The daily morning journal and courier., 1895-10-02
WAS SHARP AND DECISIVE
GOVERNOR OF TEX1S HAS TAKEN
 NO UNCERTAIN STAND.

The Exhibitions, He Says, Should pc
 suppressed-First Step Taken in the Sem
 ate.
 Austin, Tex, Oct. 1.-The members Of the legislature, who have been called in special session to pass an anti-prize fighting bill, have been arriving singly and in groups for the past twenty-four
 hours. The sentiment of both houses seems strongly to favor law making
 prize fighting illegel, but a number of
 the representatives condemn the arbit- rary feature of the proposed law, which in their judgment would work an injus-
 tice to innocent persons who might be
 ignorant of the new statute for weeks after it's passage. Little doubt was ex- pressed to-day that the senate will pass the bill with reasonable promptness, but
 the result in the house is full of uncer-
 tainty, as under the rules a two-thrds
 vote of the entire legislature is neces- sary to pass emergency bills. Men who have followed legislative work at Austin
 for years were predicting this afternoon
 that the session will be both a strong
 and protracted one and that it may last
 until the 1st of November, unless the
 friends of the bill consent to eliminate
 the emergency clause, in which event
 it will pass without material delay,
 After the roll had been called the pre-
 siding officer of the senate briefly ex
 plained the governors purpose in call
 ing the legislature in special session.
 He expressed the belief that the prompt
 ness with which the senators had re-
 sponded was an indication that they
 would pass the proposed anti-prize fight
 measure He closed with the hope that
 the session might be harmonious and
 brief
 The presence of a quorum being es-
 tablished in both houses, the governors s
 message was thereupon laid before the
 two bodies. It was short, sharp and de- |cisive. It contained no uncertain sound
 as to his attitude concerning prize fight ing in general and the proposed contest
 between Corbett and Fitzsimmons in
 particular. The governor reviewed the past legislation relating to prize fight, ing, which sport he characterized as bru- tai and demoralizing and denounced by every state in the Union. He enumerat- ed the states which have enacted laws making prize fighting felony and urg- ed that such laws should be operative from their passage.
 He referred to the opposition to the emergency bill because of the large amount of money involved by the man agers of the Florida Athletic club, and said that such opposition was charac- teristic of such an exhibition. Tt rests, ," he continued, upon the audacious prop osition that free people can forfeit or fhave bargained away the right to pre- serve the peace, the public morals and the public safety"
 The message concluded in these worlds:
 elf no law now exists the state does not give any assurance or come under any obligation that is legal upon the subject, but these principles need not be here invoked. By proclamation all persons have been given notice that | this exhibition would not be permitted and what has been done by it's pro- l .ectors was with full responsibility for | the consequence The particular inter- ests require that these exhibitions es- pecially should be suppressed. Dis countenanced by Mexico and the ter ritories, outlawed and driven from every state, 1t is proposed to assemble a horde of ruffians and gamblers and | offer here this commanding insult to public decency against the pride of the people and your prompt and resolute action will spare them the ignominy. | It will do another thing. It will recall ! to the great city of the state inhabited l by a manly and generous and enlght- ened people the wholesome and assur- l ing truth now obscured by anger and misconception for which it will here after thank you that no part of it's material prosperity, no part of it's social and intellectual progress, no part of it's splendid destiny, is bound lup in an endeavor to hold within it's \ limits one of the most disgraceful orgies ever permitted to discredit and dis honor Texas. Impelled by a sense of | duty to exert every executive power 1 to avert this calamity you have been called in special session and the re- sponsibility for the consequences is now divided with you. That you will meet i it as becomes the representatives of the people anxious and ready to protect l the fair nameyof the state is not doubt | ed.''
 1 The first step in the direction of leg I islation inimical to prize fighting was l taken in the senate to-day by MT. Lewis of San Antonio, who introduced l a bill to that effect. It is understood | to reflect the views of the administra- l ton and it provides that any person I who engages in pugilistic encounter i between man and man, or a fight be- tween man and any animal upon the ! result of which money is wagered shall | be deemed guilty of a felony and be punished by imprisonment for not less l than two years nor more than five.
 The bill further provides that the pub | lie properly demands that the law shall l take effect and be in force and from and after it's passage. A similar bill was introduced in the house. l The Lewis and Ward bills were re- 1 ferred to judiciary committee No. ?, which has jurisdiction of criminal mat ] ters.
 1 The situation in the legislature may 1 be changed tomorrow by the presence of dozen or more absentees. who have | been sent for but had vote been talk
 en to-day on the administration bill, \