Keowee courier. [volume] (Pickens Court House, S.C.) 1849-current, 1899-06-22
F|TZS|MMONS VS.. JEFFR|ES.
A. g. WILLIAMS OF THE GREEHFILLE
NEWS, SEES THE FIGHT.
JEFFRlES MEYER DRANK OR uSEp TOBACCO.
Tho Proceedings Given In 0etall-Read and
You Will be Satisfied

it as far rs the fighting was con-
cerned. Fitzsimmons and Jcffrics
both fought for kecps-no question
about that. When tho end came it
was so quick it was like dream.
There was a mix up and slap Of n
glove and Fitzsimmons was standing,
hands dropped, knees bent, gro
tesque, pitiful look of helplessncss
on his face. 1t was only for an in
stant. Before the mind could com
prchend the sudden change from Il
strong, intent fighting man to .
weak defcncclcss one, ,Jcifric's
right fist was on his jaw and he was
down, doubled up on his right side,
an inert, limp body. 1t was fine,
exact illustration Of those famous
lines of Bretc Ilart's:
"IIc smiled kind of sickly
Smile and curlcd up on the floor
| And tho subsequent proceedings
Interested him ho more"
Any fight you see in horse lot
on a sales-day may seem faster than
this one, in way that is, more
blows seem to be tried. These big
fighters walk around and bluff and
feint at each other and Jump in an
out long time. They plan a blow
and work and scheme for it minute
ahead and then sometimes they miss.
But when they do go together it
is lightning work with fists, feet and
head, dodging, side-stepping, getting
in and getting away. After you
have seen it the best horse lot hitting
seems SO slow as to be ridiculous be-
cause you see each blow or swing
our horse lot fellow makes, whereas
it is impossible for the eye to follow
these mons hands. You see a mixup
and hear a "slap, slap, slap, slap"
faster than you can count and then
it's break away or clnch. Some
body is hurt and you may see blood
or red place on the body, but you
do not see more than one or two of
the blows land. That is why there
is 80 much taking and contradiction
in reports of a fight by rounds. 1t
is impossible for any man to follow
it with his eye. | sat at the side of
the ring last night, right up at Jcf-
fries corner and heard the expert
fight reporters debating the story
round by round, minute by minute
to men at their elbows with type
writers. | had nothing to do with
that part of it. My work was to
write a general descriptive story.
The experts all had different accounts
of what was going on right before
their eyes and | didn't agree with
any of them. My belief is that not
more than a dozen solid blows landed
in the whole eleven rounds-but
they were corkcrs. A smash from
either Of the two must be terrific
harder, | honestly think than kick
from horse. Put four ounce
glove over horses hoof and + don't
believe he could hurt bit more than
Jeffrics, whose arm is about as BIC az q
horses thigh and has fully as much
muscle in it. lie is an enormous
man-210 pounds and not an ounce
of it fat. The biggest men we have
around our part of the country would
look puny, and the most active would
look awkward alongside him. lie
never did hit FitZsimmons with full
force. Some of his swinging blows
he aimed, bringing his fist around
from behind his back, and which the
other man lodged under, would,
! jeliern, have killed if they had
landed. The finishing crack was a
quick one swung from the right hip.
am having variety enough-in-
tcrvicwcd Minnie Scligman one
week, attended a quaker meeting
another, spent several days with
Governor Roosevelt and wound up
at the biggest prize fight of the CEN
tury. [ am glad | saw that fight. 1t
will give me standing among sport.
ing men and make them respect me,
even when am old and gabblc, if
live 80 long. But felt sorry for
the poor typc-writcrs. They earned
their money hardly. Think of hay
ing to keep your eyes on the key
board with fight like that going
within ten feet of you and everybody
around shouting and enjoying bim-
self.
Jeffric' made about $4,000 by
his forty 5nr minutes work. With
out undue vanity | think ] am con-
sidcrably his superior intellectually.
[ doubt il he could write five lines
of good English to save his soul.
Il