The Anaconda standard. [volume] (Anaconda, Mont.) 1889-1970, 1899-06-16
WAS At THE R|NGS|DE
Anaconda Man Who Witnessed
the Jeffries Victory.
THE EAST WAS SURPRISED
Remarkable Change That Took Place in
Jeffries Between His Last Pre-
vious Performance and
the Big Fight.

The only Anaconda man and posi-
bly, the only citizen of Montana who
witnessed the big fight at Coney island
last Friday night has returned, He is
Professor w. E. Langdon, the local
athlete and pugiist
1T was a better and prettier fight
by far than the fight at Carson City,
two years ago" said he yesterday. "A
good fight to my notion is where men
are well matched in science and ability.
Such fight was the Jeffres- Fitzsim-
mons go. but in the Corbett-Fitzsm-
mons fight affairs We're too much one
sided to make the exhibition perfect
one.
"Jeffries proved himself wonder
His victory was a complete surprise to
the Eastern sporting fraternity. That
Is shown in the small attendance from
outside cities. There were only six men
from Boston in the house, and other
large centers of population We're rep
resented by equally small delegations.
san Francisco was the only city in the
country. outside of New York, to send
a crowd. The audience was with the
California exception, almost exclusively
of New York men, People had an idea
that Jeffries was a big stiff and that
there would be but small show of
fight How badly they were mistaken
is shown by the result
'Jeffries improvement since his last
public appearance is marvellous He
was, as everyone knows at Carson
with Corbett two years ago. and | fire.
quently saw him work. The impress
sion every one gained OF him was that
he was big chopping block. Then he
was taken East and had his go with
~ Of ,rl,
given the decision, only went to con-
firm the belief that he was not a great
fighter. This made both Jeffries and
Delaney sore. They went back to Cal
ifornia and did not say much, but put
in lot of hard work. They quietly
went ahead saving wood until they
were ready for the big event and went
East to train. Ryan came in to put
the finishing touches on Jeffries and
did his work we'll
In the East Jeffries and Delaney
made little noise before the fight, but
were content to go ahead with their
work without observation. 1t was a
difficult matter to gain admission to
their quarters. I had to work hard to
get in. When | went there first De-
laney met me at the door and was not
going to let me in. I had to tell him
who | was and where l met him and
then | told him Jeffries would remem-
Der me. Sure enough, he did. He
ought to for he threw me out of Cor
belts quarters when I was with the
Fitzsimmons' crowd at Carson.
'Jeffries, when I en,ered his quar-
tiers. explained that they did not allow
many inside as it interfered with their
training. Then | saw him at work with
Ryan and it made my eyes Open 1t
was easy to see he was a different man
from the chopping block 7 had seen at
Carson, This set me to thinking. and
while / hated TO bet against FitZsim-
MONS | went out and put up 500 on
Jeffries, getting three to one. Fitzsim
mons money was everywhere in New
York. There was some of it behind
every bar. You could get odds of two
three and even four to one so strong
was the impression that Fitz would
win.
Just before the fight started Joe
Vendig of the Florida Athletic club,
rose up with a roll of money in his
hand and announced that he had Sc 900
of which he would bet all or any part
of it on Fitzsimmons, two to one.
Gradually he increased the odds to four
to one, but could not get taker in all
the big audience.
Then the fight went on. Nothing
was done in the first round, each man
feeling of the other and trying him.
When the second round opened the
men went at it in earnest, each conf
dent he had learned the others style of
boxing. Suddenly Fitz went down be-
fore a clean drive, delivered right in
the mouth. This astonished the house,
and people began to change their opin-
ion of Jeffries. This went on to the
fourth round, when Riley Grannon, the
famous sport. announced that he would
bet any part of $4,000 two to one on
Jeffries, but no one was willing to take
him. The Fitz money had all disap-
peared. After this there was no bet
ting.
The crowd was big one-too big, in
fact, for the size of the house. Eight
thousand admissions were sold. The
price of admission was S., and boxes
ranged in price from $50 to $3.50. De-
spite its size the crowd was remark
ably well behaved.
Spectators made a good thing out
of selling tickets to the fight. Many
who had not intended to go made up
their minds at the last minute and
hustled around to the Spectator for
tickets. There was one fellow, por-
salary of as much as SIS a week, who
hustled up $50 and bought a box. He
sold it out for $3.50. Such instances
We're numerous
Professor Langdon has been absent
from Anaconda four months, having
visited Great Britain and France since
last here. He cut short his stay in
Europe to get back in time to see the
fight
The Modern Beauty
Thrives on good food and sunshine,
with plenty of exercise in the open air.