Evening journal. [volume] (Wilmington, Del.) 1888-1932, 1915-07-02
Stern Teaching
MADE MANY boxers
Old Timers Went Through
Hard Schooling Before
Getting TO Top
TOM PADDOCK
ISCASE IN POINT

The process by which champion
pueilists are developed Is very dill
ferent now from what Il vas IN the
old DAYS Of the bare knuckle game
half a century and more ago. The
eladiators who gained iaurels In the
ring in those times we're the products
of a stern school, in which only the
fftest survived. A natural lust for
lighting was the main qualification
and the lads who aspired to fistic
honors did not repair to gymnasiums
for instruction by professors, but
went into the fields and waded
into each other regardless and with
out gloves. A case in point Is the
career of Tom Paddock. the old Eng
lish champion, who died hfty-two
years ago on June 30, 1853, having
never recovered from the effects OF
the awful beating he took at the
hands OF Sam Hurst.
Paddock was a farm lad and in his
youth worked as an agricultural la
borer His boyhood associates we're
the needle. pointers Of his native town,
Redditch in Worcestershire. These
pointers" were a hardy bunch OF
youngsters and. like most of the boys
Of that day, they found their chief
recreation in aghting with each other.
A description of the pugilistic school
In which Tom Paddock was reared is
thus given by man who lived among
the. pugnacious Redditch lads.
THE most terrible fighting | ever
saw was at the White Hart, when a
lot of the pointers Who having met
there 10 spend a quiet day, found that
time hung rather heavily on their
hands. and so by way Of variety
turned TO fight They paired them
selves according TO weight, and made
the arrangements that no one should
be permitted to fight more than three
rounds. but those rounds might be as
long as they could make them. Know
ing, therefore, how little TINE they
had to do the business in. You may
imagine the manner they went to
work. and the execution they did.
never in my life saw heavier hitting
or more bloodshed. Some Of the
mems faces were battered out ~ all
recognition. yet after It WAS all over
they didn't seem TO mind II a bit
but sat and drank their liquor quite
Kindly. cheek by jowl with their re
cent antagonists"
Such ferocious exhibitions, repug-
nant as they would be 10 the bu-
manitarian instincts of today, were
yet not without their merits. II was
Just snch men as these. stalwart and
strong, able 10 take punishment with
out a murmur and with a true sport
ing spirit, that built the British en-
pire They represented the type OF
the human bulldog. and. while not
petty. they were mighty useful when
he country needed defenders.
Absurd as It may seem, these
brawny fighting men represented q
true gain for civilization. and for
humanity. We OF today shudder a
the thought OF those long and ter
rible contests between the fistic gladi
ators Of old England. fought 10 a fin
sh with the raw uns." II must HI
remembered. however. that before tn
era Of pugilism men fought wit
swords and bludgeons. and their con
tests we're much hloodier and NOR
likely to 10 be fatal than the combat
with natures weapons could possibl
be. Even more important, the me
fought fairly. seeking no advantae
over each other. and when the figi
was over they held no malice tt
fuel with deadly weapons has hecon
thing Of the past in all countri'
where the manly art" has becon
thoroughly established.