Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1893-09-24
old TIME PUGS.
PRIZE FIGHTING IN THOSE DAYS WAS NOT
A SNAP.
There Was Little or No Money in the Business.
Sports Who Put Up Purses With Strings TO
Them and Pulled the Strings After the
Fighs-A Battle for S. and a COat-Easy
Sailing Under Modern Rules

New YORK, September 29.-What a
mighty lot OF difference there is be-
tween the prize fighter of to-day and
his prototype OF ten or twenty years
| ago.
Ard what has caused this great dii-
ference?
Well. in my humble opinion, 1t is bet
ter times and change from London
prize ring rules to Marquis of Queens
berry. Those were good old days when
men fought under London prize ring
rules. 1t was throw him down, Nc
! Clusky," and knock spots out of him,
do anything, in fact, save gouge his
eyes out or chew his ear eff.
And these old rules ware the rules to
try mans courage. 1t was almost a
rough and tumble fight, with few lit
! tie pleasantries barred, such as have
already spoken of. You get your man
down and there try your best to do him.
| do not think the rules now gen.
orally recognized in boxing contests
| show the true courage and endurance
| possessed by fighter. They rather
! bring out cleverness and good fighting.
| Still on the whole 1 would rather see
the men fight under them.
! A bare-knuckle fight under London
| rules was sometimes very rough al
| fair. l have seen fights that hardened
as l was, or should be. made me turn
! away sick at heart, aIld they were
fights that 1 did not have dollar on.
! I have seen men ripped by spikes in a
! horrible manner about the legs. When
l seconded Jack Dempsey 10 his fight
with John Feagan on Long Island,
Feagau cut him until his legs were
| bleeding from a dozen wounds.
That fight, by the way Melted Demp-
/ sey but Sos, instead of the thousand
that was to be paid. bYell, fighter
was lucky in those "gootl old days" il
he did not get showed inE 0 jail after the
! battle.
Why, / remember fighting in New
| Orleans q chap named Dom Hart, in the
/ same ring, by the way, that Mace aHd
! Coburn fought in. After licking my
man 1 got S12 so as my SHARE. My rival
was completely blinded and had TO pay
a boy fifty cents TO take him home.
Still he was better off than l, for the
crowd passed the hat around and col
| lected 500 for him. 1 fought another
| fellow, middle-wela'ht champion
| named Jim Taylor. After fighting
| ffty-fve rounds with bare knuckles, Of
course, dropped my m4!n, and for that
l got S. and d new coat. would have
considered myself lucky to get off with
| that, but / had to be arrested and
thrown in jail.
O.these were COED obi days and no
mistake. The sports would make a
grand bluff and put up the big sums OF
stake money and purses, but always
with a string tied TO tn EN-. When the
| fight was over the string was pulled
and back came the money. The poor
devils who had been hammering each
other like tigers with gigantic purse
dangled alluringy before their eyes,
would be given a S. or $40 bill and told
60 and blow themselves.
Directly there was no money fighting
then, but indirectly there was. The
gamblers would take the successful
in tow and have them around their
places for attractions. They would
give them interests too, or help them to
open pub" so they weren't so badly
of after all.
Then there was another way to make
money-by a benefit. In those days
Heenan and Morrlssey would make as
much money In that way, aye, even
more than fight would bring. But woe
to the poor chap whO' was not star.
he lived hand to moWih life, and it's
pretty much the same to-day.
To-day the champions are the people,
and it was the aame yes terdaY.
1t is matter of history that Sawyer
and Hoeuan fought for $1,000 and Hee-
nan had to pay his own expenses TO
England. When Billy Edwards and Tim
Collins fought for the Zig htweight cham
pionship they fought for $1,000. They
| fought several hours until the night
came and what did they get for it? Six
months on the Island. "Oh, those
were
might go on and mention thousand
and one similar instArce but those
| Just quoted arc sufficbeut. No induce
ment was needed TO make men fight
then; they were always ready at the
the drop OF hat.
And it wasn't hard to make reputa-
! fighters, and consequently the men were
not tried out so much az now. You had
TO work to win your reputation, Of
course, but win one fig MT and YOU had
il. II was easy goink after that.
You cannot compare the fighter OF
the past with those of to-day. Like
several other things, yesterday is better
| than to-day. And the reason therefore
| is that the old tim er hit straight
punches. he could not swing as to-
! day, because he had nothing on his
hands to save him. A straight puncher
! therefore is superior 20 the man who
/ swings. To-day, glove fighting is like
| sand-bagging. You HIT a man in the
right place, and he drops dizzy and un-
conscious.
Still, there was more or less swing
| Ing done, and RENE mber seeing one
! fight in which but one straight blow
was struck. It was between Dryer
and Elliot. They threw their hands at
each other as If they were throwing
bricks. II was the artist In those days
/ that gave the straight punches, and IL
was the artist that wo the fight. And
/ the artist, when knocking around,
| would always have so me slow guy trqv-
cling with him so that he could show
! off the better.
Fighting might be called game Of
| billiards. You are a good man and you
! 60 agaiSt some one who is slower, so
! that YOU have dead cinch. Go against
4 better man and y0u are left at the
post. It's the speed that makes the
class. The good man has more chauce
| of going down now because the induce
ments are greater. There is coin, and
lots Of it to-day, and no string to 1t,
either. So the good 90 sometimes runs