The record-union., 1898-09-25
DUELS At ANNAPOLIS.
RULES THAT GOVERN THI
THUMPING MATCHES.
Fighting Bob" Evans Opinion of
Youth Who Whipped Four
Men in One Night.

Readers of "Tom Browns School
Days and tom Brown at Oxford
like the books for the manliness of
them The manliness consists of por-
travail of a youngster who was thor
oughly a boy-ready to give with a
generous heart, to help with a willing
hand and to resent with blow. Tom
Brown had fighting blood in him. Il
came down to him in a red stream
from the white-slkinned Saxons who
drunk with the liquor of battle, reeled
around the dragon standard at Senlac.
It is a good thing for America that
the same blood flows in the veins of
it's sons Writers may write and
preachers may preach, but the world
our world at least-will take to its arms
the boy who is as anxious to fight as
to play 1t predicts great things of
him and is willing to help him along.
Out of these battles come blackened
eyes and bloody noses. but not any
harm. Self-confidence is born of them
and the ability to make the hand guard
the head There used to be an old fell
low in Goliad County, Tex. who ex-
pressed his utter condemnation of a
one cheek and he'll turn the other.
Smith him on the other and he'll have
you arrested Then he spat in dis
gust.
1t is not known that the authorities
Of the Naval Academy at Annapolis
encourage fighting There is nothing
in the published rules urging the ca
diets to follow the advice of dead Sam
Randall and get together as often
as possible. But it is certain that they
do not discourage it. There are tales
among the embryo Admirals, handed
down from class to class, of how the
preceptors have stood afar and watched
the battles through spy-glasses, grunt-
ing at each we'll delivered blow, and
betting gleefully among themselves on
the results. The consequence OF this
laxity is that the younger cadets-those
in their first year-come in a little while
to believe that the powers are very
friendly to a fighter and would offer
active encoura cement if it were neces-
sary-which it isn't. This state of af-
fairs may not conduce to study, but
it does conduce to the development OF
muscle and the fattening Of the fight
ing instinct Not long ago cadet took
! feg leave of the acadmey and wandered
! into Baltimore, where he sDliced
multiplicity of main braces. AS re-
suit he first whipped a cab driver, then
whipped a friend of the cab driver, and
| then whipped two policemen who had
walked up in time to see the END OF
| the fray He got back to the grounds
badly battered, but standing up well
under his canvas. The affair made
some noise and persons went to Wash
! ington to obtain the cadets dismissal
There they met Fighting Bob" Evans
and mistakenly detailed the circum-
stances. requesting his influence.
What beloved that veteran. "Dis-
miss a boy like that! Licked four men
/ in one night? Damme, sirs, are you
crazy? What in the blue - do you
think a naval officer is for? When he
graduates give him to me. Put him
on my ship. I want a hundred like
! him"
In the matter OF humping his fell
/ low there are certain rules governing
| the cadet They are leges non scriptae,
/ but ironclad nevertheless. The epithet
liar must be resented with an instant
/ blow All insults must be accounted
/ for on the spot. The only spots eX-
empt are the chapel and classroom. The
combatants are Immediately separated
by any one standing near A first-year
man is permitted to separate seniors.
| After that the code has play.
| The conbatants name two sec
onds each. These lay the mat
| ter before a member of the senior
class. He fixes the place and date of
r0Ia
an open space behind the gymnasium.
| 1t is not turf, but it is ground worn
bare and hardened by many feet. 1t
| has been redeemed time and again by
the best blood in America. The time
! is always the afternoon of some Satur-
/ day No meetings are allowed on week
days. The rules are Marquis of Queens
| berry-three-minute rounds and a min
ute rest between. The exception is that
no gloves are used. Wrestling is not
permitted of course. Occasionally how
ever, when one of the combatants has
| had two years training in the sparring
+! school and the other is a newcomer the
| old style of rough and tumble" fracas
| is allowed.
| Always a senior class man is master
| of ceremonies, appellate court and su-
preme court in these fistic litigationS.
The seconds are there TO handle their
men, but all points of dispute are sub
mitted to the senior. His decision is
never questioned. A fight is fought out
until one of the men is deemed incom-
] petent by his seconds, who throw up the
sponge. Then he is borne to the hos
pital The sponge never goes up until
! he is made fit for a cot. Woe to the
warrior who cries enough or quits when
| he is able to continue Nothing is left
| him save to depart to civil life. His
| classmates and the men in his dor7ni-
| tory will not speak to him. He is Gov
| entried." There is no instance where
! these bare knuckle duels have had a
fatal termination. The participants are
! endowed with the blessing of youth,
and are always in condition.
So numerous are cadet combats t.<Nt
/ during the first six months of a year,
until all of the newcomers have whip
ped somebody or been whipped, there
is often not time of a Saturday after
noon to finish with the fights dated for
i that day. Three or four couples will be