A SLOGGING MATCH.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 7002, 26 April 1884, Page 2 (Supplement)

A SLOGGING MATCH.

Oob San Francisco correspondent, writing on the 14th March, says :— 'A slogging match, which was a curiosity in its way, came off at the Mechanics' Pavilion on the sth ' of this month. "Slogging" appears at the present moment tor divide public interest with ' opera. Since Sullivan, the world's champion, came to town, the air reeks absolutely with glove matches, and the graceful tournaments of Muldoon, the great wrestler, with various anfagonists (by whom he has never been beaten)'have given way to the lower and more brutal excitement of "knocking out. The match which I am about to detail took place between Sullivan and a man named Robinson—l should rather say a " thing by that name, since a more, pronounced coward and boastful cur never stood up before an audience. This Robinson is the champion of the Pacific Coast. His personal appearance "is "of the type called "washed out, akin, hair, and eyes being of the palest shade-of dirty drab—a colour I have a horror of in either sex. In his supremo self-conceit, or possibly by a well-conceived scheme, this athlete (?) went in to conquer the "world's champion, who looks like an ugly, repulsive, massive, bull. Robinson's occupation in the city is that of a photographer, which, by the way, fits him more to .a, T than fighting. Therefore, as his gallery is rather celebrated, there was an immense excitement evinced over the peculiarity of the match. The new and splendid pavilion was hired for the occasion, and the seats sold for severally 4s, Bs, and- 12s. At 3 o'clock on the afternoon of the 6th of this month a huge crowd might have been observed before the vast doors, which were to open at five o'clock. As the day advanced, the enormous assemblage increased from hundreds to thousands. One hundred policemen tried to Btem the tumult unavailingly. Men fainted, jammed between their neighbours, and, being lifted by •the hands of tho humane, were passed over tHe heads of the mighty multitude in a senseless condition... Numbers of persons took a lunch-basket well filled to pass away the tedious hours, and, the doors opening at 5 p.m., the building filled so rapidly _ that the.peopla were almost suffocated, and the police were compelled to use their _club 3. Finally, eleven thousand men got inside, but not to sit. They climbed to the enormous roof, sat astride on the long beams, arid even hung to the clapper of the great bell in the centre. The sea of excited humanity undulated and surged . like a mighty monster beyond control. (I must here explain that my ; son went in my place for items, and thus I aril describing it through his eyes.) There was a gooddeal of amateur sparring before the "champions" appeared at 10 o'clock. Think of a wait for eight hours for such a fiasco as followed, which was the most disgraceful one ever witnessed on the Pacific Slope. Sullivan is an immense man, while Robinson, though tall, is slim and poor-looking, in his red tights. His behaviour was disgraceful. He went down sixty-six times on his knees; every time that Sullivan even menaced a blow. The idea was that Sullivan could not knock him out in four rounds ; but he gave him no chance, going down on his knees at the slightest intimation of a blow. Sullivan called him "cur," "coward," &c, and once, while Robinson was down, danced a jig as a kind of war-step, to emulate the cowardly poltroon; but Mr. Robinson cared nothing. He had a third of the gate-money to win, "and, as ha afterwards told a reporter, he "had made his little game, and played to win"—not glory, but the cash. The result of, the four rounds, which Robinson spent on the floor, caused a general tumult. Yells of "coward," "cur," resounded through the vast hall, bat the drab-coloured man, whose liver is.evidently as white as his unprepossessing face, cared nothing; he only went in for the hard cash. He made £6SO out of the £2400 receipts of the house, and Sullivan gets £1200. The following day Robinson was followed about and treated with the. most deserved insult, and another athlete gave him a sound thrashing, or tried to, when he again found refuge on the floor. This wretched individual will be expelled from his club, the Olympic, and also from his post in his regiment. In fact, he will, they say, have to quit; the town, which will be a.very good riddance of such an unmanly wretch, c