The herald., 1898-11-23
AT THE RINGsIDE
A Vast Crowd Comes to Witness the
Mill

| AT THE RINGSIDE, Lenox Athletic
Club, New York, Nov 22.-The twenty
round glove fight between James j. Corbett
of California, the ex-champion heavyweight
boxer of the world, and Tom Sharkey of
Dundalk, Ireland, who first showed his
prowess as fighter while serving the
| United States as bluejacket in the navy,
drew an enormous crowd of sporting men
to the Lenox Athletic club house tonight.
In fact such representative gathering OF
the sporting element from all over the coun,
| try was never in the city limits at one time
before. The fact that the contest would
certainly take place without any legal in
reference induced many hundreds of fol-
lowers and admirers of the art of self-de-
fense to make long journeys in order to be
ut the ringside when the fight took place.
Nearly every city of any prominence in the
United States was represented by parties of
at least dozen men, and in many instances
by delegations numbering hundred each,
lin charge of well known men in different
sporting centers. Weeks ago, when the
seats were first put on sale, shrewd people
who lived quite long distance from this
city, either wrote or wired for seats to be
reserved and by doing SO saved themselves
lot of trouble on their arrival here. Those
who saw far enough ahead to do this were
comparatively few, however, and the past
few days there was a lively scramble to Sc
cure good seats. Today not seat was to be
had at the club after o'clock, and those who
had not made early provision had to pay
exorbitant prices to the wide-awake spec
ulators.
TICKETS COST MONEY
Tickets for seats in the immediate vicn-
ity of the ring brought fabulous prices to-
night. The original cost of these paste.
boards was $40 each, but tonight twice tina.
sum could not purchase one of them, and
in two instances they brought 500 apiece.
The other tickets, costing IS to Sl5, brought
prices two and three-fold, and the club man.
agement did not put any of the So adinis-
sion tickets on sale.
The anxious sports who clamored at the
entrance gladly paid $5 and in many cases
$8 for the privilege Of standing up at the
extreme end of the building.
The club house is not very well adapted
for pugilistic encounter, as it is long and
narrow, having been built for an ice skating
rink. The ring is pitched in the center OF
the house and the boxes are built around it.
On each end of the box enclosure tier upon
tier of chairs are ranged on a gradually in
clined structure which very nearly touched
the roof of the building at both ends. Along
each side of the structure are long galleries
running nearly the entire length of the
house, and these elevated places were par
titioned into small boxes which were con-
sidered the best possible places of vantage
The doors of the big building were thrown
open shortly after 5 o'clock. At that early
hour hundreds upon hundreds of people
were waiting patiently in front of the club
house on Lexington avenue. As soon as the
first comers passed through the turnstile
others took their places on the outside, and
this continued for over three hours. The
crowds were kept in check by a large force
OF police. While the crowd was large one,
it was never beyond the control of the po-
lice and in fact was not SO dense as the au-
thorities expected
INSIDE THE BUILDING
Inside the building all was hustle and ex-
citement, but at o'clock the house was
scarcely half filled. This was easily ac-
counted for by the fact that the big event
was not scheduled to take place until about
10 o'clock, and the holders of coupons for
reserved seats were in no hurry to get up
town to be cooped UP for an unnecessary
length of time.
The gambling instinct, which is neces-
sary adjunct to all manner of fistic contests,
was in evidence as soon as the sports be- |
gan to gather in the boxes. Corbett's stock |
was always in preference, and the odds on |
the San Franciscan opened at 100 to 80. |
The betting did not take on as lively a turn |
as on former occasions when fighters of less |
note have met in this arena So much bet |
ting had been done during the last forty
eight hours, however, in the sporting re- |
sorts throughout the city that the slackness |
of the wagering on the spot did not indicate |
any loss of interest in the heavyweight bout. |
BY $3.50 o'clock nearly every seat in the |
house was occupied. Bankers and brokers |
of prominence, lawyers of note and bust |
ness men representing nearly every phase of |
trade, mingled with well known politicians |
and held animated conversations in close |
proximity to the ringside. One well known |
member Of the produce exchange took the |
Sharkey end of one of the largest wagers of |
the night, which was $500 against $1,000 on |
Corbett. Joe Vendig laid odds on the Cali |
fornian.
THE FIRST PRELIMINARY
The first Of the two preliminary bouts was