Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1895-02-17

Ia SU0JS ana eACnAuBtu plOWs. ub
man who could take the most punish
ment won. Then Savers, Langham and
that coterie made a slight improvement
in the game. They learned to parry
pretty well Jem Mace and mis- cOntin
gent followed, and they improved vastly
on the play. They were shifty OF foot
as we'll as speedy Of hand. | take no
account of the chaps who dropped"
instead OF fought when pressed. That
might have passed for fighting in those
days. II would not now. With the ad
vent Of Mace 10 England there sprung
up at the same time some very clever
meu on this side OF the Atlantic. The
first of these was John c. HeeHan. Joe
Coburn followed in mis- steps soon after,
JOHN t. WROUGHT A REVOLUTION.
Then came decadence in the history
of the ring, and then a revolution. The
revolution was brought on by John l..
Sullivan. II was the "knock Gus" sys-
tenn. He put TO sleep al lost every man
who faced him in four rounds. He es-
tablshed new school. Every rising
pugiliSt, big or little, tried TO be
"knocker out" That system llourished
for nearly ten years. Then came the
present, the golden age of pugilism,
the school OF Peter Jackson, James j.
Corbett, Bob Fltzsimmons, Jim Hall,
Young Grffo and your humble servant.
The puoiic understand il protty well by
this time Skill became the prime fac
tor and force a secondary one. Rather,
il is combination OF the two, with
com banation which looks to be a perfect
guard as well as perfest assault,
which uniteS pedal stiffness and man
ual speed, is easily the best yet dis
covered. 1t KNOCKS the "knock-Ou"
system into a cooked hat. Jackson
proved that with Savin, Corbett with
Sullivan, Fitzsimmous with Maher.
Critic with Billy Murphy, not to speak
of myself with chap or two.
THE WAR AGAINST BOXING UNJUST
A word in conclusion as TO the agita-
ton which is now going on against box
ing. hope it won't last. 1t ought not
Boxing is not, as many wel-meaning
but mistaken men assert, brutal or
dangerous game. When men are
trained TO the hour and tit to fight, no
casualty can occur. Especially is this
true Of clever men. With them trath-
er becomes a contest of skill and endur-
ance. Fatalities can only occur when
either one of the principals has some
organic defect, such as heart, liver or
kidney troubles; or through some such
unfortunate accident as that which be
fell Andy Bowen at New Orleans, where
the contact OF his head with the hard
floor ofIthe arena, and not he bio IS
OF his opponent Caused deatn. No
such fatalities can happen In the future.
Every well regulated club have doctors
10 examine contestants before entering
the ring, and the floor aud posts Of such
ring will be padded well,
Boxing hurts no one, be be old or
young. Every boy should earn to ooX.
1t will make him healthy, strong, SELF
reliant, manly. He need not necessarily
fight because he learns to box. 1t Is
handy thing to have a knowledge OF
the art, however. Boxing prevents as
sault and even crime, instead OF incltlng
TO it. The knowledge that John Roe
has OF Richard Roe's fStic Skill pre-
vents him from attacking Richard.even
though he has strong grievance
against him. Richard, on the other
hand. has a high regard for Johns
pugillstic prowess, aud he retralns from
assaulting him. Both know that there
would be hard blows and no coin to
balm their wounds-only lighters get
tbat-and ths peace is kept.
Boxing, too, checks crime, as have
stated, for it makes a man so cour'
ageous, buoyant, self-reliant, that be
seldom, if ever. has recourse TO deadly
weapons. How many pugilists do you
ever hear of shooting or staooing men?
No, the knife and the pistol are not tue
weapons of a brave man, and boxers are
brave men. Show me race whlch eX-
cells in pugilistic skill and | will show
YOU a courageous people. Where can
YOU find Drawer or better men than In
America, Ireland. Scotland, England
aud her colonies? How about the races
which use the dagger and kindred
weapons? The pages Of history tell the
story.
In this position l am supported by no
less an authority than the Hon. Inomas
Hughes, author, statesman, pniIanthro-
pist and Christian gentleman. Sdreiy no
one can accuse him OF having any IN
worthy motive In supporting the game
In concluding the description OF his
bero's feht with "Slugger" Williams, in
Tom Browns School days" he thus
advises his youthful readers: Learn TO
box as YOU learn to play cricket and
football. Not one OF you will be the
worse, but very much the better for
learning to box well. Should you never
have TO use it in earnest, there's no ex-
ercise in the world so good for the