THE REAL PRIZE RING.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10417, 1 April 1910, Page 1

THE REAL PRIZE RING.

(By Sir A. Coiian Dovle.)

"Writing of his new play of sport and war; "The House of Temperly," Sir A. Comin Doyle says:— •At the period of tlie play—lßl2—tne Peninsular "War was at its height. The genius and tenacity of Wellington, wi.tlv the valor of liis troops,' were beginning to push the .French armies northwards} an operation which involved tlie reduction of .several strong fortresses upon' the Spanish border, as indicated in the fourth act. At home the Regeiicy had been established, the King being afflicted by one of the periodical attacks which rendered' it impossible for him to conduct the business of government. The Regent was well known as a keen sportsman, and had in" his youth been aii ardent patron of the prize-ring. He had' the misfortune, however, to be present ait the fight 'between Tom Tyne, the tailor, and a powerful rustic named Earl, which ended fatally.- Such unhappy results were very rare in the del prize-ring; indeed, there appear to have been more fatalities since glovefighting has been brought into vogue. ""'Possibly the cause may have been that in the old knuckle fighting the hand' scon became so puffed and.tender that it was almost as painful to give a biow as to receive it —there was none of that savage energy which a boxer whose-hand is protected can impart to his blow. The occurrence produced_ a deep effect upon the mind of the Prince, and he was* never again seen at the "'watiers Club,' now long demolished, was the resort of fashion in the early days of the nineteenth century. It stood in Jerinyn. street, while Tom -Gribb's saloon, in which a more Bohemian,'but frequently not less aristocratic. company would meet, was at the corner of Panton street in clie ruarket. Watier's Club was renowned for high play, and many a family m England is still-suffering from the mortgages which resulted from it. ' " The combination of' high play and ha"d drinking produced some desperate camblintr, and it is said that one member. General Scott, who played as keenly as the others, but conhned his drinking to an infusion of toast and water, amassed a fortune of something lme a oucrter of a million sterling. Some venrs'later Crockfovd's Club became the centre of .London gainbhng._ Here a magnificent supper was provided gratis bv "the luaiiagenient every night ior the convenience or the players, who usually foix-ul before they lei t that t*:e most expensive tavern would have, been

a gresrt economy. , , In ISI2 Tom Cribb nnd- reac-iied the height of his fame,,.;'n;l had announced ! his'mtcntion'of retiring from the ring, pis great popularity was due to the fact that he had already retired, and that he had ccme hack into active j>ractics ivlien one could_ be ipunu to take the ring against Molineus, the formidable .Virginian negro. Tom fought him in two great battles the first of which was anyone's iignt, i thouoh technically Tom was the victor. I The second, fought before 20,000 people, inchidiiisr many men of the highest rank, ended in a crushing victory for Cribb. This wits ascribed :vfc tli9 tnuc to xhe rigid training whicii the champion had undergone at the hands of Captain J3arclav. in the course of which Tom shod nearly three stone, and was so altered that when he entered the ring the negro refused to believe that it was the same man that he had fought before.. I\lolilUHi>:, ou the other hand, is said to have eaten a goose and drunk a ouart of ale immediately before the fight, with the result that after several smashing rounds he completely lost his wind, and a blow from Cribb which broke his jaw put an end to the contest. Cribb showed his reserves of energy by dancing a Highland fling in the ring after the removal ot the black. Cribb never fought again, passing on the championship to his young friend and protege, Thomas Spring. He ln-ou, however, to a good old age, an excellent citizen, respected and honored by all who knew him. In drawing the prize-ring of that period my object has not been either to defend' or to decry it, but rather to show it exactly as it was, with its strength and wit-hats weakness, as impartially as I'would treat any other historical phenomenon. For this reason I have drawn on tne one-side such honest, hearty fellows as old Cribb, young Gioster Dick, Tom Belcher, the younger brother of the' famous Jim, and Gentleman Jackson, who was the- uncrowned king of them ail; while on the other I have shows. Hawker, the debauched gamester, Jakes, the betting man, Berks, the drunken ruffian, and all the blackguards who caused the Crawley Down riot. It was this tendency towards betting and foul play which brought the ring to ruin,' but at- its best it was, in my belief, all that Jack Ternperley claims for it in his speech at the supper. Joe Berks, who came from the village of V\ F em, in Shropshire,. was a- ruffianly fighter of great strength and energy, but lacking in science. AY lien a provincial came to London with a high reputation Berks was u'sually'let loose upon him. Three times he" fought Jim Belcher within the ring, and once or twice unofficially, outside it, but he always met his master.

When Belcher brought Hen Pearce, better known as the Gf.rne Chicken, up to London from Bristol he was awakened in the middle of. tlie night for a trial fight with Berks, where he exhibited such hitting that the white waistcoats of the gentlemen round the ring bore traces of the combat. This gallant ruffian eventually joined the Army and met his death, I believe, as a- sergeant in one of the Peninsular battles. * "As uglv as Buckhorse" was a phrase in« London about the end of theeighteenth century. This strange creature would allow anyone to knock him down 011 payment of half a crown. He was famous for the - peculiar highpitched musical cry with which he adj yef-tised his presence. He. ' was of Broughton's generation, but as shown in the play lie survived his contemporaries. - J6hn . Jackson, better known as; Gentleman Jackson, was in his .younger clays'a great all-round athlete. In his youth he was a famous sprinter, held the record for the standing jump, and could lift lO.'cwt. He won the championship by defeating the' clever Mencloza,. whieh he did hi somewhat questionable style T>v burying his left- hand in t'ne Jew's flowing locks while he punched him with the right. Such a proceeding was not against the written rules, but it naturally left a great deal of ill-feeling behind it. " Jackson's . subsequent. career as. a fashionable teacher of boxing, with Lord . Byron. ari"d half ''Bebrett" among his pupils, is known to everyone, and he headed, the contingent of prizefighters who acted as a bodyguard outside-- the Abbey on the occasion of the Coronation of George iV. ' As ~to the actual' ceremonies of the prize-fight. these are kept very close" to the actual facts. The P.C. upon „the stakes and upon the white hats of

the beaters-out stands for the Pugilistic Club, wliich exerted a general authority over the rin<;.'