The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1894-11-18
Nobody Has a Good Word for
:. Poor Riordan. !;
GIVEN A BRAND NEW TOUCH.
The Long Australian Pug Tried an
Experiment Which Was Alto !.
gether Too Successful.

- a o1Oo from bod tltZSlmmOnS IN spar
ring exhibition. is the. second sparring
fatality in this city YaHk'' Sullivan
took the news of his sparring partners
death 10 ~FitZsimmons. "MY GodI you
don't mean TO tell me Connie is dean ?,'.
said the pugiliet. 81 canuot believe it,. /
did not hit him hard enough TO rinjure a
child" Fitzsimmons did not sleep at all
last night and refused To. eat this MORN
ing
.: To reporter Fitzsimmons said: 'Do
you suppose strike my sparriDg partner
with any force? l knew be had been
drink king hard, but did not know be was
in such condition Invariably when |
spared with him he turned blue around
The mouth, and that was sign for me 10
let up. Last night noticed after the first
exchange of blows be was not right The
blow That caused the trouble was as light
as could make it, merely sIapping him
with the back of my hand. He fell down,
=. then rose and staggered around. put my
arm around him TO assist him off the stage.
l though he was taking and was thor
p oughly DISCUS ed because every body in he
house Kissed me. / have known this man
eight years, and ne was always a hard
drlnker. / presume he had some heart dif-
fculty. / am not fearful of my position"
FiFZsim mOns was arraigned in the Police
Court on the charge of maDslaughter in
the first egree. He waived examination
and was taken before County Judge
. Northcup. who fixed bail at $4,000 which
was furnished.
=" The death certificate gives the cause of
RiOrdan's death as ''hemmorhage within
;. the cranial cavity, causing compression of
The BRAIN" Riordan was found 10 perfect
health. DIR. ID. N. 10llman. who con-
Quoted the autopsy, says ordan must
have been struck a terrific blow on the.
chin, which communicated directly with
the base of the brain. The depression Ga
the right side of the brain was very deep,
and remained half an hour after the cot
was removed.
Con Riordan was born in Melbourne,
Australia, and was 81 years old When
20. years old he made his first ap-
pesrance as boxer and soon after
foughta six-rouud draw with Martin Cos
tellO in Sau Francisco, the police stopping
the contest in the sixth round. His next
bout was with Max Fenner, a Swede,
whom he beat in eighteen rounds. He
then returned to Australia and met Billy
Cole at Melbourne. defeating him in eight
seconds, the shortesl fight on record He
next defeated George Bloomfield in three
rounds, George Langdon in three rounds;
Young Wilson in two rounds, II. Cowan.
in i've rounds and Tom Frake twice ia
three and four rounds respectively. joe
McAuliffe endeavored TO stop Riordan at
San Francisco, August IL, 1883. and the
contest ended in a four-Tound draw. AT
the Golden Gaze Athletic Club he met the
A
in eight rounds. He went to England With
Peter jackson as a spalring partner but
soon returned to this country. Later he
was matched by the Ormonde Club of Lon
don to meet Jack Slavin. and on June 2,
1892, be was beaten by him in nineteen
rounds. Since then he has not engaged
in any pugilistic contests.
At 1886 P. NJ. Fftzsimmous was released
on $4,000. Yank Sullivan and Charles
Gang signed the bend. Manager Glori
says that Rierdan will be buried in this
city Tomorrow. as he has No relatives in
this country who might wish the remains.
The FRzsimmons Vaudeville Company
gave matinee at the Jacobs Opera-house
to-day, and on Monday The company will
90 to Boston. Tor "a weeks engagement.
CAPTAIN GiorI said: ''Riordan had been
drinking heavily for months. l advised
him several days ago to stop drinking and
90 to work and train. He promised he
would and had started ont and walked
about ten. days, causing swelling of the
feet. He was accustomed TO fertify him.
self With whisky before each performance.
and last hight he probably took an extra
large amount, as he felt more than usually
out of sorts. am convinced thar had we
known more of his condition he would
> never have gone on the stage"
joe Dunfee, who boxed with Fitzsim-
mons last night after the mishap 70
RiordaD, is the man who knocked out Dan
Donovan at Maple Bay, near this citv.
eighteen months ago. Donovan died
under similar circumstances as did Rior-
dan last night. p. j. Donovan. who died
In New 7 ork yesterday. was the referee
Of the Dunfee. Donovan fight Captain
Glori has engaged Corporation Counsel
Charles E. Ide of this city as counsel for
Fitzsimmons.
:. The bout which resulted fatally to Ror-
! dan was lively one. In fact, Fttzsim-
mons is such a quick boxer and hard hit
ter that his opponent never has an easy
time. The idea in a sparring bout is TO
interest the audience and without making
it fight 10 make a bout resemble fight,
so the star does not always deal gently
with his opponent.
. Every man in the house was positive last
right that Fitzsimmons' blow landed OH
the ingnlar,N and Rordan fell forward on
his tace-the worst kind. of. Knockout
1t dad not seem 10 be hard blow, and
probably was not. The chances are that
1t. was a new PUNCH which FitZ,immoEs
had said he would use few weeks ago.
1tmay be described as practiced by F'tz-
simmons and R1oTdan in this way: Rior-
dan would lead with straight left, and it
was The custom for Fitzsimmohs to coun-
ter wlih*his right, forcing Riordan's glove
paek,to his own;:face and heck, with the
Idea 81 Filzslnmons landing a light punch.
f1izslnmons conceived the idea OF revers-
ihe ms method when. tho lead OF
3 MS opponent. was not particularly
strong. R'erdah would be. allowed to
shoye. his left. and Fiizsimmons
would counter with his right on the side