The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-10-09
JOHN L. A PARTISAN.
Why He Would Not Make a Desira-
BILE Referee Mt a Prize Fight.
From the ChicaEo Record.

From the Chicago Record.
Il don't believe I should care to have
John L. Sullivan for referee if 1 We're
either COrbett or Fitzsimmons, says
William H. Crane. Sullivan doesn't
like 10 stand by and see any man
whipped; his sympathies are always with
the under dog.
Some years ago Nat Goodwin and 1
had an experience with Sullivan; it was
in what 1 call my halcyon days Nat
and I had been celebrating the close of
the season, and we came ashore one
Sunday morning from my yacht, deter
mined to be very circumspect all the rest
of our lives. We went to a seaside hotel
for the purpose of getting breakfast,
when whom should we fall in with but
John L. Sullivan and one of his boon
companions, a Boston alderman. Both
John and his friend were pretty wen
corked up, and they insisted that we
should go with them to call upon another
friend, a Patsy Somebody, who was
training for fight with Mike Somebody
else at small country roadhouse about
-FOUR miles away.
Goodwin and 1 did our best to shake
bhe two, for we feared that fun of liquor
as they were. Sullivan and his satellite
would get us into trouble. But Sullivan
wouldn't take no for an answer, and final
~, just to keep the peace, we went along
grounds. Well, when we got there, Patsy
and his trainer were having their usual
morning bout. The trainer was a big,
bnoad-shouldered good-natured Irishman
strong as an OK and good natured as a
Well-fed child; he was a little too much
Tor Patsy and was giving him some pretty
hard exercise. l suppose Sullivan fancied
that the trainer was unnecessarily severe;
at any rate / saw Sulivan's face grow
darker and l knew that trouble was brew
ing: Finally Sullivan slipped off his coat
. h. Il E r1ao IT,
then, waiting until he saw the trainer adj
vancing to attack Patsy with redoubled
energy, Sullivan reached out that right
arm OF his and his big fist caught the good
natured Irishman full in the mouth. 1t
didn't look as though Sullivan put amy
force at all into the blow; it seemed to
US as If he merely put out his fist-so-and
let the other fellow run against 1t. But,
gracious! you should have seen that Irish
man keel over; I'll bet he went back TWEEN
ty feet before he stopped then he turned
a back sOmersault over the hind wheel
of our wagon and fell to the ground APP
parently dead. He didn't regain conscious
ness for two hours, and you can imagine
that those two hours were the most miser-
able Goodwin and ever spent.
I'VE fancied ourselves forever dis
graced by being pulled into court as wit
nesses-perhaps as accessories-to the
killing of this innocent man. Our sus-
pense was simply dreadful. Finally,
however, after hunting up. doctor and
working over the fellow for two hours
the victim came to. The first thing he
did was to put one hand feebly to his
mouth as If to learn what damage that
orifice had sustained. And then. smiling
amiably, he said: BE jabers, that was
a wicked thrushtr You see he never
lost his temper at all; as have told you,
he was the best-natured fellow l ever
saw
But the honor OF having been hit by
Sullivan was too much for him. Havsng
regained consciousness he proceeded to
I'LL himself up with liquor, and it WASH t
long before the rural constabulary had
to be called to take him into custody.
AS he was a powerful creature and fought
viciously, ii became necessary to pound
him into subsection, and by the time he
was lodged in jail he was bloody spec
tacle indeed. Next morning he was re-
leased, there being nobody willing to
prosecute him; but even then he had
not lost all sense of the great honor of
having been hit by Sullivan, and so he
hung about the jail all day boasting of
that honor and expressing an ambition
to lick the combined constabulary force
of the township.
81 have never forgotten the incident"
says Mr.. Crane. land 1t suffices to con-
vince me that "a a referee Mr.. Sullivan
is hardly the person 1 should choose"