THE NOBLE ART.

New Zealand Times, Volume LXIX, Issue 3648, 26 January 1899, Page 3

THE NOBLE ART.

BOXER’S DEATH AT SPORTING CLUB. -,

(Weekly Dispatch, Nov. 20.)

The coroner's duty charged with the duty of investigating, the cause of the death of Tom Turner in his contest with Nat Smith at the National Sporting Club have come to the conclusion that the boxer died from a pure accident. The inquiry took place at St. Clement’s Vestry Hall on Monday, before Mr Troutbock.

William’ Herrins, 74, Castle-street,, Oxford street, identified, the deceased as his nephew, -Thomas Walter Turner, age twenty-three, ' a silk-tie cutter, ;of 12, Princeton street, Red Lionspuare. “ Generally speaking,” said his uncle, “Turner’s health was good.” He had boxed for seven years, the last four or five years for money. He knew of no weakness that Turner had, and did not see the fight. Then Mr Mathews asked the question on which so much turned, “ Do you know that ho had a weak heart P” “Ho. never had h. heart,’ I’m sure,” replied Turner’s uncle, sturdily, r On the previous Tuesday Smith made the following, statement, to Inspector Pardo of what occurred after the fight : “I. did not hit him on any particular point, and I thought he was coming it ! (meaning turning coward). Wo. shook hands. I said, “Are you all right ?’ Turner said, ‘ Yes, give mo a drink.’ He then, appeared to fall on his knees, and I did not hear'him speak again.” Robert William Smart, .95, Hewitt road,' Harringay, ,a. commission agent,; who “put down the £IOO to make the match for Turner,” said the match waS for £IOO a side and a purse of £6O given by the N.S.C. Twenty rounds at ~Bst 81b. with 4oz gloves wore tho terms >qf the contest. “ Either ! man not trying to be disqualified,” was a clause which the coroner laid emphasis upon, as ho read', tho terms of contract from a printed form.. Then he. described the fight. “I formed the opinion after the fourth round that Turner was not the man ho ought to be. In the first round he was not setting about it as ho ought to do. “ In tho twelfth round (continued wit ness) he seemed to bo very> strong on his legs.” “Well, - what , about tho thirteenth round ?” “I> really don’t IcnoWj . though; I was looking at it all the time. I only know I saw Turner on his knees. Whether it was a push or blow I covddn’t say.; , “If I had thought he was beaten I f could have given in for him at.anytime,” added Smart. “Everything was as fair as anyone could wish. I never had any cause - for uneasiness.” • Tho men met before in Sheffield, in April, when Turner won. “They wore bosom friends,” Smart told the jury, “and I '.may say before the fight that their little eyes began watering to think they had to decide which was better.”

Bernard J. Anglo, member of the London Stock Exchange, and referee, askedpermission to make a statement.., Ho said : ■ i . “Smith, is a clever boxer, who relies mainly on the use of the left hand. Ho is not a punishing hitter. Turner possessed natural: advantages in height and reach. Ho made frequent use ,of the right hand, and put more power behind his-blow. At all contests at the JV.S.C. points are allotted at tho end of each round, those points being scored on a card by the referee, the maximum being live points for each round.” ‘ Mr Angle produced tho card for Turner v. Smith, and continued : “At the end of the tenth .round Smith had scored fifty and Turner forty-four. In the eleventh round Turner obtained a slight advantage. The twelfth round was ; equally contested. The thirteenth Turner loft his chan;, strong on his legs and apparently uninjured; He forced the boxing, and at. a minute and a half ho received a light blow; from his opponent's left hand on the right side of the head, some inches away from what is known as the point, that is tho end of tho- right eyebrow. Within a few seconds of receiving that blow he collapsed. “I wish to make this correction. He was Hot counted out. I stopped the contest just as soon as ho went in a heap on the floor.”

Dr Jackson Lang, 54, Maddox street, surgeon, said . that the . post-mortem showed that the heart was small and weak. There was congestion of all the internal organs, and an effusion of blood on the under side of the right side of the brain. The immediate cause of death was heart failure combined with this pressure of blood on the brain. Smith, a quiet, modest looking young fellow, gave evidence : “We fought the fight, under as fair conditions as wo could. I thought throughout he was quite as strong as me until the thirteenth round, when after we had a clinch we both opened arms together and parted. He .made a step

backwards ; as it seemed to me be laid down.”

The jury returned a verdict of “ Accidental death,” adding a rider to express the opinion that the club should have a medical man on the spot to examine boxers before a contest. At Bow street Police Court on Thursday, Nathaniel Smith, twenty-three, carpenter ;■ Arthur Gutteridge, butcher ; Bernard Angle, stockbroker ; Arthur Bettinson,. manager of the National Sporting Club ; and Eugene Corri, stockbroker, were charged on remand with being concerned . in causing the manslaughter of Thomas -Turner at the National Sporting Club. Barney Shepherd, fifty-nine, who was Smith’s second, now*'appeared for the first time to answer the same charge. . After medical advice and other evidence had been given, Mr Mathews, for the defendants, argued that, as, contests of this kind were not illegal, no offence had been committed. ,

Sir John Bridg'e held that the case was one in which a jury must decide whether there had been manslaughter or not, and committed the defendants for trial, admitting them to bail, in their, own recognisances. ,

The funeral took place at (Finchley Cemetery on Wednesday afternoon, and was attended by a large number of members of the National Sporting Club and several well-known boxers.