Waterbury Democrat., 1903-01-05
Commissioners Do Not Care To
 Strike Back, However.
PRIZE FIGHTS WAS THE TOPIC

Evening-The New Years Day l
 Bouts Got Good Scoring and So
 Did the Members of the Board of Public Safety-One of the Latter Says the Y. M. c. A. Bouts Are More Bloody Than Some of Those Held New Years Night.
 The board of public safety and the advocates of prize fights must have had hot ears yesterday. Some things were said of them from two pulpits. After reviewing the successful effort made to stop the Corb ett-R Rice bout in Water bury, the Rev MT Stockdale of the l First Methodist church said in part: But q few weeks had elapsed and the same men again made application for a license to hold the same kind of an exhibition. After due consideration | the board of public safety saw fit to grant license for the same identical | thing, with q change of name in the | cases of tho principals. They sent no- | tice to the committee opposed to the other contest to appear and state any reason why they should not license the 1 bouts. The license was granted, and the contests went on." The speaker continued:
 q have in my possession typewrit- ten copies furnished by two men who were present and saw the bout, hired by the committee, and who reported to 1 that committee not thirty minutes after the hall was cleared, and gave a report of the three bouts by rounds. I shall not roll your feelings by giving description of that fight. The first was I brutal enough; the second was more than ordinarily brutal and bloody. One of the participants was a colored man. During the fight, while the two men were in the ring, I am told by an eye witness that his opponent called him a particularly vile name and loudly in formed him that he proposed to knock his block off,
 "He continued to hit him in the re- zion of the heart and in the face. As he fell to the floor of the arena he again struck him, and the blacks head struck the pavement with a resounding noise that could be heard afar off. At that time there was loud applause. It was the first real applause that had been furnished. This man was uncon- scious in the ring for about two min- utes. He was carried to his corner, water was dashed in his face, his arms worked above his head and 1t was probably from five to ten minutes un- til he was able to walk out, supported on either side by two men.
 II don't know how you feel about this, but to my own mind it is one of those things that make me feel exceed ingly angry; I won't say righteously indignant. MT Crowley is prohibited from holding these things in his own city, but the board of safety permits him to come here and make money, his sole aim, for he declared at the time he called the other exhibition off that he was in it for the money there is in 1t.
 '"The city is gaining the reputation throughout the papers of New England expressed in the sentence. Anything goes in Waterbury, These things are such help; there is such an ennobling influence to them. The people want it, for only several hundred signed the pc tition against 1t. And yet, i'll the face of that document and the sentiment ex- I pressed by it, to think of the board turning around in less than two months and shaping such sentiment in the face.
 ''Then If the people want 1t, let us go out tomorrow morning and cut down our nice trees in the public park build an enclosure. and let Us have these things each night where we all can see it. Let us not hedge them up, with price of $2, S1 and $150 and keep the choice entertainment for the gaze of few men down in the audi toTiu1n. *4
 "Let us have a board of safety that will represent us as well as MT Crow law H1T, ed l.. I. no hymn selected appropriate to the occasion-I did not think of My Coun- try. 'ris of Thee but do not want to disgrace it, so we'll sing the missionary hymn" The one sung opens with
 "Our country's voice is pleading,
 'Ye men of God arise.
 The Rev Mir Zeiter of the Chapel street Methodist church pitched into the matter in this fashion:
 ''Six well known and highly resDecta- ble citizens, Messrs Tommy Sullivan, Kid Mulvaney, Tom Carey, Black Fitz- simmons, Danny Duane and Sam Bo- lan--all men of intrepid zeal for righte- ousness and morality of giant propor- tions as regards intellectuality, men of such delightful social characteristics that none of you need hesitate to ten |; der them the hospitality of your homes or to introduce them to your mother or wife or sisters or daughters-were the star performers of the evening" The men who managed the bouts looked upon them as being fights, for at the ringside telegram was exhibit ed and it was announced that one Lewis, who had fought in that ring be- fore, challenged the winner of this } fight More than this, the manner in which the affairs were conducted went way beyond the privileges of simple sparring. Some of the participants : were badly bruised and cut; backs, , chests, shoulders and faces were dis colored and bleeding; frequently men were struck so hard that they were knocked to the floor and partially stunned, and in one case colored par ticipant. after having been terribly : beaten in body and face by an opponent of much greater strength and skill, was ) f1oored with such terrific blow that