
| almost always forced to begin the jour
ney in the night. suffer from hunger
and want of sleep, and return home
more completely worn out than If. they
had taken weeks journey under ordi-
nary circumstances.
All These Things
had tendency to make prize fighting
| disreputable in the old times, but as
conducted at the Olympic club these
| contests have different aspect. Now
| men travel to great boxing contests in
| veStibuled limited trains; they sleep at
the best hotels, and when the time for
the contest arrives they find themselves
| in grand, brilliantly lighted arena, in
| comfortable and most luxurious seats,
without having undergone anything like
uiSCOlHIoTI Oh Ilelr Journey TO the pat
| tie ground.
Instead of a disorderly mob, they find
| surrounding them men of apparent re-
| spectabllity, who are in the ordinary
| walks of life, who have no more notion
| OF creating any disturbance than if they
| were at political meeting at winch no
very exciting issues were to be dealt
with, and in addition to this safeguard
| against anything like rOwdyism they see
a strong force of police ready to stamp
out anything resembling disorder.
They see ring made with the most
scrupulous regard for the safety of the
contestants, having heavy posts and
ropes so adjusted that it would be
| practically impossible for either man to
be knocked through them and receive
| injury from the barbed wire of the outer
ring, which has been made strong and
firm to avert even the possibility of
trouble through outside interference.