Omaha daily bee., 1909-11-28
WHEN JOHN |, BEAT KILRAlN
Last Fight Here Under the London
Prize Ring Rules.
CONTEST AND THE SPECTATORS
Battle at Richburg, Miss, n Contrast
20 the Conditions Under which
Jeffries and
VIII Meet.

The proposed light between Jeffries and
Johnson for a purse OF 10000 or more
recalls the days Of other battles and the
emoluments the participants received for
pounding each other into insenslbility or
a state approaching Inconsistencies with
bare knuck,es or with hands encased in
small gloves.
The stake for which John L. Sullivan
and lake Kilrain fought at Richburg, Miss,
twenty years ago was not moro than
one-fifth Of the amount which will be
hung up for Jeffries and his dusky
opponent, and the old timers who are
nov doing a boxing turn on the bur.esque
stage must smile when they read the
newspapers with their daily bids from
all parts Of the country The approaching
contest calls for forty-five rounds, with
gloves. Quite a different test from that
called for at Richburg when Sullivan and
Kilrain fought with bare knuckles for three
hours under the blishering summer sun.
1t was the last fight he'd in America
under the rules Of the London prize ring,
and II was the bloodiest and most theatric
that veterans can recall. Sullivan, then
in his prime, was the ideal fighting man.
He had returned from England after his
unsatisfactory battle with Charlie Mitchell,
and when his friends, Jimmy Wakely and
Charles Johnson, proposed backing him
to meet Kf.rain. a strong, stalwart ex-
oarsman Of Baltimore, the Boston boy was
only too eager for the fray.
Money Melts Like snow.
Money melted like snow under April
rains, and though he made It fast. Sullivan
was we'll nigh crippled financially when
the articles Of agreements we're signed.
His temper. in those days, was not
improved when he learned that Mitchell
was coming from England to prepare
Kilrain for the battle, and Liney Tracy
and the others to spar with the big
fellow In his preparation were hammered
RICH and left by the mighty Bostonian,
who when his hands were up forgot
sometimes that 1t was a friend he was
! confronting. Like Salvini and other great
actors he became so realistic and earnest
in his work that his companions were on
more than one occasion forced to flee to
save their skins.
For many weeks before the battle the
hands OF both Sullivan and Kilrain were
treated with a pickle to make them tough
and hard until they were most formidable
weapons Of offense and defense. Some
Of the curled darlings of the ring Of to-
day who eagerly inquire about the losers
end of, a purse before they will agree to
spar with pillowlike coverings on their
hands would faint II they had seen the
grim preparations for the Sullivan-Kll-
rain mill.
For the sake Of those who have never
seen a battle under London rules 1t may
be stated that the code calls for bare
knuckles and the contestants are naked
save for a breech cloth or short runks
Wrestle or Punch in CIinches.
In contests under these rules 1t was per.
MISSILE to wrestle and It was also con
sidered no violation of the ethics to punch
in clinches-in fact, 1t was at this style o.
fighting that Sullivan was a past master
A round ended when either man wa.
knocked down or thrown, and the seconds
of the fallen man were permitted to carry
him to his corner. The rests between
rounds were one minute in duration. Sc
brutal were fights under the London rules
that they were virtually superseded by
those reputed to nave been framed by the
MARQUEE Of Queensberry, but the spirit o.
the game was so strong tina whenever
the best representatives met for the cham.
pionship the older rules were chosen. They
furnished a more severe test Of the mer
and as they permitted wrestling it wai
considered the only true standard by
which the merits of contestants might b,
measured.
There was a tremendous clamor wheI
the articles calling for a contest between
Sullivan and Kilrain were signed and on,
state after the other throughout the create
part of the union announced that the bar
barous display would not take plac,
urffbtn tta nnpF{paa IN. 1,4- NIT Gil
enson was commissined to seek a battle
ground and after consultation with som,
OF the leading sportsmen OF Louisiana /
was given out that the fight would tax,
place within 200 miles Of New Orleans ant
that quaint old city at once became tn,
mecca of thousands of admirers of tn
manly art from the United States ant
Canada.
al 0na nvA CnuwV-