Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1894-02-10
DEFENDS PRIZE FIGHTING.
Conan Doyle Insists That Heroic Quail
ties Are 10 BE Found in the Ring.

Z tflllll
ties Are TO BE Found in the Ring.
Or Conan Doyle recently sent the
following letter to the editor Of the
London Daily Chronicle.
Sir Might | be allowed to say a
word in reference to your paragraph
with remarks that the prize ring never
produced heroic qualities? The poor
ring has so fallen from its former glory
in these DAYS of crossed fights and
paper talk that we may at least allow
it credit for what it has been. 1t bred
Ia race of men Of indomitable courage
and energy. / cannot understand how
any one acquainted with their record
can doubt it, At Waterloo there was,
rs far as | know, only one professional
pugiliSt on the field Shaw the Life
Guardsman who, had he lived. would
probably have held the champion belt
OF England. The ITomeric combat IN
which Shaw aud Colonel Kelly fought
back to back is now q matter or his.
tory 1t was said that ten hnccrs ami
cUirG SSiers were cut down by him he.
fore he was shot The number Of the
frSt-claSs pugilistS whose deeds were
matters of public interest was at any
one time very limited Yet among this
small body Of men we have many OK
amplcS of nobility of character The
incident of Pearcc, the Game Chicken
risking MS life in Thomas street, Bris
toll, by getting on the parapct Of 4
burning house to pail the servant out
Of the upper window by her wrists,
when her safety had been deSpaired
Of, Is Il wcllEnown and authentic case
As 70 the innumcrahle cases where
men like Cribh. Pearcc and Randcll
iuterierred TO project the weak or TO
defend women from insult. are they
not written in Pierce Eagan or in the
reliable pages Of "BoXiana'? One
champion Of England. John Gray, be-
came n member Of parliament. though
in those decorous days he did not ind
the same field for his talents iiere
which he might have found more re
Gently. The old prize fighters were, as
a rule men OF steady law-abidng
habits. If only for the fact that they
kept or hoped to keep, public house
In either case their license depended
on their behavior Their main fault
was that they often consumed too
much of their own stock, SO that it
was a rare thing for any Of them to
wear gray hair 1t must be borne in
mind that fewer men lost their lives
through the ring in a whole generation
than are now killed by football or
hunting in one season. During the
whole Of the time when the ring was
at It's height I can only recall one fatal
fight, that between Curtis and Ned
Turner. On the other hand the eX-
hibition OF systematic fair play must
have been an object lesson to the hun.
dreds who saw and the thousands who
read 1t is time enough to discourage
any instinct when il has ceased 10 be
Of use to the community With all
Europe one armed camp. the lighting
instinct Is rs necessary in this country
now rs ever 1t Las been; and the day
may be coming when we may fad that
our ancestors had some reason for its
systematic encouragement It IS really
the ringSide betting and ruffianism
which have killed the ring but the
puginsts themselves were, I think, men
who had much Of the heroic in their
natures"