El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1897-01-29
COrhett of Today.

| COrbett of Today.
| This deals with James J. Corbett
pugilist and actor. 1t has no part of il
devoted to Corbett and ,Fitzsimmons
what they will or what they
won't do to each. other. II
is purely Corbettian and treats only OF
him. For this it is to be pardoned,
and perhaps read with patience if not
with interest, whereas anything that
deals with Corbett and Fitzsimmons is
incentive to murder. With this pro-
viso we will proceed.
| Mr.. Corbett, like the girl in the song
who told the fellow to tell them that he
saw hers looking we'll. OF
course, he is aging d little, more
| through the cares of business and of
growing wealth than from the increase
was when he whipped Sullivan. He is
thirty and very sober. AT twenty-six
he was kid fond of romps and larks.
Now he is man who does not want
to talk to you unless it be about money
or the way to make it.
Physically he is still Corbett. He is
robust and apparently stronger than
ever. Perhaps he does lack the least
bit of the supple grace which charac-
livan and before his battle with
Mitchell. But he is very much the
same Corbett, fast, swift aud eager to
work. He has thickened trifie about
the body and the limbs, and, although
he has not particle of fat on him, he
is apparently stouter. Compared with
the grand young athlete who conquer
ed Sullivan, he is a little, just little,
stumpy. OF course, this may be only
imagination. There is no doubt that
he is as tall. if not taller, than he was
at that time, and he says that he does
not weigh any more. But dressed for
the ring he appears full ten pounds
heavier, aud at least two inches short
er.
When the tall California lad went on
the stsge after he licked the only John
L, he put up the greatest sparring ex-
hibitiOn that has ever been witnessed
anywhere. l rememb Der well watching
him box his four rounds with John
Donaldson while playing ''Gentleman
Jack" in western city, thought the
bout was good one, and so remarked
to a friend who was sitting by me and
and who was connoisseur in matters
pqgilistic, Good bout" he replied.
''Why man don't you know that you
are. looking at a fight. That is the
real thing" In sooth it looked like it.
Corbett was young and ambitious in
those days and he was after the ap-
plause and good will of the people,
things that are primarily necessary to
the requirement of their dollars. Now
that he has share of all three it may
be that he does not care to work SO
hard.
Be that as it may, there is not the
his spectators as fine go for their
money as he did some four years ago.
1t may be'that Mr.. McVey, his present
sparring partner, is not as competent a
foil as John Donoldson and Steve
O'Donnell, who were clever boxer. and
could elevate their hands with some
skill. Maybe Corbett is not so fast as
did appear trife ennuied and jaded
yesterday. No wonder. He played
hand ball from 10 a. N. until 1 p. m, and
then rushed to the theatre for his mat
inee. There he spent very nearly four
hours on the stage and in the wings.
His playwright did not build that play
with a view to giving the star a good
chance to train while playing. Cor
bett is on the stage nearly all the time,
and his cues never give him chance
to get out Of the wings from the time
the curtain goes up until it drops.
Then he manages the whole show.
Quite bit OF work?
Returning to the boxing exhibition,
it may be repeated that it is not so fine
as it once was. Corbett is too fast for
McVey, and even at that some of the
latter's blows look if they were made to
order, just as Sullivan used to man
ufacture those of Jack Ashton when
that worthy pair of ''has-beens" were
starting n'Hopest Hearts and Willing
Hands," Corbett telegraphs for the
blow and ducks long, oh, very long,
before the ponderous wrestler gets rid
of it. At times he goes after the
patient, long suffering McFey, who
gets tied up with his strength and
pastes him three or four times before
he can disentangle his wits and SEND
them to tell him to put up his mits and
take his jaw out of the way of the AK.
When he boxed with O'Donnell,
Corbett did some pretty work [ would
be w ling TO swear that he never re
hearsed the boxing scene and that
each man did his impromptu best in
bluff at fight. There was one play in
it that was a beauty. Corbett broke
ground directly backward and by
series of lightning fents drew his man
on. Then stopping short aud coming