Waterbury evening Democrat., 1895-07-20

MM< 7 E4kE/I$ grandfather Of the
 !RlN1 AS#%/E# present speaker of G3SA ZIJ the house of com mons, and the JOHN GULLY. present champion of the world, James J. Corbett. The Cali fornian will make good his boast. delivered immediately after his conquest of Sulli- van, There's ono fighter who'll never % broke." Not hcl The man from the slope" is too cautious and thrifty to ex- pend a penny unnecessarily. He is the Rus sell Sage of pugilisn. In this regard he is the direct antithesis of his predecessor, John l.. Sullivan, who was a flstic Coal Oil Johnny. The Bostonian literally burned" his money. The Californian guards his as previously as Shylock did his treasure caskct.
 It is a sad truth that the greatest of fist ic heroes go to their last resting place bro ken in heart, health and purse. John Nor rissey, once champion of America, made sl, O0O, 900 or more in gambling and specu- latiOn and even became state senator and a congressman from New York. Yet he died without dollar His wife, who | once rcvclcd in riches is now working in collar factory in Troy. His great rival, | John c. Heenan, spent his last days in | Colorado a pensioner upon the bounty of | his friends. His wife, the beautiful Adah | Isaacs Mcnken the original Mazeppa, was | buried in the pOtter's field in Paris, where she was once the favoritc of an emperor. Fate has been almost equally unkind with all the renowned champions of both | England and America. Tom Savers, Bill | Perry, the Tipton Slasher; Jack Langham, Aaron Jones and Joe GoSs of England, and Tom Hyer, Mikc McCoolc, Joe Coburn and Johnny Dwyrr of America all died without even tn pence to closc their eyclids. Tom King, champion of England 30 years ago, who obtained a questionable victory | over John c. ACcnan soon after the latter'S battle with Savers, like our own John MOrrisScy, accumulated fortune on the | turf and was presumed to have died wealthy n few years ago. Upon rigid | investigation, however, it was discovered that but a shadow of his once magnificent | substance remained.
 Of course the life partners of these cele- | brated champions wcre left in destitute circumstances and had a hard struggle. The one luminous exception is that of the | widow of tho American champion, John | !. Dwycr. She is now the wife of Richard | K. Fox, a millionaire several times over | and is able to spend several months of the | year in Europe.
 | Fighting is poor business from a finan- | oial point of view. This may sound strange | in view of the uunificcnt purses which 1 great ulnltlIC ClullS Olltf, DlU IL IS llcNtE- thclcsS true. In tho first place, as tho old love ditty has it, "thcrc S only room for one." But ono man can win the need of l victory. Tho conquered mans lot is | mass of bruises, a brOkon spirit and loss | of friends. Tho world-and especially the sporting world-has no use for loser. The only two exceptions I have ever known | to this rule are those of John l.. Sullivan | and Jack Dempsey. But it is their mag I hood, thoir splendid qualities of head and heart quite as much as their 1istic prowess l that keeps them enshrincd in the affections of tho sporting public.
 It must be remembered that only cham pions in their respective classes can com mand big purses. Those "next to them, the men who have given the champions the battle of their lives, must be content to fight for one tenth of the sum cham pion would look at. They must be satis- fled with occupying stall in somo mana | gers ''stable.'
 And the manager. An, there's the pu gilistio rub! No fighter seems to be able to get along without him. He is usually a l clever, brainy fellow, suavc, courteous to a degree and as glib of tongue as q Wall street promoter. Hc is the man who Gar ranges matches for his principal at tho various athletic clubs and fixes matters with tho authorities if menaced by blue coat interference. For the cerebral or dip lomatic work thus performed the manager declares himself in'' for half of his prin- cipal's purse, whether that purse be the winners or tho losers end. Tho only ex- ception know to this rule is that of the present champion, James J. Corbett, who
 splits with no manager. He takes every thing in sight, and, like Oliver Twist asks for moro.
 To return, as our French cousins put it, to our mutton, the manager. He manages one fighter or a stable of fighters. If he has good thing like Young Griffo or Bill ly Trimmer, he is contented with one string to his bow. partly because his principal won't permit any other course of action. Champions are us vain as village belles and will not admit of any divided sover- eighty.
 l Every one of the we'll known managers
 has a fat bank account made through
 fighters. With the exception of William A.
 Brady, Parson Davies and Martin Dowl- ing not one of them ever backs his princi-
 pal for Q dollar, no matter how volubly he
 may discourse about thousands. They all
 have "angels" who "put up'' the neces- sary collateral whenever q match is made.
 Theso "angels'' are generally rich club
 men or we'll to do sportsmen. They are
 usually content to get their own money
 back. Sometimes the sportsman wants a
 "bit,' but the other kind of ''angel'' nev-
 CT does.
 The manager is the greatest source ol
 expense to the fighter. But "there are oth'
 ers.' Principal among these is the press
 agent. Every we'll regulated "stable" and
 every champion has a press agent to chron
 icle his sayings and exploit hls deeds oi
 valor as well as write his letters. A press
 agent is absolutely essential to the modern fighter to keep him and the show hc par
 ticipates in "before the people" and swell
 the box office receipts. The press agent, oi
 course, receives a snug salary. The police
 too, must get their "bit,' despite Lexov
 investigations, or no contest can come off
 Sometimes even Q judge or political mag
 nate must be squared" All of these sun
 dries come out of the fighters purse.
 Notwithstanding these drawbacks thu
 champion fighter and even the fighter wh'
 stands "next to him. could have a tid,
 sum and happy home if he but husband
 ed what remained of his winnings, bu
 force of associations is too much for him
 He is feted, wined and dined-as long a
 he is successful Almost invariably he is "good fellow" and his money is sool ! spent and he is obliged to seek anothe
 match to replenish his resources. He ma
 win again and for the third, fifth or eve
 tenth tirna- hut tha nitaAap that GrnAs t