The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-05-19
THE PRIZE FIGHT IN HISTORY.
From the Chicago TGmes-Herald.

OAi tiAN NliAAd9V IAAiES-iitidiu
The prize fight is as old as mans desire
for amusement or mans love of power.
AS soon as two men earnestly desired the
same object, no matter what, and each at
tempted to obtain it by force, there was a
prize fight. OF course it was not called
so, but as calling a thing by another name
does not alter its nature, so the character
of the earliest struggles for mastery was
not IN the least changed by the fact that
they went unnamed or were given des-
ignation that yelled their real meaning
For, after all. says a writer in the St.
Louis Globe-Democrat. war itself, with
all its brilliant paraphernalis and gorge
Gus Accomplishments. with its marching
regiments and galloping squadrons and
booming artillery, is but prize fight ON
a grand scale with a continent for ring
and the world for an audience
Even I'm it's restricted sense. that is. in
the sense Of a forcible contest, prearrang-
ed and waged for sum of money or for
the honor to be won from victory, prize
lighting IS as old as b. c. 1853, In which
year the Idaei Dactyl instituted the
Olympian games, which were contests of
strength and skill, and in which boxing
was one of the principal diversions.
The Greek boxing, however, was a diff
erent thing from the prize fights of our
own times for the contest was not for the
purpose Oh pounding the human form Q1-
VINE out OF shape, but of determining the
skill of the contestants, and there is no
reason to believe that the boxes were ever
greatly disfgured
Far otherwise was il when boxing
crossed the Adriatic and took root i'm
Rome. The boosted conquerors of the
world had many good qualities, but re-
gard for the feelings of man or beast
was not among the number, and when a
Roman audience gathered for amusement
II wanted to see gore, and lots of it. Com
pared with the murderous sports of the
arena, boxing, as done in Greece was a
mild and innocent pastime, but the Ro-
mans soon found means to make it bloody
enough TO suit the most eXacting. The
Greeks did their boxing with bare hands,
al most having only a light weight held in
the fist, but when the Roman sports took
up the business they completely changed
the character of the exercise and made II
as brutal as possible. Iron knuckles were
al first employed, and. as these only bruis-
ed and did not bring enough blood to graf
ify the rabble, a horrible device was in
vented, belt passing over the knuckles
and fitted on the outside with four or five
short, strong spikes A blow of the fist
thus became equivalent to Stabbing a man
in four or five places at once, each wound
being an inch deep, and at the conclusion
of the first round both contestants were
generally dripping with blood. The ques-
ton of first gore thus became very sim
pie, for the first who succeeded in touch
ing his antagonist with his fist drew blood
no matter how slight the contract Brutal
beyond description were these boxing
matches, for the boxers were not allowed
to stop until from sheer weakness and
loss of blood, they fell to the ground. 1t
generally happened that one died on the
ground, and not infrequently both were
so much mangled that the fight terminated
fatally. alike for victor and vanquished
Bloody as they were, however, they
were exceeded in atrocity by the gladi-
atorial contests, which were prize lights
on a grand scale and with terrible re-
suits. The gladiatorial fights probably
had their origin in human sacrifices Of
fered at the graves of distinguished per-
sons, the prisoners destined for this use
being at first butchered outright and their
blood poured on the ground as an offer
ing to the spirit of the deDarted. Either
a desire to witness a fight for life or a
willingness to spare the most coura geous
and manly among the captives led to the
selection of sacrifices from among their
number the choice being determined by
a contest of strength and skill the pre-
being the life of the victor. The contests
took this form in Rome as early as 263
b. c.. and the exhilaration of the sport
caused its adoption at popular festivals
about B. c. 2l5. Whether the savage fe-
rocity of the Roman character was the
hibitions, where blood was shed for the
amusement of the populace, is a question
that casuists must be left to settle for
themselves but certain ii is no spectacle
could exceed in horror the lighting of the
gladiators at the Roman games. Man
was pitted against man, the prize being
ilit anu hbNA ~ fAtttOA anu the
penalty generally death to the van
uuished Some were fully armed as Ro-
man soldiers; others were provided with
a light net and spear; with the former they
endeavored to ensnare their antagonists
with the latter to dispatch them. When
one was victorious over his opponent
and had placed him in a position in which
he was helpless. the victor looked to the
vestaI virgins to determine the fate of
the fallen, and these arbiters of the cruel
strife turned their thumbs up or down
as the conquered one was to be slain or
spared.
these contests, which were held
on grand scale whenever
a great national triumph served
as a reason for holding them at all After
the close of the Jewish war Hebrew blood
was poured out like water to amuse the
Roman rabble; at the dedication Of the
Coliseum the gladiators fought during 100
DAYS. The greatest festival of the kind
however, was at the order of TraJan. 10
comm enorate his victories in the Daciar
war. During 1913 days the deadly fights
went on over 10000 gladiators were matcn
ed against each other in the arena OF
whom one-half were killed or died of
their wounds.
Such importance was attached to the
proper exhibition Of these cruel sports