Travellers’ stories, The Australian (1827)

And as for the gouging, and “rough and tumble” fighting of America — and especially in Virginia and Maryland, I have only to say that I have resided more than eight years in Maryland; that I have known a multitude of Virginians, and been a good deal over Virginia; and that I have never seen, either in Maryland or in Virginia, or in any other part of America, any thing so bad — so brutal, or so savage, as the wrestling of the Devonshire men. What would be thought in America, were I to say that which is perfectly true of their behaviour. What, if I were to say that I have seen two stout men kicking each other’s shins by the hour together, under pretence of wrestling — both being armed with heavy, thick-soled shoes at the time! that I have examined the legs of a Cornish man, who had been a wrestler after the Devonshire mode for nearly thirty years, and that I found them in a state which I dare not describe, further than to say they were any thing but legs — that the shin bone appeared to have lost the edge by a continual process of exfoliation, that the whole shape was that of a limb which has been distorted, crushed, and seared with a hot iron; the bone preternatural, the skin discoloured, smooth and glossy. And what would they say in America if I were to add, that Devonshire men are said to wrestle together in this way sometimes till the blood runs out of their shoes; that they wear horn at the toes of their shoes for kicking; that they aim at the ankles; and that, it is now common to pad the legs from the instep to the knee with folds of cloth about half an inch thick, strapped on with strong leather straps, underneath which, for a further protection, the parties insert their pocket-handkerchiefs. Although such a thing as a fair-stand up fight was never seen here, it would be a thing never to be forgiven here if one wrestler were to kick the shins of another, or if a man were to strike another while he was down, or scratch, or bite, or otherwise injure his adversary than by fair throws.

Travellers’ stories. (1827, August 3). The Australian (Sydney, NSW: 1824–1848), p. 4. National Library of Australia, Trove. https://trove.nla.gov.au