The herald., 1895-10-20
THE NEUTRAL TERRITORY
Where SI1ggers Can Slug With
out Interference
THE BEAUTIFUL CLIMATE
And Cockfights and BulIfights Add At
traction to the Scene
corbett Discharged From Custody-No flan's
Land, Near FL Paso Selected as
Battle Ground
Associated Press Special Wire


HOT SPRINGS. Oct 49, The Corbett
habeas corpus proceedings terminated
Just as everybody in Hot Springs thought
they would. Governor Clarke was ap-
parently the first to discover that there
was no statutory prohibition of prize
ighting or glove contests; that the act OF
1891 had not passed the shouse as amend
cd by the senate, that instead of the bill
as amended passing as constitutionally
provided, by roll call, it simply passed
by viva voce vote, hence was not legally
passed.
The decision of Chancellor Leatherman
this afternoon was in accordance with the
views expressed by Governor Clarke and
as shown by the house records. The
proof produced demonstrated the fact
that glove contest was to be fought
limited mum Der of rounds here, on Octo-
ber 3lst, between Corbett and FitzsiIn-
mons and that five-ounce gloves were to
be used. By the numerous experts put on
the stand it was proved that soft glove
contests are not brutal affairs and are
never attended with any serious or harm
ful results when engaged in by trained
amateur boxers or unskilled, unframed
men injure each other in glove contests
but never had such thing occurred in
the knowledge OF the witnesses when en-
gagged in by skilled and trained boxers,
such as are Corbett and Fitzsimmons.
Among the prominent experts sworn
were Joseph Vendig, Howard o. Hackett,
sporting editor of the New York World;
W. 6. Murray. WA. Brady, B. J. Smith,
local sporting man, and Ed PARCELS,
. local amateur gymnast, all of whom
had seen many soft glove contests, mono
uf which had resulted in serious or pain
full iHjurv to either contestant.
Z sChancellor Leatherman rendered de-
: cision that there Is no law prohibiting
prize fighting or glove contests, and that
the defendant was entitled to his liberty
under u writ of habeas corpus and it was
SO order ed. The states interests were
looked after by Prosecuting Attorney
League and Attorney General Kins-
worthy. The encouragement asserts he
will taSe!an appeal to the supreme court
on writ of certiorari. The cours room
was crowded from the railing around the
Judges desk to the doors and Judging
from the applause with which Judge
Leatherman's decision was received
almost every person present agreed with
it.
LITTLE ROCK, Oct. 19.-Governor
Clarke. was seen Immediately after the
news was received of Chancellor Leather
mans decision. He said he was not sur
prised at Leathermans decision, So
called.
II will re surprised" he continued,
''if the state of Arkansas has in it any
person in the judiciary who Will take tn e
same view OF it, For the past week
have been cognizant that some such rule
as this would be resorted to and have
formed my plans accordingly. l was
never more determined than at present to
prevent the fig ht. and l am sure beyond
peradventure that l will do So an glad
that the end is so near and that l am to
be relieved of this unpleasant business. I"
Ell PASO, Oct. l9.-The indications are
that the Corbett- -Fitzsimmons fight will
he pulled off in the vicinity neal the
point where Captain Jones, of the Texas
Rangers, was killed few years ago.
Jones proved at the time he was on the
Texas side. On the Rio Gralde just be-
low Ell Paso there are . mum Der of strips
of land formed by the constantly chang
ing course of the river, which are in dis
pute and over which no jurisdiction is
claimed at present by either the United
States or Mexico, as the boundary COM
mission has not yet passed on it. There
are some pieces on the LETT hank belong
bank belonging to Texas and some OF the
owners of these pieces have titles from
both the United States and Mexican gCy-
ernment, yet neither of these govern
ments is exercising any jurisdiction over
these particular pieces of land The con-
tinuous shifting of the river has caused
these islands or strips of land to be con
sidered as neutral ground, and it was
partly to settle these disputes that Mexico
and the United States appointed a COM
MISSION eight years.ago to determine the
exact boundary line between the two
countries. The claimants of the respec-
tive lands have peen expecting to see the
matter settled for the past fifteen years,
and it is not likely that the matter can
be settled at all soon, as the commits
sions have no final jurisdiction in the
matter and can only recommend to their
respective governments their findings and
agreements. This state of affairs is due
to the utter disregard which the United
States government has paid to the Rio
Grande water question for the past fifteen
years. As it would take at least several
weeks to ma axe the surveys and deter
mine the ownership of .he present neu-
trail territory, there is now q splendid op-
portunity for having the proposed contest
come off on this ground where neither
government can interfere. FL Paso, with
its beautiful climate and the many at
tractious. is decidedly the best point Tor
this time of the year. and the crowds that
would gather from all over the country
will certainly be delighted with the few
Gays they spend in this vicinity. The
bull Nights, cock fights, etc., which are so
seriously objected to in the United