Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1897-02-14
MANLY ART EXEMPLIFIED
=
BirminghamAthletiC Club DEM
onstrates Its Worth.
a i eas ,ef- =
NEAT, CLEAN EXHIBITION
49,
Bag Punching by Champion McElroy, Club
5 Swinging by Prof Miles, and Some
Clever Glove Contests.


One Of the. most gentee1, sportsmanlike
exhibitions Of muscular power, alertnessi
dexteEity and skill ever witnessed in this
city was that given by the Birmingham
Athletic club last night.
There was very fine exhibitions of
bag punching, club swinging and boxing,
and the large audience present enjoyed it
to their heart s. content. There was not
single thing occurred to mar the pleas
ure of the evenings Performance, and the
audience was gentlemanly and composed
of some of Brningham's best patrons OF
manly arts. g." u
The evenings entertainment was
opened by Mr., Eugene McElroy, the
clever and popular champion middle
weight pugillst of the south. Mr.. Nc
Elroy was greeted with immense APP
plause as he stepped into the ring, the
very pink of perfection from scientific
point of view. He had his own bag
punching apparatus rugged up and pro-
ceeded to give first-class exhibition of
bag punching. This exhibition was
alone worth the price of admission. Mr..
McElroy kept the bag going so rapidly
that it was almost impossible to follow
it. His work showed the fine point to
which he had trained his eye, demon
strated his exceeding cleverness as
pugiist and displayed his wonderful mus
cular developments admirably His last
and possibly his best work was something
entirely his own, that of hooks and elbow
movements. The hook is used by all
leading professionals, but Mr.. McElroy
showed a great Improvement over those
used by others. Round upon round OF ap-
plause greeted the clever champion as he
bowed his adleus, and the greeting tenoeo
toward an ovation, justly deserved.
The second event was a one-rouno go
of five minutes with gloves by Frank
Lytle and Robert Couch. These youth
full aspirants afforded much amusem ent.
Their gloves had been blackened ana eV-
cry blow was plainly to be. seen as IL
landed. The boys showed cleveraess
in their work. -
Messrs. Orr and Dowsing were next on
the programme for a three-round contest
These young athletes were in excellent
trim and went at their work in man
ner clearly evincng good training. Ihe
honors were about evenly divided. 81
Prof Miles next gave an exhibition OF
club swinging and was greeted with
round after round of applause for his
clever work. IN II
THE TEN-ROUND GO. 81 foH
Next on the programme was the ten
round go for scientific points between Pc
ter Peterson of Chicago, and James Glass
of New Orleans. The former presented
a trim appearance as he entered the ring
and was given hearty reception. The
latter was little heavy, laboring under
a disadvantage of too much fat Peter
son weighed 40 pounds, while Glass
tipped the beam at 147. Mr.. G. p. Perrin
was the efficient referee, while Mr.. 3. u.
Kirkpatrick acted as timekeeper.
AT the word both men stepped to the
middle Of the ring and grasped each 9th
er's hand They wore six ounce gloves.
In the first round Peterson took the ag-
gressive side of the question and landed
on Glass neck and repeated, the latter
clinching. Both men gave and took a
few neck blows and again clinched. Pc
terson landed on the body and Glass, In
getting away slipped and fell to the floor.
In the second round Glass landed three
times on Petersons neck Peterson re-
covered and with a straight how sent
his man to the floor. Peterson rushed.
but Glass made neat counter Both
men'then exchanged sharp body blows.
I'm the third round Peterson again led,
landing on the chest. Glass tented, Pc
terson- lodged and coming up got in
some good punches.
Peterson again led with a rush in the
fourth. round, landing on the head. He
also got in a heavy uppercut. Glass re-
covered and both landed singers on the
face and neck.
In the fifth roud Glass got in a singer
on the face. drawing first blood from a
slight bruise over the eye. Peterson
landed on the face and neck and got in
an uppercut, getting wind stopper on
the neck in return.
In the sixth round Peterson landed
on the neck, got in an uppercut and re-
peated the performance. In this round
Glass made his first lead, getting in two
good punches. The round closed with
Peterson rapping repeatedly on Glass
face.
In the seventh Peterson made a rush,
but was cleverly countered He got in
another uppercut after some neat feint-