The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1899-05-26
FIGHT FOR FUN.
The Extraordinary Antipathy Ne
tween Celts of ireland and
CeIts of Scotland.

| Ireland and the Celts OF Scotland has
, often been a source of wonderment to
strangers, who are unfamiliar with the
complex characteristics of the Celtic
| temperament. A well-known merchant,
who began life In Belfast, Ireland, re-
lated an unpleasant experience he had
many years ago, to illustrate how,
strong this race feeling ran in his
younger days: !
"At the time speak Of" he said, "I
was little more than youth, and was
| employed in commission house in Bel
fast. / had weeks vacation, and spent
the last three days of 1t in trip to Glas-
gov and back. 1 made my trip during
theharvest season, when many hundreds
of Irish laborers went to Scotland for
work. The day Of my return 1 spent
wandering about Glasgow, having ar
ranged to take the night boat back to-
Belfast. 1 spent the most Of the time 1
had to spare in strolling through the
, streets in the poorest part of the town.
and saw several fights between Irish
and Scotch laborers, the apparent
hatred between them surprising me,
though / had often heard of it before.
"When 1 arrived at the dock found
the steamboat for Belfast at the pier,
and only few people around. Every
thing was pleasant until we came to
Greenock, where such a crowd of la
borers with their wives and children
got on board that the steerage and the
dock reserved for steerage passengers
became crowded.
"As soon as we left Greenock the sky
became overcast, and the skipper pre-
dicted dirty night. He was right A
raw, cold wind arose, which stirred up
an ugly, chopping sea, and sleet began
to fall, which soon changed to drench-
ing rain. In half an hour it seemed to
me that nearly everyone on board was
either drunk or seasick. 1t was so cold
on deck that my teeth were chattering
in my head, and when went down into
the crowded steerage 1 found the at
mosphere unbearable. 1t was packed
with men, women and children, and
here and there were groups of people
passing whisky bottles around. Every
time passed one of these groups 1 was
tOlSACu a VI VI WulShyy DuI dlWdHh
declined the offer with the best grace
could. i
II found the deck cold and wet and
little less wretched than the steerage.
One-half of the steerage passengers
were lrishmen returning home, and
number of others, as far as 1 could
gather from their talk, were Scotch
people who were going to sec friends
in Ireland. Suddenly with loud
'Whirr-r-o-o," an Irish laborer struck
a quiet-looking Scotchman in the face.
The Scotchman retorted with interest,
and in two minutes three or four sets |
of combatants were fighting. The sail |
ors came along with Delaying pins,
which they used on the fighters, and,
scattering them, put two of the worst
offenders in irons. By this time the
deck was slippery with blood.
Then a young fellow, apparently not
more than 20, but fighting drunk
rushed around and said he wanted the |
blood of an Irishman. He tried to get
up fight with several people, hitting
at them even with his head until he was
leu away ny SOME ol Ills companions.
He evidently got all the fighting he
wanted, for ten minutes later saw him
crying, with his face all covered with
blood, and all the fight gone out of him.
A big man who saw me looking dis
gusted, tried to pick quarrel with me
by asking:
"'What the - do you think you
are" Before 1 had time to reply an
other man jostled against him and di-
lverted his attention. Words again led
TO blows, and others joined in the fight.
Ut was nearly always Scotch against
Irish, and Irish against Scotch.
This miserable state of affairs lasted
nearly all the way to Belfast. When we
arrived there about dozen of the fight
ers were in irons, and most of the rest
were too drunk to fight any more. I
made up my mind after that experience
never to travel steerage in Glasgow
steamer in harvest time again."-N Y.
Sun.
~