The morning call., 1894-12-17
RUNNING 1T INTO THE GROUND.

The aomicide of Andrew Bowen, pugil-
ist. at the hands of Lavigne at New Or
leans On Friday night is tie fifth murder
commHted in the prZe-ring since the be-
ginning of this decade. Harry Mcbride.
ShaefGl. Billy Miller and Con Riordan-
were 20 ems predecessors, three Of the
four Ewing gone to sheir deaths on this
side oiSthe cOntinent-lwo of them in this.
city. 3ugiiism has not usually been &C.
compa4ied by such fatal results. In the.
old days it was very unusual for a prize
fighter sto kill his antagonist in the ring
1t is the improvements lately introduced
into the art of boxing aud the application
of knowledge of anatomy to the science
that have enabled hard hitters to plant
their blows where they may cause death.
Lavlgne struck Bowen, who was exhausted,
a heavy blow over the heart and fol-
lowed this with a tremendous smash on
the jaw. In this instance the fatal result
is supposed 10 have been due to Bowen's
head striking heavily on the platform as
he fell, causing conclusion of the brain, but
that was the direct consequence of being
knocked senseess by the scien tlfically de-
lvered blow. If Sullivan had been able
to get in a couple of his heavy blows on
the champions career might have ended
then and there.
And now we are told that the Creoles,
with their handkerchiefs TO their eyes, de-
clare that this is the last prize-fght which
will ever take place in Louisiana. when
the devil got sick the devil monk would
be, when the devil got we'll the devil a
monk was he." In a few weeks the fate
matches will be arraB eed, and gentlemen
of the purest honor and the finest texture
will pay their $40 or $50 for seats near the
ropes. There is now upon US an epidemic
of physical culture. and IT Ze-fgh ting is
one OF its developments.
Look at our colleges. At those institu-
tions of learning the most prominent fea-
ture al present, as it appears to the on side
world, is not languages or mathema tics or
science. but football. Under the lead of
Yale. the universities now consider vie
tory at football more important than the
discovery OF scientific truth or the de-
velopmept OF an historic theory. The great
man at the college is not the professor OF
the Semitic languages or the expounder Of
spectrum analysis. but the football cap
tain who can train bis class to form an
HF6SlSlDto WeuBe. w men Berkeley and
Pal0 Alto meet on the bali field the STU
dents sniff the air of battle; surgeons.
hanked by piles of lint and cases of in
struments, take their places on the field
with an air OF business, blooming maidens
clap their gloved hands in glee when the
two phaanxes meet with shock and a
roar, and the wounded are dragged off to
have their collar-hones set and their disIo-
cations reduced. With such spirit in the
air, how can prizs-ighting be put down?
A few years ago our universities turned
out young men who were full of book
learning, but had no calves to their legs
now they are producing athletic ignoram-
uses. In both cases they produced one
sided development. True education trains
mind and body together, but abuses Meth
or. 1t was when feats Of strength and
agility won the highest prizes at the
Greek games that Athens rose to her
pinnacle OF glory. The age which pro-
duced Diagorss and Brasidas also gave
birth to the princes of art, letters and
craftsmanship.
Possibly we are working toward some
thing of that kind through the present
boom of athleticism. There are already
signs of a reaction against the unnecessary
brutalities OF football. The prize-ring II
he culmination of modern brutality. M