And there are men now who complain that we are a softened race because we don’t allow this sort of thing.... Burke remained slightly the stronger. Latterly he seldom “hit” except with his open hand, but it was enough to send his antagonist down. And yet in the ninety-first round Byrne managed to trip him and fall on him, so that once again the Irishman’s chances were favoured. Then Burke, answering the curses and the cheers, managed to knock Byrne down rather harder than usual. And that was the last change. After that Byrne was carried to the scratch virtually insensible, literally dazed. He could just stand unsupported long enough for Burke to put out his hand and topple him over. He made pitiful efforts to put out his left to stop the “Deaf ’un.” But it was of no use. At last he fell unconscious on the grass, and Tom Spring and Ward with all their skill--sousing him with water, forcing brandy between his mutilated lips, biting his ears--could not bring him round. And half of the crowd deliriously cheered Deaf Burke as Champion of England. Two days after this Simon Byrne died. The coroner’s jury brought in a verdict of manslaughter against Burke, as “principal in the first degree,” and the four seconds, together with the umpires and the referee, as “principals in the second degree.” These men were tried at the Hertford Assizes, and on the surgeon’s evidence acquitted. The cause of death was the congestion of blood in the brain. The surgeon also gave the opinion that the intense disappointment of losing the fight lessened his chances of recovery. When he regained consciousness, Byrne believed that he would die; and this very fact, aided by his way of living “out of training,” no doubt aggravated his condition. This is probably true: but the umpires and the referee deserved the most abusive censure. Before the trial the sum of £262 was collected for Byrne’s widow: but when the trial was safely and satisfactorily over, one hundred guineas were subscribed in order to present a service of plate to the editor of _Bell’s Life_, “as a token of the respect in which he was held, not only by the men who had recently undergone their trial, and whose defence he had conducted, but also for the manner in which he had invariably conducted the cause of fair play....” CHAPTER XV BENDIGO AND DEAF BURKE