The event of the week in many circles has been
the interna - tional prize-fight which came off at Wadhurst on Thursday. King, an English pugilist, fought Heenan, the American, for 2,0001. Both are heavy weights, but Heenan is so much the heavier man that the betting was all on his side, and for the first fifteen rounds he appeared certain to win. King was thrown several times, once so heavily that he was only brought up to time by his second gnawing the cartilage of his ear ; but he revived, and in the last ten rounds was able, by his superior science, nearly to kill Heenan. Had he done it entirely he would have been im- prisoned for life ; as he just missed it, he makes a fortune. The verdict of the sporting world is apparently that Heenan, though brave and powerful, is a wrestler rather than a pugilist. There was the usual disturbance at the station, and the "roughs," defeated in an attempt to enter by force, attacked the police with brickbats and bludgeons, nearly killing two men who were simply marching past them. The incident fairly illustrates the kind of manliness fostered by the prize ring. The manliest race that ever existed, the Roman legionaries, never conceived the idea of the duel, and left prize-fighting to slaves.
