The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-06-12
Says He Never Wrote Letter Pre-
dieting His Defeat.
HE DOESN'T KNOW SHELLY
OFFERS TO PAY So, 500 FOR SUCH
A DOCUMENT.
Proposed Benefit For Defeated Man
Will Probably Not Come Of-He
Wants All the Proceeds, While
Jeffries Insists On His Having
Half.

New York. June 11.-Bob Fitzsim-
mons, eX-champion heavyweight pu-
Sllist, in company with his wife and
his manager, Martin Julian, attended a
bail game at the West End Field club
Jersey City, this afternoon. Fitzsim-
mons acted as one of the two ump,res,
and after the game he and Julian
found time to deny the assertions made
by Leonard Shilly. who is credited with
being an attache of the sheriff's office
in Cincinnati. Shilly claims TO be a
personal friend of Fitzsimmons, but
Bob says he does not know such man,
and Julian is equally positive that ne
never met such a person. The letter i'll
itself purports that Fitz feared defeat
and advised his friends not 10 risk any
money in their belief that he would
retain the championship.
Il never wrote such letter." said
FitZsimmons. Il do not know Shilly
Who is he, anyhow You say ne -
connected with the sheriff's office at
Cincinnati. Well if he is. / know
nothing about the sheriff or him.
never wrote such letter. I'm not
letter-writer. This letter in question
is dated New York, May 81. Since ]
went into training some weeks ago l
only wrote one letter. and that was 20
DR.. Kelly, dentist of Peoria, Ills. but
| made no mention of my chances of
victory or defeat in it.
Offers Reward of $500.
I'll tell you what I'll do" continued
Fitzsimmons. I'm order to show the
public that l never wrote such a letter
to Leonard Shilly or any other person,
I'll give 81, 800 to the person who pro-
duceS such a document; and, further
more, if anyone believes that he has
such a letter, | will pay his expenses
from wherever he resides to this city
and make him a present of $50. pro
viding that such a communication can
be produced. OF course, the lette- NAV
be a forgery, if such a letter exists,
but | want to be satisfied as IL its ex-
istence. and l also want the public to
be satisfied that l never wrote 1t, Tor
had it written for me-"
Martin Julian, FitzsimmOns' mar
ager was very emphatic in his denun-
citation of the report, and said:
''FitzsimmOns and l are close friends,
and | know that he never wrote Such
a letter. 1t is a lie on the face of il.
is not making any idle
boast when he says that he will give
s., 800 for the production of the letter,
If it can be proved to be authentic
This we can easily afford to do, seeing
that we know if such letter exists,
it must be a forgery. Now, let these
people come to time. and if there is a
negro in the woodpile. We will soon
dig him out If the letter can re
placed in evidence. we will gladly pay
$3.50 to the person presenting it, as well
as other expenses in addition to $3.50
promised by Fitzsimmons."
Hitch In Benefit Scheme.
Mrs. Fitzsimmons, who was present
said that she was positive that her
husband had never written such a LEI
.er.
Bob was more than confident Of
success, and all those who saw the !
light must certainly agree with me IN |
saying that he did his utmost to retain |
he championship. He had no doubts !
Is to his ability to defeat Jeffries, and. |
he was beaten. 1 am not quite |
that he cannot reverse the |
,rder of things"
Several rumors are in circulation |
hat Jeffries has offered to spar with |
at benefit for the lat !
er, but Manager Julian said tonight |
hat Jeffries and his manager. instead
# giving a benefit, the proceeds OF |
which would go to Fitzsimmons, had
made a provision that they should re-
Give 80 per cent of the receipts. When
his proposition was made to Fitzsim-
mons, he and his manager declined to
ave anything to do with it, and
tated that when FitZsimmons gave
'enefit for Jack Dempsey, after he had
efeated him. Dempsey received all
he coin. Neither Fitzsimmons nor
ulian will accept half favors from the
ew champion or his manager, and Il
hey wish to give the ex-champlon a
3, a