NINETY-FIVE ROUNDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 248, 18 October 1924, Page 39 (Supplement)

NINETY-FIVE ROUNDS.

GREAT BAREFSST FIGHT. I j CHAMPIONSHIP FIFTY YEARS j AGO. I In these days of 10 and 15 round fights for big purees the strenuous drawn-out battles of 50 years ago are forgotten, but accounts of these tremendous fights, in the days when boxing was banned by law, make very interesting reading. Here is a story from the "New York National Police Gazette," of a great 03----rounds championship argument, at tlie i conclusion of which the contestants wore [sent to prison. j A prat championship mill of 1.571 ] was the bare-knuckle 80-rounde draw between Tim Collins of England, and Billy Edwards, of America." The two men took their lives into their hands to do buttle, for gangs of armed New York thugs were out at East New York the afternoon of the light, which occurred on I May 2.3, 1871, to support their men. I The two men had been matched to fight at 1241b for 1000 dollars and the lightweight title. Collins had a strong record in the ring, and it wad thought that he might be the man to take Edwards' honours away from him. Edwards had surprised the world of sport by defeating Sam Collyer for the lightweight crown. The events connected with this bout : were most unusual. The pugilists trained hard and thoroughly for the I battle, and fistiana was excited over the prospect. ] They were to have met on May 24 at i fold Springs, 1..1. In fact they actually did meet there, but that is all they did do. As soon as ;i ring was pitched, but before the pugilists left the hotel at the landing where they had passed the j niglrt, a police boat landed at the dock: | and scattered the throng. It is recorded that among those who were -present for the battle was Eliza I Thacklebury, who at this time was a j great spiritualist. was so anxious j to witness the encounter that she dressed herself in male attire, procured ! the necessary ducats, and was at the I hotel prepared to go to the ring when . 'the raiding party swooped down. ; A most undignified situation for a' female spiritualist then much iv the public eye. But she escaped arrest and j exposure by stripjing herself of her | male toggery and climbing under a bed. \ where she remained in panic and fear ! until the cohorts of t'\e law ha<l taken themselves pff. Seconds Put in the "Cooler." I Both Tim and Billy Edwards were alI lowed by the minions of law and order ! ! to leave, but the seconds and backers ! were detained and kept in durance vile : for some time. Translated into English, | this means they were "jugged." j ! What was a little matter like that to the intrepid fight fans and proniotors of .those days? Nothing at all, for they I all met later and decided that the bout should take place the following day at i East New York. j i A tremendous crowd was on hand to | witness the contest the following day, ! for the halt in proceedings had spread the news of the encounter and whetted J the public appetite for blood. A ring was pitched in a large field and the two | contestants came in late in the after-1 noon. The notorious Owney Geohagen, a ' gangster, roughneck and sometime j boxer, was one of Tim's seconds, while ; the other was George Siddons, who boxed a great dray -with Harry Gil- '■ more in IS9O, and who is now a New Orleans boxing promoter. It was expected the battle would be a whirlwind affair, and the spectators were not disappointec , at the beginning, for they both hit a fast clip until Ed- ' wards gained the first knockdown in the ' first round. I Collins was not nettled by this and !continued to plunge in and make a fight of it, only to go down aguin at the I bands of the sturdy Billy. I The third counter was a wild, furious battle, with both men clouting hard, Then Edwards did the same thing that happened to Criqui and ilascart, the French feather-weigh ts.who broke their hands upon Henri Hebrans in Europe in I the last year. Billy belted Collins on 'the side of the head,'with a wide, cracking left swing, and broke the small bones in that member. Criqui and Mascart had the benefit of gloves to protect them, but Edwards was fighting with his naked fists, and the pain was therefore more severe. : Collins Scores a Fall. I Collins, through his sense of what had happened to his opponent, wae able to reach him more effectively, and finally , threw him for a fall, ending the round. ' It was a different Edwards that responded for the fourth, round, one who was fighting carefully to stay on his feet and to land that good right of his if he could. It was a formidable weapon against any boxer. Could Billy stand his man off? The fast pace of the early rounds led the spectators to expect too much, and after the fifth round it became a slower, duller affair, with Edwards going down in almost every round. Sometimes Collins threw him in the endeavour to break his courage aud batter him to surrender. Sometimes Collins was able to knock him down, but he would get up, and when the bell for the next round sounded, be on his feet ready to mix it again. Often Edwards seemed to go down of his own accord in order to avoid punishment, and later in the battle he fell from obvious weakness. Collins proved a fizzle in comparison with the rumours of his prowess that had gained circulation. He did not rush his man and go in with both hands to finish him, as was expected, although he ■may have so acted from chivalry to a

ver y game opponent. He alloweo Edwards lead in nearly every round although lie had the battle within hii hands. This gave Billy a chance tc lunge hard at him, and fall from th( effort, thus dragging out the fight, bu( there is no question to it but that Edwards fought the best he could ir this long-drawn-out struggle againsl impossible odds. Owney Geohegan pressed Tim Collins pleaded with him, almost forced him tc rush the stricken Edwards, but Tim knew the power of the kick that lay in that undamaged right, and did not want to expose himself unnecessarily to a , blow from it. j They continued fighting in this manner ; or two hours and 15 minutes, with ColJ lins having all the best of it, but still J unable to conquer his own apprehensions of Edwards to the end. Finally lit becaaie so dark that the referee stepped in between them, and halted pro. ceedmgs, incidentally ordering a resumption of fighting on the morrow. Tells of a Death Threat. Collins afterwards declared that he held oil from finishing Billy for fear of his hfe. He asserted that one William I \ arloy, known in the underworld as j Red.ly the Blacksmith/ had threatened Ito kill him with a pistol if he came into jkdwards' corner to beat him down. J There is little doubt but that some .such reason may have actuated Tim in : his wearing-down tactics, which failed 1 because of darkness, for there were many I murderous men at the ringside, who I would have halted at nothing in order to get revenge had their man lost his ; championship. On the other hand, Tim i had his supporters, and there is little j doubt that, from Owney Geohegan down, I they were as desperate men as ever watched a mill. A reporter who covered Iliat strange encounter, that embryo warfare which would have broken out, asserted that it was just as well that the fight ended as it did, for the partisans of both pugilists, being armed to the teeth, would have had a serious row if darkness had not prevented. When the party returned to New York, both pugilists were arrested by the police, and were committed upon examination in default of 5000 dollars bail. They stayed in gaol until May 2T, when they were taken before Judge Dowling- in the Court of Special Sessions. At the trial, they were found guilty of violating the law prohibiting such ombats, and sentenced to imprisonment for a year on Blackwell's Island. A fine of 1000 dollars was likewise assessed against each man. Appeal was taken from this decision, and the men were taken on December 6 before Judges Barnard and Ingraham, of the Supreme Court, on several writs, where the propriety of Judge Dowling's decision was considered and rejected. An attorney, W. F. Howe, and Harry Hill, noted wrestler and sporting man, aided the pair to get their release. The Decision is Reversed. The Supreme Court found that they had been illegally confined, and reversed the decision. It was held that no evidence obtained showing that the match had been promoted in the city, and the men were released. The confinement of these two pugilists from May 27 to December 6 ie a notable example of the difficulties that lay in the way of popularising boxing in the early days. The undesirable element that infested fights, the armed ganss that fought and bickered over the results, the debauches and orgies that occurred, all went toward delaying the rise of fisticuffs in the United States until men of a better stripe saw to it that the sport was properly controlled. There was no outcome other than the black eye boxing got from this bout except that the stakes were drawn, and no second match arranged. The backers of Billy Edwards sought to match him against Collins for a second time for anywhere from 1000 to 5000 dollars, but were unsuccessful. Collins never appeared in the ring a<*ain He took to drink, and became insane. He was a clever, game pugilist, and historians of fistiana hold that he was the only lightweight that ever stood a chance of whipping Billy Edwards. Arthur Chambers, who died last year, did "et hold of the stakes by trickery to a° bout with Edwards *t Squirrel Island, near Detroit, in 13,2 but Edwards had the best of the fight. After this encounter, Edwards became a sparring partner for Jem Mace, and "ought several more fights IgterJ* became bouncer at the old Hoffman House bar, where he ruled for jears.