Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing, Volume 2 (of 3): Containing Lives of the Most Celebrated Pugilists; Full Reports of Their Battles from Contemporary Newspapers, With Authentic Portraits, Personal Anecdotes, and Sketches of the Principal Patrons of the Prize Ring, Forming a Complete History of the Ring from Fig and Broughton, 1719-1740, to the Last Championship Battle Between King and Heenan, in December 1863Miles, Henry Downes
History
Pugilistica: The History of British Boxing, Volume 2 (of 3): Containing Lives of the Most Celebrated Pugilists; Full Reports of Their Battles from Contemporary Newspapers, With Authentic Portraits, Personal Anecdotes, and Sketches of the Principal Patrons of the Prize Ring, Forming a Complete History of the Ring from Fig and Broughton, 1719-1740, to the Last Championship Battle Between King and Heenan, in December 1863
Miles, Henry Downes
Boxing
The cause of the change was, Mr. Hewlings, of the Swan Inn, Chichester,
having undertaken to give the men £200, and having intimated that there
would be no interruption. The spot chosen for the trial of strength was
admirably adapted for the purpose; it was a field about three miles from
the city, one side of which was bordered by the Canal, and it was only
approachable by means of a drawbridge, over which all must necessarily
pass to the ring side, and at which a toll was imposed on all comers.
The bridge was called Birdham Bridge. The moment the farmers in the
neighbourhood were informed of the gratification which awaited them,
they volunteered their wagons to form the outer ring, an offer which was
at once accepted by Mr. Hewlings, who appears to have taken the whole
management on himself, and in the course of Monday, the day prior to the
fight, no less than fifty-three large wagons were arranged in a circle
round the spot on which, in the course of the day, the stage was
erected. This stage was six feet from the ground, and was planked with
three-inch deal. Round it were fixed strong posts, to which three rows
of stout rails were fastened; these and the posts were rounded, so as to
diminish as much as possible any injury to the combatants. During Monday
afternoon Chichester presented an extraordinary appearance, and was as
crowded as one is accustomed to see it during the Goodwood meeting, and
all day the windows were filled with anxious spectators on the look-out
for a peep at the combatants.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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