The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-02-16
FlTZ TO CLAIM THE FORFEIT.
MAHER WON'T BE ABLE TO FIGHT
on MONDAY.

OF the sports for Home-The Lesser
Lights OF the Carnival Plead in
Vain TO BE Allowed to Go Into the
Ring.
FL Paso, Tex, Feb. 15.-"Buck' Connel-
ly, right-hand man of Quinn. Maher's
manager, wired at noon from Las Cruces
as follows: physicians say Aaher's eyes
viii not be well until Friday. Maher says
he viii fight that day certain. He thinks
Fttzsimmons ought to agree to this"
member of Aaher's party, who ar
rived late tonight from Las Cruces, says
that Quinn has knowledge of a breach
in the articles of agreement that xyill pre-
vent titzsimmons from claiming or re-
SelylnS the forfeit on Monday. he would,
| however, give no particulars.
AT $50 clock tonight notice was sent
| out from headquarters for all the men
matched in the minor contests, together
| with their principals, to meet tomorrow
| hlsht, when the promoters will make a
statement of the situation and announce
| what course it is intended to pursue.
II also developed tonight that the con-
tract between the citizens and the Florida
Athleuc Club by the terms of which the
| former agreed to provide the sum of $l0,-
| OJl on condition that the fights take place
| adjacent to this city, stipuiates that the
agreement shall hold good only if the Fitz-
| slmmons-Maher contest is brought OFF be-
| tween sunrise on Friday, Feb. H. ana
| sunset of Monday, the nth
/
| time on Monday the citizens committee,
| should 1t SO desire, can declare the agree
| meht nun and void. There are also ru-
morS that the committee has been una
| bic TO raise the full amount of the guar
| antee. 1t is definitely known that $1,000 of
| the total IS on deposit in the State Nation
/ al Bank and it is claimed, but not cOrrob-
grated, that there Is an equal sum In the
/ First National and $3.50 in Newman's
1 Bank Even this, however, would leave the
| necessary total $3.50 short.
/ J. iELStTnflOng continues
| own counsel the impression is general that
/ II Maher is still unable TO come to time
| Mhen the status quo expires, the Austria
| Ian VIII take the forfeit and proceed to
| pack up preparatory to going east
Mhen II became apparent that the Mon
| day date was off, there was hurrying
| and scurrying on the part of the visitors
/ that Stln remained, to secure hOmeWard
| bound accommodations The big delega-
| tons from Houston, san Antonio, Dallas,
I and other state points went off in a bunch
| this morning, while for tonight every
| berth on the Texas and Pacific train was
| engaged and II was necessary to put on
| an extra car for the disappointed eastern
/ sports. Parson Davies, Sullivan and Ryan,
| however, who had intended to get away
| last night, still linger, solely because the
| eX-champion having no dates ahead for
/ week put his foot down and declared that
/ ne would not quit the congenial company
| that he found here until he had to.
| of the $500 strangers who were in the
| city on Thursday for the fight not more
/ than 200 remain. and q fifth of these are
| correspondents. The promoters have, at
/ 40 time calculated that more than go tick
| cts would be purchased by local people
| even should the men get together next
| week so that the crowd and receipts will
| alike be nominal as compared with previ-
/ Gus calculations.
| There is a wailing and a gnashing Of
| teeth among the white and colored pugi-
| lists. They are beginning to make them
| selves heard. With one or two exceptions
/ they are trained down to the finest point
they can stand and are anxious to be
| called into action and become foot loose
| once more. George Dixon spoke for the
| aggregation this morning when he said:
Il can't keep on this way much longer
| I'm down as fine as I need to be, but l
| can't keep stationary. It's either loose
| or gain, and don't want either Besides
: that | am hungry, ana I've got to have
| something to eat pretty soon"
But the promoters make no sign of re-
! ceding from their ultlmatum that when the
| big fight is over they will see what they
can do with the little fellows Strong rep
| reSentatlons were made to Stuart yester-
day and this morning that by pulling off
one or more of the second-class contests
on one of the six battle grounds he is
supposed to have at his command, he could
keep the bulk of the outsiders in town
| until the status of the Fitzsimmons- -Maher
mill viii be finally determined, but he was
obdurate.
Wolcott and Bright Eyes Collins, who
We're TO have fought to-day, came over
from Juarez this morning and weighed in
at a vacant store on EI Paso street. Tom
O'Rourke, in behalf of Walcott waived
forfeit from Stuart until Tuesday next.
| The two darkies viii remain in the city
| and finish their training in the gymna-
! sium attached to the Gem saloon.
Gov. Ahumada was advised to-day that
| it had been stated at headquarters that
| the ring had been erected and was in
| shape for the men to enter, and that
| the location could not be found by his
| crack cavalry, and scouts were sent to
| intercept the cavalry details up and down
| the frontier and urge them to redouble
| their efforts. The governor is confident
that if the story is true, the battle-ground
surveillance before n
! day.
The last message received from Las
| Cruces before the telegraph Office closed
tonight said DR.. Green, who was treat
ing Maher, was of the opinion that ii
would be absolutely impossible for him to
fight on Monday. lie was not out Of doors
to-day, but will probably come down on
Monday to demonstrate to the Eitzsim-
mons crowd a second time that it is not
case of "dunking." Some of the out-of-
town sports and correspondents are suf-
fering from the sore eye trouble, which
has been named "All0ali" and one of the
Chicago writers is confined TO d darkened
room. Late tonight two items were given
out from headquarters which may be
taken for what they are worth One was
that BitzSimmons had privately notified
Stuart to take forfeit on Monday, and the
other that the Wolcott-Collins contest
would positively be brought off on Tues
day at a railroad point, twenty miles out
Of the city.
Parson Davies gave it out this evening
that on his return to New York in APRIL
steps would be taken by himself John L.
Sullivan, O'Rourke and Others, for the
Incorporation of the National Sporting
League membership to be composed of
all persons interested in pugiism and
athletic sports of all kinds, and having
for its object opposition to all candidates
for congress and state legisl latures, who
viii not declare themselves in favor Of a
wide-open door for fights, races and @Il
sports. The Parson says that a similar
organization exists in England, and in
the general election 'it turned down"
over 100-would-be members Of the COM
mons.
Buck Connolly, one of the men back Of
Peter Maher, made the following state-
ment last night: eff Fitzsimmons at
tempts to pull down our forfeit on Mon
day, as intimated, he viii be fooled Should
Julian and his fighter take such an un-
fair advantage of our man, who is tenn
porarily blind and in great pain, and claim
the championship by such methods / shall
save our forfeit by sending Peter into
the ring, no matter whether he is as
blind as a bat, on Monday. the limit set
by Julian for the fight. My man will be
on the platform within the ropes for our
money, and if Maher is whipped, trust
the people of the country will under
stand that it is not Peters fault, but
FitzsimmonS greed"