Montgomery County sentinel. [volume] (Rockville, Md.) 1855-1974, 1896-02-28
THE PRIZE RING.

The civilization and progress Of the age
emphasizes the fact that the prize ring
should be utterly and forever swept away
by the strong hand OF the law. AS it stands
TO day, with the brutes 1t encloses, 1t is moth.
ing more nor less than scheduled brutality,
crime by cold and formal arrangement, vii
lainy in all OF Its parts.
There are only two nations which tolerate
the prize ring. One is England, while the
other is America, which takes it by inherit
ance. Let America take the lead and cut
it up from its very root The time is ripe,
general sentiment is in favor OF crushing the
pugilist. There is no room in our civiliza-
ton, no corner in the social economy we
profess, for the Sullivans, the Corbetts, the
Fitzsimmons and the Mahers.
Not one argument rises to favor the con-
tnuance of the prize ring, not one reason
for its use. 1t has no valid purpose, con-
serves no good end. 1t is the merest theatre
for exhibitions as disgraceful to spectators
as degrading to participants, and which
never rise in their appeal above the baser
appetites Of men.
Law should harden its heart in this mat
ter, legislation make stern and inexorabie
its front. They should go beyond the mere
punishment Of participants ate As.
That is locking the stable after u 9fc
staiAn--The law shnuld deal wi A4atszs
before the fight. And it shou' likewise
arrest, arraign and punish all VIII aoE
exhibitors, purse offerers, second s
ers may foster such british a. 5amgH@'.
izing scenes.
These aiders and arrangers should be
dealt with as for conspiracy, and made to
answer for any effort or act which looked
to final law breaking by prize fight. Nor
should punishment be by slight fine or for
some fake Imprisonment for day in some
gracious Jail where banquets may be served,
and wine be opened and a general jubilee
be had and held The punishment should
be vigorous, and of such r,lemn sort and
serious length as would offer no induce
ment TO the hardest and most callous TO
undergo it. AS law and practice stand to-
day, those thugs who arrange prize fights and
those undcrthugs who fight them may fear
the interference of the law at the ring side, as
q stop sport, but SO far as any apprehension
aiterward they snap derisive fingers at it.
Amendment should appear in all this by
making those who foment prize fight in
any of the stages which go before the fight
equally criminal with the fighters, and to
all should be given such vigorous prison
sentence as goes to the portion of desperate
malefactors.
There is no injustice is 80 doing, no safety
in doing less A prize fighter, no matter
how much a hectic romanticism may try to
invest him with some attribute of nobility,
is a brute in all things, at all times, and
criminal by professionally instinct as well
as choice. And those who promote his
law breaking by opening way and offer
ing a reward therefor are more Of menace,
and therefore more criminal than any OF
the actual fighting brutes themselves.
With the present spectacle of Maher and
Fitzsimmons before US the time is appro.
pirate for such law making as we'll as law
enforcing, as will, by uprooting prize fight
ing, aid and make better the age.