THE NEW YORK HERALD Friday, October 22, 1858. "The Fight of the Century." John Morrissey vs John Heenan Prize Fighting was outlawed in the United States and this heavyweight fight was staged across the border from Buffalo in Canada.

THE GREAT PRIZE FIGHT The Combat of Morrissey and Heenan for the "Championship" of America Quarter of a Million of Dollars Staked on the Result Appearence of the Champions Before and After the Fight MORRISSEY VICTORIOUS ACHIEVEMENTS OF MODERN CHIVALRY. SKETCHES OF THE COMBATANTS THE WAY THEY WERE TRAINED. TRIUMPH OF BRUTALITY

The fight between John Morrissey and John Heenan, the Benicia Boy, came off Wednesday afternoon at Long Point, Canada, between seventy and eighty miles from Buffalo. Eleven terrific rounds were fought in twenty-two minutes, when Morrissey was declared the victor. A more severe fight for the time it lasted never took place in this country. Morrissey was the favorite at one hundred to sixty. About two thousand persons witnessed the fight, who behaved themselves in the most orderly manner, and everything passed off very quietly. Morrissey was seconded by Kelly, of Australia, and an assistant. The Benicia Boy was seconded by Aaron Jones, an English pugilist, and Johnny Mackey. Persons from all parts of the United States and Canada were present to witness the fight. Heenan had the best of the fight at the commencement, but after the fifth round Morrissey took the lead and kept it. He has improved greatly in his style since his fight with Yankee Sullivan. The fight is over and the battle won. Another of those brutal exhibitions which disgrace the civilization of the age - a relic of the barbarism of old Rome and the Middle Ages - has taken place, and the victor, wearing the laurels of triumph, is the "observed of all observers," and is admired and acknowledged as the champion gladiator of America. Are we at the height of progress in civilization that we claim to be, or are we in a condition that the laws, moral and legal, are powerless to prevent these occasional disgraceful displays of human brutality? In spite of the laws prohibiting prize fighting, two men have been allowed to prepare for a contest, which might have resulted in the death of one or the other of the parties engaged, in the very face of the officers of law, and almost in the sanctuary of justice. Pretended efforts of the authorities were made to arrest the principals in the affair, but which, in fact, were only a notification for them to select a locality out of their immediate jurisdiction, and which would afford greater facilities for the officers themselves to learn how matters were progressing. The laws of this State do not tolerate prize fighting, but a successful prize fighter seems to hold a prominent position among the politically pious and moral of the community.

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