The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1896-12-19

| q thug. He has not changed IN num-
| dred years. And the devotees of the
prize-ring have suffered few mutations.
The men who support the prize-ring to-
| day are not hostlers or poor crap
shooters" They are the rich sports,
| the stock gamblers, the track owners
and the indolent sons of the very rich.
So one hundred years ago the patrons
Of the ring in England, whence we
| come bv our modern fights, were the
eaily dressed whips, tops and Beau
Brummels and gambling lords of the
realm.
Rodney Stone is a study of pugiiism
and it's principals and patrons in the
early portion of the present century.
Rodney Stone, who gives the title TO
the book, is by no means the promin-
ent figure in the story.
The rival OF Beau Brummel, Sir
Charles Tregellis, is really entitled to
that honor He was fop of high Or
der of intellect. just as Beau Brummel,
who succeeded him in the world of fas-
tidiousness. Tregellis in giving a pic
ture of what was necessary to success
in London society at that time offers
some explanation Of the eccentricities
which has descended to us in ''geni-
uses" alone.
The author says: at was an age Of
heroism and folly. On the one hand,
sailors and statesmen of the quality Of
Pitt. Nelson and afterward Wellington
had been forced to the front by the i'm
minent menace of Bonaparte. We were
great in arms and were soon also to be
great in literature, for Scott and Byron
were in their day the strongest forces
| Europe. On the other hand a touch
Of madness, real or assumed, was a
passport through doors which were
closed to wisdom and to virtue. The
man who could enter drawing room
walking upon his hands. the man who
lad filed his teeth that he might wills
tie like q coachman, the man VINO al
ways spoke his thoughts aloud, and so
kept his guests in a culver of appre-
hension-these were the people who
found it easy to come to the front in
London society"
In his day one man became great be-
cause he had a snuff-boX for every day
in the year. This gentleman's fortune
was made when his valet sent him out
on a wintry day with a thin Chevres
china box instead of thick tortoise
shell and gave him pneumonia. An
other man won great esteem by his
habit Of shutting his candle at night by
ramming it under his pillow. A most
painful accident once happened to IRE
CELLS himself, the exemplar of fashion.
by accident his cravat came undone in
the street and he walked from Carl
ton house to Walters in Bruton street
with the two ends hanging loose" But
it was a fortunate accident, furnishing
an earnest Of his great power in the
world The same evening there were
dozens of young bloods walking the
streets of London with their cravats
hanging loose.
CTdNdt-t y luS was Oh oi - AiSSSAAS
held that by using a few hours each
day a man might expect to have excel
lent cravats in middle life. The whole
knack lay in pointing your chin to the
sky and then arranging your folds by
the gradual descent of your lower
jaw
The greatest fighter of that day was
the famous Jem Belcher Others were
Bill Richmond and Dan Mendoza the
Jew, Crab Wilson and Jack Harrison.
The modern ring side has changed
little. The beaters-Out have disappear
cd. There were two rigs in the old
days, the inner for the pugilists and
the outer for select guests, hackers and
seconds. The drunken crowd of course
made frequent onslaughts on this sec
ond ring. The author in his preface to
the fight says:
"Ss--whach! Ss-whack! Ss-whack"
went the horse whiDs, for number of
the spectators, either driven onward by
the pressure behind or willing to risk
getting a better view, had crept under
the ropes and formed a ragged fringe
within the outer ring. Now amid roars
of laughter from the crowd and a
shower of blows from the beaters-out
the dyed madly back with the ungain-
ly haste of frightened sheep laundering
through 4 gap in their hurdles. Their
case was a hard one, for the folk in
front refused to yield an inch of their
places. but the arguments from the
rear prevailed over everything else, and
presently every frantic fugitive had
been absorbed. while the beaters-out
took their stands along the edge at reg
ular intervals with their whips held
down by their thighs"
Then. as now. the authorities pur-
sued the pugilists, driving them from
one county TO another. The betting
was the same. Foul play was attempt
ed. The crowd of spectators was an
important factor in the fight and had
to be appeased just as it must now
There is fasciating story which
weayes itself through this study OF
pugilism which holds the reader IL the
description OF the sports failed, which
| it does not.
The book is instructive to any one.
Ii is published by n. Appleton 4 Co.
| of New York. and is for sale in this
CITY at the Goldsmith Book Company 5
establishment.
Mr.. YERKES' BLUFF