The Savannah morning news., 1904-04-02
BOXING FIFTY YEARS AGO.
From the Springfield Union.

From the Springfield Union.
Boxing in the rude old days of fifty
years ago was so different a PROPOSE
ton from boxing at the present time
that it is really a pity the pampered
fight fans of the modern era could
not go back and take a whirl with the
fossils. If they were to have one rush
with the men who used to follow the
Upton Slasher, Caunt and Bendlgo,
they would yell for the comfortable
chairs, the electric lights above the
ring, and the modern improvements
which they now accept as mere mat
ter of course and the natural accom-
paniments of a battle.
In 1850 if man wanted to see a
fight he had to make arrangements
way in advance, and one of the ar
engagements was generally the making
of his will. Then came the quiet TIP
as to where the fight would be and a
Journey to the rendezvous. From the
rendezvous the crowd started for train
or coach line. If the rowdieS of the
neighborhood had heard of the gather
ering-and they generally had-the
crowd was assailed on all sides the
toughs, who batted them on ti,~ coco
with war clubs, went through their
pockets, took away their watches and
currency, and generally gave per-
feet imitation of a wholesale holdup
as now practiced in Chicago.
Once free from the crowds the fight
fans were put in old railroad cars
accommodations a bit worse than mod
ern cattle cars-and hustled out to the
scene of action-a level field, as near
the confines to two or three counties
as possible. Then, as rule, the sheriff
appeared and pursued the fans for sew
eral miles. Over the fence and
through the hedges and mud, helter-
SHELTER, head over heels, they Stun
bled, and, finally distancing the po-
lice, found a new battle ground. Here,
perhaps, the men were brought to.
gether. The battle was in daylight,
with ropes tied to stakes forming the
ring.
Round the ring the crowd pressed,
regardless of the weather. If it
CHANGED to be a muddy day they got
the worst of it. The front rows of
spectators were forced to lie or sit in
the mud; behind them knelt more peo-
pie, and the general multitude stood
up. AS a rule, the police showed up
before the fight had gone very fair,
and again drove everybody through
the slush. Once in about nine times
the fight was carried through to a
point where one man or the other SEEM
ed about to win. Then would come
wild pandemonium. The roughs who
followed one fellow or the other would
begin a furious attack on everybody
in sight, especially the winning boxer;
the air would be full of rocks and
clubs; the ring would be torn down.
and in frantic excitement the multi
tude would vanish amid the woods and
fields.
The fighting, as everybody knows,
was with bare knuckles, but differed
from modern boxing, not only in this
particular and in the governing rules,
but in the actual style of milling
There were no swings and fancy hooks
A swing with the bare knuckles land
ing on head or shoulder blade, would
work havoc with the swingers hand.
1t was all straight hitting, jabs and
uppercuts, and wrestling formed prob
ably half of the fighting. A hard fall
on solid ground did the thrown man
much more damage than half dozen
blows.
Once in a while there was a clean
knockout punch-Tow King landed such
a blow upon Jem Mace-but as a rule
the losing man was either so badly
bruised by his falls or so worn down
from exhaustion that he could go no
farther. The rules-ending a round as