The professional prize-fighter in the United States hus at last been relegated to the limbo of the dodo and the pterodactyl and other items of extinct uselessness. "Twas 2 consummation devoutly to be wished, and of late years progress toward it has been rapid. "As the moral sense of the conimunity has risen, the bruiser and the "bad man" have found themselves remorselessly pushed first toward the far West and Just of all to the extreme South, where they have now been making their Fast stand. A. your ago, Texas was the only state—with Arkansis as a_ possible alternative—where the most enthusiastic pugilist could hope to pall off successfully, a contest to the finish. The Governor of the former State, finding himself powerless to interfere witha fistic encounter that had been widely advertised, and for which the huge amphitheatre already had been built, convened at the last moment a special session of the legislature which passed the neweled prohibitory law. The State troops were then called out to secure its enactment, and the entire project fell through ignor iously. Arkansas also proving recalcitrant at the eleventh hour, Indian Territory under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government remained the only refuge for the discredited sports, and a grand comit of pugilism was planned to take place in that semi-barbaric corner of the land. Congress took " hand in the matter this point, and—rejoiced to find some leg Intion that it was competent to gr with—passed Inws making prize-fighting in any of its tartar a felony. "That th last indignity might not be wanting Mexico followed suit, By ingenious docly ing of Federal troops, Texas rangers, and Mexican guards, che last fight was brought off ingloriously on a tiny' island in centre of the Rio Grande river, but it pr bably marked the expiring gasp of the old regime.
"The only chance now remaining for the citizens of the Great Republic to gaze upon one of these modern tournaments, is in the hiring of a huge barge, which can' be towed out, beyond the three mile limit on the Atlantic, where the minions of the law can inly contemplate their operations in idle with. But visions of sea-sickness haunt the imagination of the sportively inclined, and this suggestion has not been received with much enthusiasm. London seems to be their present Mecca, and we are loudly assured that no obstacle would be offered to the pulling off of any encounter there, however desperate. There may however, be such a thing as special legislation even im that land of greater freedom, and the erstwhile roxy hopes of pugilistic braves would seemed to be doomed to a further and final disappointment. If the orde loving element in the States have this little victory on which to congratulate themselves, there ix enough disorder left, on the other hand, to cause serious alarm as to the possible developments of the next few decades.
OWTH OF HO! IDE, or in less grateful English, the multiplieation of murders, during the last ten years in this country, is nothing less than startling, even when allowance is made for all possible alleviating circumstance. Crimina statistics show that while in 1885 there were something over 2,000 murders committed in the twelve months, in 1895 the number reached to over 10,060; and the rate of growth had been so steady and so rapid that, unless unforeseen counteracting influences were soon to manifest: themselves, even this horrifying total of crime would inevitably be increased.
ious explanations of this state of things are offered. Foremost among them is the increasing uncertainty of any adequate punishment, under our present methods of criminal procedure. While homicide increases, capital punishment is inflicted less and less often. Pettifogging lawyers use every conceivable device to block the wheels. of orderly prosecution,—to lengthen out the trial, and secure stays and appeals and re-hearings without number, until the public has all but forgotten what the offence originally was. Morbid sentiment, also, is always ready to join any movement for the presenting of petitions for pardon or commutation of sentence,—until the present condition of our criminal procedure in capital cases is too mortifying to reflect upon. It is to be noted in this connection Iso, that the incidental though inevitable result of the above is the increase of lynching at the North.
'A further explanation of the number of deaths by violence is furnished in daily object lessons to anyone whose fortune it may be to live for a time on the plains of Arizona or in the newer mining regions of Colorado. The genus "bad man" is by no means extinct. Very many of that type remain, who have a well-kno and perfectly recognised record for bein; "handy witha gun" (the use of the word revolver branding one instantly as a' tenderfuot " anywhere throughout the Southwest). These men are being gradually arked off by violence—one a day or not. infrequently two a day, where a sheriff's posse has rounded up'a little band. of desperadoes that refuses to surrender. They do not thrust themselves upon the attention of the well-behaved public, but keep upon the fringe of civilisation, or confine themselves pretty closely when in town to the gambling houses and_ saloons. Yet their ranks and those of their victims furnish a goodly element in the number of the ten thousand.
There are deeper causes than these, how ever. One of these is doubtless found in the decay of family life, although that sort of decay is no new thing, but is merely brought into prominence by the conditions of our modern life. It has been curiously thrust upon the attention of the outside world by
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.