Commonwealth v. McGovern

66 L.R.A. 280, 75 S.W. 261, 116 Ky. 212, 1903 Ky. LEXIS 177
CourtCourt of Appeals of Kentucky
DecidedJune 20, 1903
StatusPublished
Cited by37 cases

This text of 66 L.R.A. 280 (Commonwealth v. McGovern) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Kentucky primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Commonwealth v. McGovern, 66 L.R.A. 280, 75 S.W. 261, 116 Ky. 212, 1903 Ky. LEXIS 177 (Ky. Ct. App. 1903).

Opinion

Opinion or the court by

JUDGE SETTLE

Reversing.

This equitable action was instituted in the Jefferson circuit court, common pleas division, by the appellant, the Commonwealth of Kentucky, on relation of the Attorney ■General, against the appellees, Terry McGovern and others, to prevent the holding of a prize fight advertised to take place on the 22d day of September, 1902, in the Auditorium, a large theatre situated in the city of Lousiv-ille. Terry McGovern and Young Corbett were to be the combatants, .and their managers and the owner of the Auditorium were made parties to the action.

It is averred in the petition, in substance, that tbe prizefight was to be given under the auspices of the Southern Athletic Culb of which the appellee Robert Gray is the sole stockholder and manager; that the Auditorium has a seating capacity of 4,000, and that the prices of tickets for admission into that building to witness the prize-fight vary from $5 to $20 a seat; that the fight was to take place according to the Marquis of Queensbury mies, and the fighters were to receive $10,000 between them. It is further averred that the prize-fight, if allowed to take place, would bring to the city of Louisville a great number of sporting men, disorderly persons, and criminals, and that the persons so drawn to the city would constitute a lawless, turbulent and dangerous assembly of many thousands of people, and would produce breaches of the peace and other violations of the law, which would have a demoralizing effect upon the good order and well-being of the community, and [224]*224produce a public nuisance. It is also averred' that a criminal prosecution of the principals and others connected with them would not prevent the great injury that would be done to the people of the State by holding the prize-fight within its bounds, and, finally, that the Commonwealth has no adequate remedy at law for the injury which would result to the public welfare, if the prize-fight were allowed to be held. Answer was filed by the appellees, traversing the allegations of the petition.

Thereafter, upon the pleadings and proof, in the form of affidavits and depositions, the judge of the court in which the action was then pending issued a temporary injunction, as prayed, and upon the day following its issual a motion was made by the appellees before one of the judges of this couxt to dissolve the same, and that judge and five of his associates, members' of this court whom he called in consultation,, rendered the following opinion:

“This motion was made before the Chief Justice, who by consent of the applicants transferred the hearing of the motion to Judge White, who invited the whole court, except Judge Paynter (absent) to hear the application with him. The majority of the court who heard the application to dissolve the injunction of Judge Field are of the opinion that the contest which has been enjoined „is a prize-fight, and that it is not material whether the victor in the contest is to> receive more of the reward offered than the vanquished. The court is divided equally upon the question of whether the chancellor has preventive power under the Kentucky Statutes to restrain the holding of such contest; Chief Justice Guffy and Judges White and Burnam holding-in the negative, and Judges DuRelle, Hobson and O’Rear holding the affirmative. The motion to dissolve is therefore denied.”

[225]*225After the foregoing action by this court, the case was submitted upon the pleadings and proof to the judge of the chancery division, No. 2, Jefferson circuit court, for trial, who rendered judgment dismissing the petition. Appellant complains of that judgment, and has brought the case by appeal to this court for review.

No one can doubt that the contest between appellees McGovern and Corbett, if it had taken place as advertised, would have been a fight. Indeed, it is clear from the evidence furnished by the record that they are prize-fighters and that the fight was to be one of unusual endurance and extreme brutality, a very feast of blood, to be enjoyed to the full by the thousands who were expected to wetness it. From the mass of testimony in regard to the bloody character of such contests found in the record we have but to mention the following:

Lambertson, the sporting editor of a Cincinnati newspaper, in describing a fight of this kind which he witnessed at the Auditorium, said it appeared to him the men were “hitting each other just as hard as they could.”

Harris, the manager of McGovern, in speaking of his manner of fighting, says: “There is ‘no make-believe” about it; that, when he goes into a contest of this kind, he ‘goes in to win;’ that he strikes ‘just as hard as he can/ and that this' is the way with every such contest, unless it is a ‘fake.’ ”

Gearhart, a professor of boxing in the city of Louisville, testified that he had seen a great many contests under the Marquis of Queensbury rules, and that they are brutal; and, upon being asked if it was customary for the contestants to try to knock each other out in such contests, he said: “The contestants do generally, if, they are fighting under the Marquis of Queensbury rules, endeavor to knock each [226]*226other out, because, if they succeed in doing that (that is, in knocking their opponent down, so that 'he is unable to get on his feet in ten seconds), in' that way they will get the decision. Hence, they always endeavor to do that, if they are ‘fighting’ on the square,’ in sporting parlance.” Upon being further asked if the sports would regard it a square contest if the opponents did not use their best endeavor to knock each other out, he answered: “No, that would be considered a ‘fake.’ ”

A physician, Dr. Gossett, testified to having professionally attended a man named Handler, after his fight with Bill Harrahan at the Auditorium ■ in November, 1901, and of his condition said: “His upper, lip was cut in two places— one side clear through to the teeth, completely severed, and the other side was nearly through. His upper lip was swollen about three or four timas its normal thickness, and one eye was completely closed and swollen very much. Both lids were swollen about an inch in thickness, due to the extravasation of blood. He could not open one of his eyes. The other was very nearly as bad. He had a cut over one eye, about an inch and .a half in length, in which we had to take three or four .sutures. We took six or eight sutures in his lip. His face was very much bruised; looked like a piece of raw beef. Blood was oozing from different parts of it. . . . When I first saw him, the feeling I had was of sickening” disgust.”

Another witness, Mr. Lewis Humphrey, testified that he saw the fight between ,Ryan and West for the championship of the middle-weights of the United States, which occurred in the Auditorium in the city of Louisville on March 4, 1901. They fought with five-ounce gloves and under the Marquis of Queenshury rules. The fight was under the auspices of the Southern Athletic Club, of which the appellee [227]*227Robert G. Gray was then, as now, the manager, and some of the city police were present. The fight is thus graphically described by the witness: “I saw this fight from beginning to end, being very close up to the ring, where I could very distinctly see both contestants during the whole fight. They were dressed in the manner which is universally 'customary with prize-fighters, being stripped to the waist.

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Bluebook (online)
66 L.R.A. 280, 75 S.W. 261, 116 Ky. 212, 1903 Ky. LEXIS 177, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/commonwealth-v-mcgovern-kyctapp-1903.