The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-08-20
ENGLAND ONCE FEARED NEGRO
 BOXING CHAMP

prize ring, 1t Is interesting to note | that an American negro gave Eng | land an awful fright in the very hey day of her boxing patronage. It was ! in 1810. and I take the facts from an old English print
 The subject of the sketch was Tom Molyneux, a slave who took his name from his owner, a wealthy planter in Virginia. It was a coIa- | mon practice to pit ringers against l each other for the amusement of their masters, and Tom showed mark ed skill. Algernon Molyneaux, the l planters son, had backed the negro l in several fights, and on one occa- sion while with a gay set in Rich | mond and under the influence of liquor Ca fluid used in the United States prior to July l, .1919) accept ed a challenge involving one hundred thousand dollars. On account of the great stake Young Molyneaux offer ed his slave his freedom as a prize for winning. Tom won the fight and with it his freedom. After about five years in New York, during which he fought several battles, the ebony one was the first to claim the American championship. As the game was then, however, almost an exclusive English sport, and no
 white American would probably have fought a negro, Molyneaux made his way to England to challenge Tom Cribb for the championship of Ghe world. For a man of this despised race having sprung from slavery, to show such pluck, though it offends racial pride, arrest attention and fnrPaG ha idRa of fighting the English champion | seemed rather ambitious and the sa- | ble gladiator had to 'go get a repu- | tation." He battered down two wor- | thy Englishmen, and then came his | opportunity with Tom Cribb. The great battle was viewed by distin | guished spOrtsmen and aristocratic patrons.
 Imagine, if you will, this illiteratS | black brute, who, besides his color and lowly origin had the additional l handicap of an ugly face entering | the ring to fight a white man. the | recognized premier fighter of the | white race, and doing this in a for ] eign land where not a friendly eye | or tongue greeted him. Indeed it
 was a challenge to the whole assem- | blaze for everywhere he turned he | mean to be mobbed and yet he dar- | ed to try Could human courage be ! more sublime?
 1 MoIyneaux enters the ring under | a pale of silence. Cribb enters with | thunderous aplause. Time is called.
 The gross Virginia nigger stands be- l fore the English gentleman and the
 worlds championship is at stake. The betting odds are 4 to 1 on the | gentleman. A tense moment ensues | as the rfen eye each other, when | of a sudden Molyneaux lands a pow 1 erful blow on the ribs, but folow- I ing a few exchanges the Britisher fells | the black, and a tremendous cheer
 arises. The second round is furious
 but Cribb delivers a head blow that | lays Malyneaux full length on the earth. The cheering beggars descrip-
 tion.
 As if the negro's beginning were
 not lowly enough he must rise from | the soil to pursue his ambition. He | takes two blows for every one that
 he gives, but he holds his feet. His | ugly visage assumes hideous propor- tions, but his fighting spirit never l wanes and as the rounds rotate, he ! knocks his opponent to his knees | time and again. The black mans | strength seems to mount up as the | Englishmans seems to recede. The
 ringside grows nervous and the ques- | tion arises "Should the black win
 after all?" So it seems for he fells ' Cribb with a painful blow. Bill Richmond, Molyneaux's negro back | CT, yells -Four to one on Molyneaux." For the conclusion of the battle I quote from the English narrative:
 The moment Cribb was lifted to | his feet burst forth a cry that was 1 almost pathetic in it's earnestness, | Now, Tom, now, for Gods sake, | don't let that nigger beat you. Go
 for him. Tom, go for him; Old Eng land forever
 In the twenty-eigth round Thomas Molyneaux fairly won the fight, and ! the black awaited the award of vic tory. his due, in the center of the ! ring. But during the excitement Joe | Ward rushed across the ring to Bill Richmond, and accused him of hay ing placed two buile.s in the Blacks fist. MClyuaaCx was requested to
 open his ha1ds, proving that nothing
 was there. The ruse, however. sue
 ceeded. and gave Cribb the oppor-
 tunity to come around. As they fac
 ed each other again the Champion
 lodged his man, and by good luck
 succeeded Tn knocking him down. Yet
 nobody was quite prepared for what
 was about to happen. The cold had
 at last taken serious effect upon the
 niGger.
 He was seized with violent shiv- ering, and all at once he seemed to collapse. Cribb, seeing his condition, |, dashed in at his foe. knocking him
 down.
 In the next round, however, the Black caught his man around the
 waist and threw him heavily, but in , doing so pitched over him, and
 bringing his head in contact with one
 of the stakes, he lay there upon his
 back in a semi-stunned state,
 | When Molyneaux was set up for the s~Axt round, he staggered, and he cc hardly lift his arms. Cribb
 struck him in the throat, and down