The Anaconda standard., 1899-12-31

from one stall to another, picked her
up and lifted her over the dividing par
tition. She weighed over 1000 pounds.
Siler Sore on His Job.
George Siler is evidently a very sore
referee Over his own signature in a
Chicago paper he discusses the Erne-
O'Brien fight, of which he was referee,
and then proceeds to predict the early
demise of boxing in New York, city
where it is now fiourishing like a green
bay tree. Mr.. Siler says:
THE fighting game in New York.
patrons of the game say, is going to
the dogs, and a strong movement is
on foot to pass a law prohibiting the
same. Assemblyman Lewis and others,
it is reported, will do their utmost to
kill the present Horton law. and from
what learned on my last trip East
the fight managers will not oppose 1t
strongly, as the game has been a losing
one for some time. An effort however
will be made to secure a bill prohibit
ing fights in any building that has not
q. capacity of 5000. If this bill is pre-
sented and passed it will wipe out all
the clubs now doing business. 1t Will,
however give. the big fight promoters
full sway, as they have their eyes glued
on Madison Square garden, it being the
only structure in New York city with
the above capacity.
THE decision was, of course. unsatis-
factory to the principals, as both
| thought they won, and that gave some
persons with an axe to grind an up-
portunity to stab me in the back. I've
| been stabbed SO often recently in New
York, simply because I live in Chicago,
and am cutting into somebody else S
| business, that I guess ! can stand more
| of it. There has been a movement on
| foot ever since the Jeffries-Sharkey
| fight to prevent me from refereeing any
| more fights in New York. On the after
noon Of the Erne-O' 'Brien fight Chief Of
Police Devery telephoned a Brooklyn
| inspector of police to stop the fight
| should I enter the ring to referee, and
| it was 5 o'clock in the evening before
| Boss Mclaughlin of Brooklyn succeed
| ed in calling the chief off. Fine busi-
! ness for big officials to mix up in, eh?
1t Is needless for me to mention the
names of the parties in the plot, and I
am pleased to state that they did not
succeed. even though they offered to bet
| all kinds of money of money that /
| would not officiate, and that I was in
for a good drubbing. They probably
overlooked the latter part of the pro-
! gramme. So 1 guess it is still coming
to me. I've been there before, so it is
! not worrying me any. I've witnessed
scores of fights in the three months |
| put in in New York this year. and have
seen some of the vilest and rankest
! decisions even rendered in the history
/ of glove fighting, all of which were
passed over without a murmur. I've
also heard referees declare fights a
draw when a blind man could have
picked the winner and passed without
comment worth mentioning, but then,
it was not a Western referee that rem
dered the decisions and 1 presume that
cut some ice, SO to speak. 1t is not
generally known but in my long career
as a referee the Erne-O Brien fight was
the first and only one, in my recollec-
ton, that went over eight rounds in
which I could not conscientiously. and
in justice to the fighters and myself,
declare "a winner