The herald., 1897-05-09
DID FITz FOUL coRBErTr
Verascope Pictures Show an Odd Incl
dent After the Knockout

dent After the Knockout
The pictures of the Corbett- -Fitzsim
mons fight. taken for exhibition b.
what Is called the verascope. are read,
for printing. and In few days the smal
company of capitalists will know tn
extent Of their sorrow or tie measure O
their fortune.
The pictures are not at all bad; in
deed. some are remarkably good. bu
the best are those of the least interest
ing rounds.
There is one excellent picture. how
ever, which will cause an almost endles,
amount of discussion. 1t is of one mo-
ment in the fourteenth round following
the knockout blow. AS it has beer
described by one Of the men who has
been privileged to see the developed neg.
atives. it shows Corbett collapsing, with
one knee on the floor, his hands down
F1tzsimmons bending over him, and his
right glove in conjunction with Cor.
belts chin.
This negative Is said to be one Of the
clearest of the series and has been ex.
amined with great interest by William
A. Brady. manager Of the defeated com
batant. He is said to have spent two
hours examining with a high-power
glass the series following the knockout
blow.
The verascope Is owned by Enoch
Rector, Dan Stuart, William A. Brady
and James j. .Corbett The device was
built under the direction of Rector. who
is civil engineer.
Usually the long strips Of film are fed
to the camera by electric motors regu-
lated to carry sufficient film past the
lens for twenty-four pictures per Sec
ond. Rector substituted a crank turned
by man, and the delivery of the film
in consequence lacked regularity,
This led to serious defects in the spac-
Ing between pictures, which will cause
nashes of light to appear when the pic
lures are enlarged by the lantern for
the screen. The standard space be-
tween the pictures is one-sixty- fourth
OF an inch The spacing of the Carson
City pictures varies from ne-sixty-
fourth to one-eighth AS the pictures
are enlarged 200 times. the normal space
Is exaggerated from scarcely observ-
able interruption to a painful break in
the continuity of the series.
Three cameras were used at the ring
side in series. not simultaneously. The
reels were freshly painted the day be-
fcre the fight and the paint was not dry
when the film was put on them. In con-
sequence the film was splashed with
paint along Its edges and in some in
stances across its face. Some negatives
were so bad that they had to be clipped
out and the film ends cemented together.
This breaks the continuity of the pic
lures so that important details are lost.
The taking Of pictures began with the
camera at the extrme right of the arena.
The space in front was kept clear of
spectators by railings and police, but
rev favorite persons got in there
among them Dan Stuart For seven
ms ~, t4~ --rj~---S~ -i.s hot ohe4~,,o+aa tha
tire period of the first two rounds-so
that the first thousand feet of film bear
only pictures of that hat, with penum-
bra of ringside incidents. Then Stuart
moved out of the cameras field, and the
taking of pictures of the fight began.
The sixth round is obscured in i'm
portant parts by fog, of smoke from the
cigars of the favored few inside the
rails. The following rounds are fair
down to the fourteenth and last, where
the spacing is at its worst. Efforts have
been made to cure this, but with indif-
ferent success.
The field of the camera which took the
final photographs did not include the
space near the ropes. into which Corbett
crawled with the hope that he might pull
himself up and face Fitzsimmons before
he was counted out The pictures show
him painfully crawling out of the cam
eras field and at the end his head
arms and shoulders are out of the pic
ture-only his legs and trunk showing
New York Journal.