68.—From this to the 73rd round Langan gradually continued losing, his left eye being quite closed, his right much swollen, and his lips as thick as those of Massa Molyneaux; Brassey seemed recovered, and was nearly as fresh as ever.
74.—Brassey, bent upon finishing as soon as possible, met his man, delivered his left, then retreated, and as Langan stumbled forward, delivered two tremendous right-handed blows, which felled him to the ground.
75.—Upon time being called, Langan was deaf to the cry, and Brassey was pronounced the conqueror after a protracted struggle of two hours and thirty-five minutes.
Remarks.—The instant the men had peeled the disparity in height and length of arm was apparent, which nothing short of superior science and activity on the part of Langan, which he certainly did not possess, could have overcome. In science Brassey is fully equal to Langan, while in lasting power he is his superior. In the quality of game Langan proved himself a hero; he only gave in when nature left him powerless to continue the contest. Brassey was quickly himself, and walked to his carriage, and Langan, though by far the most punished, said, soon after, that he was fairly beaten. Both men left the ground, as all British boxers should, with no feeling of ill-will towards each other.
II.—TASS (HAZARD) PARKER, of West Bromwich, and JOHN LEECHMAN (BRASSEY), of Bradford, for £100.
After Brassey’s defeat by Caunt, already referred to, Tass Parker, of West Bromwich, offered himself to the notice of Brassey, proposing to meet him halfway between Bradford and West Bromwich, for £100. Parker, (whose best fighting weight was 11st. 10lbs.) at catch weight, and Brassey not to exceed 12st. 7lbs. on the day of fighting, which was fixed for the 13th of July, 1841; a date which was subsequently extended to the 10th of August, on which day the men met at Brunt Lays, near Worksop, under the circumstances and with the result we are now about to narrate.
Though the match was originally made in Manchester, the celebrity of the men lent a metropolitan interest to the battle, and on the receipt of a letter, dated the previous Friday, naming Lindrick Common, Notts, near Eckington, on the borders of Yorkshire, as the rendezvous, the writer booked himself, on the Monday, by the North Midland Rail for Worksop. On arriving at that place he ascertained that Brassey was already snugly ensconced at a small inn on the borders of Lindrick Common, aforesaid, under the care of a liberal backer and Jemmy Wharton (Young Molyneaux). Brassey was in high spirits and full of confidence, yet we did not, upon a close scrutiny, consider him up to the mark, and there was a feverishness in his pulse when we shook hands with him that induced us to question the Black, whereon we were informed that he had made an eccentric bolt from his training quarters a few days before, and that otherwise he had not been strictly observant of the rigid discipline indispensable to A 1 condition. Nevertheless his friends not only declared him “all right,” but offered the odds of 6 to 4 in proof of their good opinion. On the same night Parker arrived, accompanied by Nick Ward, and by Jack Hunt, of Birmingham. He domiciled at the “Red Lion,” where we saw him on the following morning. He was in rude health, his corpus as firm as collared brawn, and in expressing confidence he was by no means more backward than his foe. The expediency of an early meeting at the scene of action being admitted, it was agreed that Brassey should go to scale at 10 o’clock, and that as soon as possible afterwards operations should commence—a prospect extremely agreeable to some hundreds, who were desirous of returning the same day to the distant localities from whence they had come, among whom we noticed several Corinthians of “the upper crust,” and staunch supporters of the fistic art.
Precisely at 10 o’clock we reached the Common, where an immense multitude had already assembled, in every order of vehicle, and including an extraordinary field of equestrians, who were, however, far out-numbered by the muster of toddlers, a vast number of whom had devoted the night to the exercise of their pedestrian powers. The scene was altogether most animated, and rendered not the less so by a huntsman and a pack of foxhounds taking their morning exercise in the distance. To all this, however, there were drawbacks which threatened mischief; the first was the fact of our having passed a body of the rural police for Nottinghamshire on their march to the Common, and the next and more serious, the actual presence of a worthy beak for the county of York, who, however loth, declared he could not permit hostilities to take place within his jurisdiction. Thus Nottinghamshire and Yorkshire were tabooed, but as Derbyshire, close adjoining, was unrepresented, it was at once resolved to conduct the candidates for milling fame to its hospitable meads. In the interim Brassey was found to be as he should be in “pounds avoirdupois,” and a general move to the “land of promise” took place. Of pilots there were abundance, but, as it turned out, not equally happy in their knowledge of the county; for while Parker and his friends took one road, Brassey and the Commissary, with the ropes and stakes, took another. The latter led through bridle paths of the most villainous description, which had never been traversed but by farmers’ carts, and through which it was with the greatest difficulty the carriages could be dragged, not only from the narrowness of the roads, but from the horrifying ruts by which they were cut up. At last, after indescribable difficulties, this portion of the cavalcade reached a field in which it was said the two counties of York and Derby were divided by a small bank. Here, with great difficulty, from the rocky character of the subsoil, the ring was formed, and all waited with patience for the arrival of Parker and his division; but they waited in vain. It was now ascertained that the ring was still in the county of Nottingham; a fatal error. At last, when patience was exhausted, news arrived that Parker had been more successfully led by turnpike roads to a place called Brunt Lays, near Worksop, and to that place a move became inevitable.
The materials of the ring having been once more transferred to the cart in which they had been brought, another pilgrimage was commenced through paths if possible more perilous than the former, till finally by two o’clock the desired goal was reached, and a fresh arena formed. But here a new difficulty arose: the carriages and carts drew so close round the ring that it was impossible to drive back the dense masses which had congregated. There was but one remedy, and this was to carry off the materiel to a new position, where in maiden ground a more extensive field of action was secured, and the throng as it approached being marshalled with a due regard to the formation of a spacious area, the preliminaries were happily and conveniently adjusted for the accommodation of all parties; the pedestrians forming the inner circle, and the outer circle being composed of carriages, carts, waggons, and horsemen. There were scarcely less than ten thousand persons present, and a more imposing spectacle has seldom been witnessed on any similar occasion. The police were in the rear of the cavalcade as it moved, but they did not attempt to interfere, merely intimating that “such scenes were contrary to Act of Parliament,” a piece of information as novel as it was ineffective in preventing sport.
All being in readiness, the heroes were summoned to the lists; Parker from an adjacent farm-house, where he had been hospitably sheltered, and Brassey from the carriage which had conveyed him to the ground. Brassey first made his appearance, attended by “King Dick” and Hall, with a host of friends sporting their bright “yellowmen.” On throwing his castor within the ropes he was received with shouts. Parker next presented himself, under the care of Hunt and Nick Ward, and also escorted by his backers, displaying fogles bearing the insignia of the Royal Standard of England in four compartments. His reception was far from flattering, and the yells of the roughs completely drowned the friendly cheers of his admirers, but they created a strong sympathy in his favour among the advocates of fair play. Betting was commenced with great briskness, and 6 to 4 were freely laid and taken—Brassey being of course the favourite. There was the usual admission of privileged spectators within the outer circle on the payment of a stipulated fee, and the difficulty of preserving order was proportionately increased; but at last all was tolerably well adjusted, and the men commenced their toilettes. The toss for choice of position was won by Brassey, who not only took the higher ground, but placed his back to the sun, which was happily shining with great brilliancy—more favourable weather could not in fact have been enjoyed. The colours of the men having been tied to the stakes in the usual way, a curious scene followed. Several of the partisans of each who wore colours agreed to bet them one against the other, and these were also entwined to different stakes, giving to the ring an appearance of unusual gaiety, from the brightness of the kerchiefs as they fluttered in the breeze. Umpires and a referee having been chosen, little time was lost in commencing business.