The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1897-06-04
PASTOR SEES A FIGHT.
DR.. Peters at the Ringside-A New
York Preacher.

nlght, ana mas TINS 10 say concern
ing it;
"a preacher at prize fight?
Why not? The great purpose of
the preacher should be to drive the
devil out of society. And to that
end he must invade the enemy's
country. And, if New York is not
going to the devil, the devil is going
to New York.
"wednesday nights fightbetween
Mccoy and O'Brien, taken as a
whole was the most sickening sight
III have ever seen in my life, and
taken by rounds it was continuous
reflection on our boasted civilization.
!, ,O'Brien had not been fighting a
half-minute until he received an
angry blow from McCoy's powerful
; right hand direct on the nose. He
bled profusely. 1t was the first
blood of the fight. 1t seemed to be
what many of the men about me
had been.longing for, and they ap-
peared to exult. They seemed to
; stake fiendish delight in the sight
: of the blood. Blood always attracts
: brutes.
r "From that time until the end of
the cruel encounter blood was spat-
: tered over the bodies of the two
l,fghters in revolving, sickening
ylmass, and the more blood they saw
| the more these several thousand of
men seemed to enjoy to enjoy the
: fight. Yet officers of the law we're
stationed all about the Palace ath-
( letic clubs arena Wednesday night,
t countenancing and manifes.ily en-
Ijoying this exhibition.
: 1.-The man whose magnicent ply
= sique was made for better things
f staggered to his corner in a com
t pletely exhausted condition. 1t had
been fight to a finish, such as has
E been purged from New York before
; the present administration came in.
] TO power.
e "The preacher sitting in his study
looking at the world out of dusty
t window is in great danger of prov
ting the wise proverb that "no knavt
: can do such damage as mistaken
g saint" All the states of the union,
: either by legislative enactment OF
decisions of the court, have driven
prize fighting out of decent society,
except Nevada and New York.
| The pulpit and the press, the cre-
ators and conservators of public
opionion, with almost one voice, de-
nounced Nevada for legalizing prize
fighting. We saw the mote in Ne
vada's eye, but did not see the beam
II in our own eye.
j "Prize fights between bullies who
fight like beasts are becoming al
most nightly occurrences in Greater
New York-there were twelve ad-
vertised fights in the city last Sat
vrday night. The Palace athletic
club, with its 5000 seats, was
crowded last night.
"The brutal exhibition of last
night may have been conducted
within the limits of the Horton law,
but if two men standing up and
fighting until both are covered with
blood and the loser knocked out
until he vomits blood-if that is not
prize fighting it is surely more than
"sparring for points," and i want
to know what has become of the
"reform administration" | helped
put in power.
"The rufiians who fight on the
streets are carried away by the po-
lice in patrol wagon; the ruflians
who fight in the ring are greeted by
cheers and applause of assembled
thousands under the sanction of the
law. And the applause was loud
est when the blow was cruelest. 1t
was sickenning sight. Call prize
fighting fistic art or 'the manly
art, it is brutality, only this and
nothing more. Cock fights and dog
fights are under the ban of the law,
but fights between human beings are
legalized.
81 believe there is enough COM
mon decency left in this peerless
metropolis of the American republic
to warn off the prize fights ar
ranged for at the Palace athletic
club. Let the public give our per-
jure' authorities even harder knocks
than the sluggers do each other.
THE audience was not a New
York audience. could not see a
score Of men past 80 years of age.
Very few fine looking men. II is
not true that many Of our best busi-
ness and professional men go to
these bouts. | should say that the
men who occupied the $3 and IS
seats were mostly toughs and gam
blers, saloon keepers and politicians.
Do bapc 4 u roo f,,, rthc nf tho audi