New Britain herald., 1915-05-11
YOTfOQYaphy
TOM CRIBB.S MONUMENT FINEST EVER ERECTED TO A
 PUGIIIST.

z
 This is the sixty-seventh anniver- sary of the death of Tom Cribb, the great English champion who was the first to fight an American for the worlds title, and who was in many ways one of the most remarkable men of ring history. Many of the old-tirne
 bruisers of Merrie England has been
 rem em bered by the erection of fine
 monuments, but the most magnificent
 memorial ever dedicated to a pugilist
 is that which stands over the grave
 of Tom Cribb at Woolwich. In the
 forest of gravestones at s,woolwich churchyard, where lie many. ,sof the
 military and naval heroes of Britain, the monument to the old gladiator or the ring. is the most impressive.
 The design of the memorial repre- sents lion grieving over the remains of the hero. The selection of lion to guard Cribb's resting place was es- pecially appropriate, for, as George Cree Borrow, the famous author, wrote Cribb had a huge" massive figure, and. a face wonderfully like that of a lion" The inscription on the monument reads: Sacred to the memory of Thomas Cribb; born July 9th. 17S1, died May 11th, 1S4S. Re- spect the ashes of the brave.''
 The tomb is colossal affair, sculp- tured from a solid rock of Portland stone and.weighs about 10000 pounds.
 Cribb is best known to Americans through his two famous battles with hE-Is and ex-slave who was the first Amer ican to seek the heavyweight cham pionship. The first contest between Cribb and the black was fought in 1910. The negro wore him down and for a timeI it seemed that the pugil- istic championship was to leave Eng land, and become the possession of black American. The crowd was fran-~ tic with excitement and rage at the prospect. Tn the twenty eighth round Molineaux fairly won the fight, by all the rules of the game, and became the champion of the world. Cribb was
 unable to respond to the call of time,
 although the referee gave him more
 than the allotted time. In defiance
 of all justice, Cribb was permitted to
 resume when he had, recovered, and
 Molineaux, exhausted, finally fell and struck his head against a stake, and was unable to get up. It was general ly recognized that he was the rightful victor. In the following year he was
 again matched with Cribb. In the meantime, however, dissipation had | wrecked the negro's health, and he l fell an easy victim to Cribb.
 i Molineaux was the only fighter who ever stood chance with Cribb, and he held the title longer than any other
 man in ring history. From 1908 to 1922 he was recognized champion, al- though during more than half of that l time he never put up his fists and he | finally retired undefeated. ~ | After retiring from the ring, Cribb became the host of the Union Arms l in London, where he held court in l what has been irnmortalized by l Pierce Egan and other writers as
 rom Cribb's Parlor." This .parlor'' was long resort of the authors. poets l actors, artists and other distinguishe ed | men, as we'll as of the sporting nobles. ] Later the place was reproduced on the l stage, first at the Adelphi in London, l and tsTon Cribb's Parlor'' has since been seen in theaters all over the | English speaking world. It was oc-
 casionally revived. It has often been 1 seen in New York and other Ameri- r can cities As it used to be presented
 at the theaters on the Bowery in New I York 1t didn't offer much in the way T of gdramat interest but the stage set ] ting afforded an opportunity for the 2 introduction of all the sporting cele- I brities at the show.