“Of the different riots which took place at the scene of action we were not witnesses. Some say there was foul play on the part of O’Rourke’s friends, and especially by his second, and that it was intended long before the fight took place that Burke should get a thrashing by foul or fair means. The man who handed Burke the knife was cruelly beaten by the infuriated friends of O’Rourke: it is reported, and we fear with much truth, that he was killed.
“O’Rourke’s friends bore him about our streets in triumph yesterday afternoon in a coach drawn by themselves.
“On the arrival of the different parties in town, inflamed with liquor and ready for any disturbance, many affrays occurred. During the whole afternoon, large numbers of malcontents, principally Irishmen, were congregated in the vicinity of the Union House, and Armstrong’s, opposite the American Theatre. Several serious and disgraceful fights took place, in some of which the rascally mob beat and otherwise maltreated a number of innocent and unoffending individuals. A large number of arrests were made.
“The reports in town of the loss of lives, and of the results of the wild spirit of anarchy and confusion which existed in the afternoon, are so various, so contradictory, that we cannot comment upon them. The whole affair was disgraceful in the extreme.
“The Washington Guards were ordered out at eight o’clock last evening by the Mayor to quell any disturbance which might arise. As late as two o’clock this morning everything was comparatively quiet.”
Thus it would seem that the affair ended in a complete Irish row, in which the lawless habits of “the Knights of the Shillelagh” put all fair play at defiance. We hope we are not open to a charge of national prejudice, but would fairly put the question, “Would such ruffianism—and ruffianism is always cruel and cowardly—be possible among a people imbued with the fair-play practices and the principles inculcated by regulated pugilism?”
Some anxiety was caused in London by a rumour in a New York paper, that the Deaf’un had received his “quietus” not with “a bare bodkin” but an “Arkansas tooth-pick;” much relief therefore, was felt by them on finding from the Charleston papers that he was still in the land of the living, and had returned to New York; not finding his life safe among a set of men who considered a challenge to their “Champion” as an individual, a national insult, to be wiped out by assassination.
That he had returned in safety was shown by scattered notices in the New York papers, from which we gather that one O’Connell, who, like his namesake on this side the Atlantic, was “an out-and-out big potato,” had challenged the Deaf’un for 500 dollars and “the honour of ould Ireland,” to a fistic tourney. This Burke had accepted, and Elizabeth Town Point was named as the field of battle. A sheriff’s notice, in anticipation of another Irish riot, compelled a change of ground to Hart’s Island, which was reached by a steam excursion, and here the affair came off without interruption. What follows is from the New York Herald:—
“The ‘Prize Ring,’ as it is emphatically called, is not without its merits, and although we regret and detest these exhibitions—when as exhibitions merely—our duty as chroniclers of passing events compels us to make public what otherwise we should bury in oblivion. Among the ancients these spectacles were frequent, and cherished by the government of the people indulging in them; and it is yet doubtful whether they do not in some degree tend to benefit the community at large. There is a feeling of courage—of proud, manly self-dependence—accompanying the champions of the Ring, that otherwise would not be elicited. The manly stand-up fight is surely far preferable to the insidious knife—the ruffianly gang system—or the cowardly and brutal practice of biting, kicking, or gouging, now so prevalent. The ancient Romans conquered and civilised half the world, and it is to them we owe the gladiatorial spectacle of the Prize Ring—modified by modern civilisation, but yet retaining sufficient of its origin to portray the manners and habits of the people among whom it has taken root. The British people are particularly fond of this exhibition, and there are some good consequences attending it. The street broil or hasty quarrel is deprived of half its ferocity. Three or four or more do not fall upon and beat a single individual. None but gangs of ruffians can commit such deeds. The single man when struck down by his opponent is permitted to rise and put himself, as it were, in something like equilibrium with his opponent. Stamping upon a man when down—biting, kicking, and other such ‘courageous’ displays are entirely exploded; and when the party combating cries ‘hold, enough,’ no bowie-knife enters his vitals, or proves the superior courage of his opponent by depriving him of existence. With all its disadvantages, therefore, and demoralising tendency, as contended, and perhaps truly so, it may be doubted whether the spirit emanating from it may not be productive of benefit among the lower classes. The knock-down blow is surely preferable to private assassination, or even to the open taking of human life by means of deadly weapons. Quitting these reflections, let us give our account of the fight itself.
“At nine o’clock the steamboat left the ferry (Catharine Street), with about three hundred passengers, and those of a very select kind, owing principally, perhaps, to the high price demanded for tickets—three dollars, which speedily rose to four and five dollars, and even at that price could not be procured. The destination was Hart’s Island, where the passengers were landed and the preliminary measures to the ‘set-to’ adopted. A twenty-four feet ring, according to the articles of agreement, was formed, and an outside one to prevent any interruption to the pugilistic efforts of the combatants. The ring being completed, and the seconds proclaiming ‘all ready,’ the two champions made their appearance—O’Connell, as the challenger, threw his hat first in the ring, which was quickly answered by Burke; the men then peeled for the battle.