, 1896-12-10
FIGHTS FASCINATING IF BAR
BARIC.

On the night of Wednesday, Decem-
Der 2, an observant stranger in San
Francisco would have imagined, from
the enormous crowds ~converging toward
the Mechanics Pavilion. that some
great political or social CONFUSION was
taking place in he city, say
the Argonaut. Not 50. 1t
was only a prize fight. For three hours
from 6 until ga crowd poured to-
ward and into the great building-be-
ginning with the hoi polloi, who paid
a small o for a seat and waited
for hours, and ending up with the lux
urious clubmen, who paid $40 for seats.
and then waited for hours, too. For
pugilists, like time and tide, wait for
no man, but make all men wait for
them. 1t was the remark of an ex-
perienced manager of an athletic club,
made. when his audience was growing
impatient, that 'pugilists are like
prima donnas." Therefore the veteran
ring-goer always expects to wait, and
he is never disappointed.
If the observant stranger had follow.
ed the moving of San Francisco
into the building, he would have found
that enormous structure densely pack
ed with humanity. He would have
seen around the ring a number OF
boxes so-called, consisting Cf in
closures Of freshly planed pine planks,
in which were comfortable chairs oc-
cupied by gentlemen whose countenan-
ces expressed alternately anticipation
and STANDARDIZATION over the COM
ing fight and grief over the $40 which
they had planked out for their plank
boxes. Back of them stretched thou
sands of other seats at IS and SO a piece,
while the galleries on either hand were
densely packed with people at 81 and
less. 1t is said the number of people
within the pavilion was over Is, 900, and
that over $40, 900 were received at the
box Office. Certain it is that the OBJ
servant stranger would have found
great difficulty in reaching that same
box office if he had not already pur-
chased his ticket, and he would have
found himself forced to fall back to
the end of a line extending half around
the block, a line into which the police
relentlessly forced everybody to fall.
When the observant stranger.a speck
in this ocean of humanity, had gazed
arUun him, he would have said, Can
it be possible that such vast crowds are
always attracted by prize fights in San
Francisco" To this we may reply,
not always. but generally. Whenever
there Is a prospect of a good fight
San Francisco will cheerfully pay al
most any price to see it. This taste for
fights reached such a pitch some years
ago that it resulted in the formation of
a so-called athletic club wherein the
members could see fights at their ease,
The luxurious clubmen, of whom we
spoke but now, revolted at the idea of
having to struggle for admission with
hard-handed artificers and base me.
chanicals with greasy jenkins, so they
formed a club, known as the California
Athletic club. Its members paid large
purses to fighters. and then, at their
ease, languidly watched the fighters
punch n %another's noses. The club
existed for several years, and for those
who were fond of fighting it was a
source of mqDh Pugilietic pleasure. 1t
certainly q 8 affairs in a
clean b fights which
were and allowed no
decis not entirely above
- other evening was
EAeosh have taken place
naitornda Athletic club.
56Fn1gDed articles to fight,