THINGS THAT GO AWAY
The last vestiges of Wonderland are crumbling little by little under the gray sky

Gray day... winter day.…
Avenue de Suffren... A light fog covers the buildings of the district, while a fine rain falls that waters piles of materials, skeletal frames, last vestiges of the Great Wheel of Wonderland...
In a few days there will be nothing left, only memories, of what was from 1907 to 1914 the boxing establishment where the great meetings took place that established boxing in France and that won the crowds back to this sport. What memories... Théo Vienne, whose name is inseparable from that of Wonderland and the pre-war boxing organization; Maitrot, the referee-athlete; Cuny, boxer and match-maker; Carpentier's beginnings, his fights, those of Frank Erne, Willie Lewis, Charles Ledoux, Harry Lewis, Joe Jeannette, Sam Mac Vea, Tommy Burns, Jack Johnson, etc., etc., and also the famous novice competitions that brought us so many Homeric battles and revealed some French champions. Memories... Memories...

What remains of Wonderland is now nothing more than a skeleton of beams that collapses, disappears hour by hour under the effort of the demolition workers.

Let's visit more closely... Let's get closer.…

Here is the framework of the room, here is the location of the famous ring, of which only a few planks remain and which, on meeting evenings, emerged luminous from the crowd that pressed around its ropes. Its floor vibrated under the call of the boxers' buffalo soles. It received the fall of the vanquished brought down for the count by the lightning fist of the winner. On its boards, which are there, the Noble Art has known apotheoses.
Of all that, there remain only a few pieces of wood tortured by the hammers, the pliers of the demolition men.

These last vestiges of Wonderland should not be allowed to disappear without addressing them an emotional farewell, a farewell to the things that time, the eater of realities, buries in the domain of memories.

Wonderland is no more...

A. Dethès.