Prize fighting has long since ended due to the introduction
of padded gloves and the Queensbury Rules, but in the 19th century bare knuckle
fights were not only illegal but very popular. One such fight took place on
10th March 1846, at Blyth, on the Links between two Newcastle men, William
Gleghorn and Michael Riley.
Their fight went on for two and a half hours and only
finished when they both collapsed from exhaustion. After a while William
Gleghorn came round and recovered unfortunately due to the amount of blows,
Michael Riley received to the head, he ruptured a blood vessel and fell into a
coma. He was put onto a coach and taken to the nearby Ridley Arms where he was
put to bed, the next morning he was dead. William Gleghorn was arrested and
convicted of manslaughter at the Northumberland Assizes.
The judge Justice Cresswell sentenced William to six months in prison, but he
also had these words to say I can find nothing more degrading or disgraceful
than that two men should come together either for money or the applause they
gain from bystanders, to go and beat each other as long as they stand up. But I
look on those engaged in it as far less criminal than those who excite them to
it. They are made the tools of others and, if I had before me any of those who
could be proved to have promoted the fight, I should have shown my thoughts by
the sentence I would have passed on them.
