PRIZE FIGHTING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

Southland Times, Volume III, Issue 45, 19 February 1864, Page 3

PRIZE FIGHTING UNDER DIFFICULTIES.

J A'-- -i (From 1 the Saturday Rev ieto) The proceedings which took place recently ; 'in 'connexion with the prize-figlit "'■ "between Mace -;."aai<l.' : Goss; ; Jfer a good 1 example of the difficulties under which the business of the prizering is at present carried on, atid raise the question whether it is" expedient ' that those difficulties should continue to exist: It is. necessary under the present system 'of' magisterial interference, that any gentleman who feels curious to witness a prize-fight should betake himself on the previous evening to one of those sporting public; houses where persons, properly- accredited by their Appearance or the introduction which they 'bring, may obtain what is called ' " the office J ' As it is not the usual course of : business '■ to take any important step; until the evening has so far ddvaniced that a suitable quantity of boozing and smoking has been gone through, -it will probably be eleven o'clock • before! the sporting host or an assistant whispers in ; your ear, but loud enough; as -you may think, to be hearid ;by any person present who did not know before^-v" Paddington station, half-past three. "If your residence is distant and- your for calling yourself preternaturally early is unreliable, you perhaps consider that your wisest course will be to take up quarters for the night where you are. It appear^*' l on inquiry; that all the-room cccommodation' of the house has been already appropriated to other amateurs of prize-fighting who are so much beneath the level of the occasion as to wish for a night's rest beforehaud. But you are promised that when the house closes, which will be at one, a.m., you may. begin to try to sleep upon a bench in the parlor. The closing of the house, however, does not exclude the more select portion of the guests who continue the night's revels at one end of the room while you proceed with experiments upon your own power of sleeping uuder difficulties at the other. Occasionally, • some ragged and sodden hanger-on of the house appears to have discovered, by the help of such glimmering of intellect as has escaped extinguishment in beer and gin, that it is likely that any attentions bestowed on yourself may result either in a pecuniary acknowledgement, or at least in an inquiry what your kind friend will take to drink. Accordingly he approaches your end ofthe room, and sitting down in familiar, not to say affectionate proximity, he begins to dilate upon the dangers which unprotected gentlemen incur at prize-fights, and the confidence which may be placed in his own prowess, ancl his high and longV established character for honesty. As your countenance, perhaps, betrays the doubt which occupies your mind, whether your friend is likely three hours hence to be able to take care of himself— to say nothin -of taking care of you — he calls the head-Avaiter to testify that all he said Avas truth, adding, at the same time, an asseveration which will not bear repeating. On being summoned to support the assertion of your would-be protector, the head-waiter strongly advises you to take the additional precaution of leaving your watch or other valuable property with him. The waiter is in all probability quite honest ; but as, after groping in his pocket for some time, he produces a few shillings and a watchkey, and, holding them in an unsteady hand, gazes at them under an apparent belief that they represent a watch which he says ka? been already entrusted, to his keeping by another gentleman, you think that perhaps the till of a public-house Avhich has been doing some hours of roaring trade is quite as much as the head-waiter is capable of taking care of. This opinion is confirmed by observing that, when you ask the waiter to change a sovereign, he counts six or seven shillings several times, as if he thought that they were sufficient for the purposes and meantime he has lost your sovereign in some of those pockets which he had represented to be a, safe receptacle i'or- "the "Watches and jewellery of gentlemen who propose to attend prize-fights. The guests of the parlor drop off one by one to get, as they say, au hour or two's sleep before starting, and the waiter with the unsteady hand and slightly confused ideas proceeds to count the money in the till, and turn down the gas, and otherwise arrange for the security of his master's property. There is a cessation even of your friend's attentions, and for a very brief period an almost total stillness reigns before the noise begins of departure for the railway station. On this occasion, as on most others, those who are early in' the field effect with ease what others find an arduous task. In strange contrast to some descriptions of similar scenes, you find ready access to the paying place through a double-line of the appointed ringkeepers of the day, who are supplied with means and seem to possess the will to do their duty. -The porters and police 7 of the Great "Western Bailway are, as usual, numerous, attentive, and respectful. The whole resources of the .magnificent station appear ,; to be placed temporarily at the disN posal of the patrons of the Bing.*; and the thought suggests itself that, as the Company is so obliging; there would perhaps be no obj ection to the fight coming off irpon their premises, so * th&t '.tne business, of the day might be settled there' and then, before the genteel part of ; Paddington should be awake. A long 'train; composed partly of first-class carriages and partly of. other carriages, quite good enough for the occasion, appears, to isupply more . than adequate *. accoinmodatiou. *As -.time advances, ybii hear reports of a ; considOT^lk;^

:■ .^iatiqnj-*'-bu^ comfortable within. Tqu remain in the enjoyment of that dignity of travelling which, belongs to those who always go .first T ciass and-tipthe porter§, aiid the , train starts as quietly as if it were taking you down to Windsor to present aai address to the (^ueen. Tou are. thinking that, whatever else may be said, against the Great Western Bailway, : they certainly do manage a prize-fight ingexcursion capitally, when suddenly a head , and shoulders are thrust; through the. open window of .the. carriage, a brass rod intended to prevent, access is wrenched away, and a body and legs follow the head and -shoulders into the interior. It turns out that, after being kept at bay for nearly an hour, a party of roughs finally stormed and carried the station just; as the train was starting, and twenty or thirty of them jumped upon the steps, intending to find places as they proceeded. Among these sudden additions to the party in the train were one or two of the ringkeepers, who claimed the honor of having defended the wall of the station against the beseigers until all* was lost, including very nearly, their own chance of seeing the fight. The roughs who had thus unexpectedly dissipated all illusions as to the seleetness and gentility of the excursion, certainly deserved some credit for their spirited occupation of the moving train. Their clothes, it must be owned, were more dilapidated, and their hands and faces dirtier, than might be desired in travelling companions; but the class to which they belong are not all thieves as well as blackguards, and it would be unjust not to state that they are said to be in general respectful, and, in their way, considerate towards those whom tliey may take for gentlemen. One of these intruders manifested, as long as ho was awake, a genuine delight in the beautiful country traversed by the railway, which was the more remarkable because his London birth and education were shown by his not knowing a field of potatoes, when he saw one. " Sir, sir," he cried '"'look at the coru — four ricks of it-" It may be doubted whether his admiration of a fine rich meadow was not partly due to the consideration that itwould, be a nice place to pitch a ring -^ but his pleasure at the sight of corn-fields and grazing stock, and, indeed, at every object along the line, was only limited in expression by want of words. The topic. upon which, when he was not looking out of the window, he dilated with eloquence which knew no check for lack of either feeling or language, was the praise of Goss, or, as he preferred to call him, Joe. In the favorite negative style in which the lower order of sporting men ahvays convey what is meant for strong assertion, he protested that " Joe ain't no use — Joe can't do nothing — Poor Joe, he's dead and buried, he is;" adding only one positive statement — viz., that .loe would never let a poor fellow waut a pint of beer. After some demonstrations of the style in which I*^3 expected to see Joe fight, in which the more lively moments approached dangerously near the nose of a gentleman who was luckily asleep, our friend's eloquence became hushed by the fatigue of an active night in the streets and public houses. Scanning his well-built body, and ugly but resolute features as he slept, it was natural to think what a soldier he would make, and how he might be made to go anywhere under good leading. There are generous instincts even iv the London rough wlio hangs about public houses, and learns to talk of prize-fights in language which is always blasphemous when it is not obscene. When we hear of somebody's "young-un" or "novice," whoso first appearance is announced, it is difficult not to wish tha-t their training had been in better hands. One cannot help suspecting that the length of the excursion macle last Tuesday was fixed rather to afford a pretext for charging a high price for tickets than under any belief that the spot selected was particularly eligible. Wootton Bassett, being nearly eighty miles from London, was reached shortly before seven o'clock, tiy which time, of course, everybody was awake, and the passing train had made the intention evident, and the place of executing it not difficult to discover. The preliminaries having been protracted as if for the purpose of wasting valuable time, the men got to Avork at eight o'clock in a' ring which, although not particularly eligible for fighting, was so arranged as to afford spectators a comfortable and complete view of the proceedings. It Avas very disappointing when, after five minutes of preliminary sparring, the police appeared, and stopped further progress befor a single bIoAV had been struck. Without blaming anybody for this result, it certainly may be said that all the arrangements appeared to be calculated to produce it. As the Baihvay Company would do no more than convey the excursionists to any single point they chose, and back again, there was no option but to return to London. The journey back Avas rendered more amusing, if not more comfortable, by an irruption into the carriages of a large number of persons whose intention of travelling doAvn by the special train, either with or Avithout payment, had' been frustrated by its early start, and Avho had. come doAvn by a later train. It .appeared that seedy clothes usually contained pockets of wonderful capacity for carrying proA r ender. One man. produced half a loaf, and, as he said; "a little bit of pork," Aveighing probably a pound or two, which he ate by the help of a 1 clasp knife having a blade about four inches long, and using his thumb with perfect impunity as a sort of cuttings block. Bottled beer was obtained in : . abundance; at the 1 Swindon station,, but

it would be rash to assert that it was all paid for. Everybody was anxious to impart a share of these extremely miscellaneous provisions to those whose pockets or forethought had not been equal to the occasion. In proof that this courtesy is not ususual, a gentleman ofthe party mentioned that on a previous occasion he started to see a fight rather seedy from being up all night. One ofhis travelling companions, noticing his condition, offered him first a drop of brandy, and then a little bit to eat. The latter Offer being accepted, caused the production from the lowest depths of a trowser's poekej; of three mutton chops, which had been placed in that receptacle warm, and, it need not be said, were likely to, remain so. The kind proprietor of the chops extracted them with no little difficulty, along with a small quantity of loose tobacco, a match or two, a few coppers, and other trifling articles. On reaching London, about one o'clock, an immediate move was made for Fenchureh-street, in hopes ofcatching a train for Purfleet on the Thames, and thence crossing the river to Plumstead Marshes, the well-known scene of many a fight. Cabs traversing London with a dozen gentlemen of unprepossessing countenances, inside and out, revealed the purpose of the expedition, and enlisted recruits in place of those who gave tip the pursuit at Paddington. The struggle for tickets at h'enehureh-street, and again for places ia tlie very few boats available at Purfleet, were both in their way exciting. "[lntimately the fight begaji in the Marsh, just under shelter of the bank which retrains the water of the river, at a quarter before five o'clock, and at about half-past six it finished. The preliminaries have occupied so long that the actual battle must be dismisesd briefly. It was evident that G-oss was overmatched both in skill and power. Although the men's weights were equal withing a pound, G-oss had his substance in the legs and Mace in the arms and shoulders, where of course it would be more effective. Goss was very quick upon his legs, and in general he kept away from Mace, hoping to tire him out, or at least to protract the battle till evening closed and so to throw the finish of it into another day. There is no reason whatever to accuse Goss of lack of courage or to attribute his retiring tactics to any other motive, than a desire to do the bost he could for his backer's money. One of Mace's eyes was closed early, and Goss tried hard to close the other. Notwithstanding his shifty fighting, his own countenance, which is not naturally beautiful, had received several disembellishineuts. After many unsuccessful trials, Mace got at him at last, feinting with his left hand and making an upward hit with his right upon the jaw. The sound of the blow was audible by those who, from the pressure of the crowd, could not see it. Goss's head dropped upon his breast. He was carried to his corner insensible, and the fight was over. As the poor fellow revived, his first thought was of his defeat, and his seconds, to soothe him, temporarily assured him that it wa-.3 a drawn battle, it was, however, a defeat, but no disgrace. It is only necessary to add that, looking to this particular example by itself, and without admitting or denying the truth of descriptions which have been published of other fights, the inference is that the epithets " brutal," '* barbarous,'' " disgusting," and so forth, are uncalled for. There are people who do not like prize-fights, and thero are other people who do like them. Much of what is objectionable iv the art and its practitioners would disappear if respectable society would look less unkindly upon it and them. At any rate, there is no sSliQicient reason why magistrates and police should display their activity by interfering with a prize-fight in such an out-of-the-way place as Plum stead Marshes. The pursuit of prize-fighting under existing difficulties occasioned its votaries on Tuesday last tb travel nearly two hundred miles, and some of them to expend -twenty-four liomvs in seeing the fight between Mace and Goss.