Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-11-28


world. This will be the most import
ant battle in the career of the Omaha
Kid" and it was only by proving him.
self worthy to aspire to the champion
ship that he succeeded, after repeated
failures, in inducing Dixon to enter the
ring against him. There is well de-
fined suspicion that the colored cham
pion realizes that Gardner will be the
toughest proposition he ever faced, and
that for this reason de declined to
: place his title in jeopardy until there
was no longer any excuse for declining
to meet Gardner.
Well informed followers of the box
ing game incline to the opinion that
Oscar has more than an even chance
against his dusky opponent, and a
knockout to his credit will not be sur
prise in the pugilistic world. 1t has
been stated that it is the first time in
the history of pugilism that odds are
not offered on champion. There will
. U6 DltUly vi ddlUIlcI llOuCy, anu q bAso
sum in the aggregate will change hands
on the result. Gardeners style is
peculiar. Right Cross, a writer on box
ing in the New York Journal. aptly
expresses this fact in the terse SEN
tence-'the looks like no one, fights
like no one" His method of training
L. EAlI n6
rules, drinks beer every Gay and
smokes big black cigars. He told Har-
nv Weldon, of the Cincinnati Enquirer,
last Monday, that he had not started
training and did not propose to devote
more than five days to preliminary
work.
Gardner is mystery to all the box
ing experts He appears careless in
the ring but is in reality the peer Of
any of them in generalship. He never
loses his temper, but is always cool
and calculating, waiting patiently
for openings ard always willing to
take punch or two if he can land one.
He leaves the biggest kinds of openings
to draw leads from his opponents,
only to send in those awful jabs in the
bilious fighter out Of the business. He
will meet one Of the cleverest men in
the ring tomorrow night, but the
chances favor his securing the decision.
If, as a result of their battle, Gard
ner wins the championship, the laurels
will rest upon one Of the most modest,
unassuming, gentlemanly little fellows
who ever entered a ring. He has
never done anything to bring boxing
into disrepute, and if all pugilists were
Of the same calibre as the Omaha
Kid" much of the opposition to the
game in certain quarters would vanish.
Gardner is a fighter. Pugilism is his
profession. He does not fight his bat
ties in the press, but on the contrary
gives the newspapers wide berth. One
example will suffice to prove his readi-
ness to fight at all times, without vast
ing words over details of the articles of
agreement. When he whipped Sammy
Kelly in the LenoX A. c., Tom
O'Rourke approached him with articles
of agreement for a battle with George
Dixon. The two entered one of the
boxes in the club house, while Oscar
was still in fighting costume. The
"Kid" read the articles, and then put
his autograph at the bottom in bus
inesslike way.
Oscar Gardner was born in 1872 in
Minneapolis, Mimi, and after leaving
school learned trade at which he
was employed in Omaha, when he
gained a local reputation as clever
amateur boxer. This was in 1890. His
first fight was with Chas. Heenan, of
Deadwood, S. D., whom he defeated in
other men in that city, and his work
attracted the attention of Prof John
Donaldson, of the Twin City A. c., of
Minneapolis.
Donaldson arranged for him to meet
a local boxer named Pete Bordeaux.
Oscar figured as an unknown, and at
the suggestion of Donaldson, signed
the articles of agreement as the Coma
ha Kid" The nickname has chung 20
him ever since. He remained in and
about Minneapolis for about year,
defeating such men as Johnny Van
Heest, Solly Smith, and others.
From Minneapolis, Gardner drifted
to Kansas City, Mo-, where he re-
NAMED for nearly four years, and then
located in Cincinnati, where he re-
NAMED about a year. Tom O'Rourke,
of the Broadway A. c., of New York,
sent for him to box Solly Smith, and
since that time he has been fighting
all over the country, meeting and de-
feating all corners, and frequently con-
ceding considerable weight to his OPP
ponents. For about a year, he has
made his home in Wheeling, and every
lover of boxing in this city is friend
and admirer of him.
Gardner has compelled the admira-