The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1899-06-10
STORY OF THE BATTLE
FOR THE CHAMP ONShiF
There Were Few Bets, end Yet
Never Was Such Interest
Taken IN a Ring Fight.

NEW YORK, June 9.-The early at
tendance at the ringside was not as
good as had been expected At $50 the
great arena. which holds 5000 persons.
was occupied by only about one-third
of that number. But inside the build
ing the mighty hum of fighting talk
arose, and outside thousands pressed
close upon the clubhouse in spite of
the Gordon of police, enjoying the fresh
air and waiting within striking dis
tance of the various entrances until
the time of the fight approached.
Chief of Police Devery went to Coney
Island early and personally supervised
the police arrangements There was
an army Of policemen on hand, all the
larger, perhaps because it was gen
orally said that any interruption of the
fight would be the signal for a riot
among the ten thousand men inside
the clubhouse and perhaps twice as
many more outside. all hungry for a
fight to a finish that would be no
child's play Deputy Chief McLaugh-
lin was second in command and, chief
of staff and veteran as he is, he was
everywhere.
faint blue cloud of smoke began
to dim the electric lights by a quarter
before nine, at which time there was
only a half-light in the arena, as the
fierce white light which was to beat
upon the ring later had not then been
turned on. There was little betting at
this early hour. Men who had talked
fight for month talked it over again
at the ringside, using the same old ar
guments in favor of their choice. Oc-
casionally, when some well-known
sporting man emerged from the crush
about the S. seats and made his way
slowly to box there was a shout of
recognition.
Occasionally a man high up on one
side of the ring shouted across to an
acquaintance on the other such pleas
antries as, Well, l see your finish.
That stiff you are betting on will be,
done in a punch" and the reply would
come back, Il won't have to walk
home, like you will"
The ring was empty, but a chair in
either corner told where the principals
were to be placed, and the supersti-
tipus, always in evidence. at a fight,
talked seriously with one another
about JeffrieS' misfortune in having
the unlucky corner. This simply meant
that Fitzsimmons had won the toss for
choice and presumably had chosen the
corner in which had been seated the
fewest losers in the past
BY twenty minutes to nine o'clock
all of the seats except the most eX-
pensve ones were practically filed,
and it was clear the clubhouse, which
is supposed to seat $500 persons, would
be iammed to the doors, and now the
hum Of fighting talk grew louder and
one could guess at the volleying roar
which was to come later when the
fighters appeared and moved to their
places.
Already 1t was a mighty crowd, and
all seemed confident there would be no
police interference and that they would
see what they had paid and hoped for,
the greatest heavy weight contest ever
pulled off in the East. A vitagraph
company had stand erected above the
heads of the spectators about sixty
feet from the ring. Men were ready
and waiting long before o'clock to
seize with their machine every feint
and blow of the big fighters.
The boxes began filling, and here and
there one heard the cry Two to one
on Fitz," and the reply, You are on
for fifty or a hundred.
The men rested in their dressing
rooms calmy, according to their man
ayers and seconds, but in reality wish
ing the referee had said his preliminary
piece ana that the gong ndu SOUNDED
for the first round. The Jeffries men
at the ringside held out for odds of 2 to
!, and as that seemed a long price to
many, laying was slow for a time
Later on perhaps 10 to Z would better
express the price, which in Broadway
late in the afternoon had ruled at
about $1,000 to $500. BY 10 minutes to
more than two-thirds of all the seats
were crowded, and those which were
not filed at that time had been sold
and so the managers were not wor-
ried on that score.
It was a great crowd, not only sport
ing men, in the general sense, but
bankers, lawyers, doctors and others
foremost in every prominent walk in
life were to be seen around the ring
The fact that 1t was down here by the
sea lent more of the old-time fighting
color to the bout than would have been
the case had 1t been held In the city.
The attendance proved that thousands
wanted a fight pure and simple, and
cared nothing for the chickering's of the
politicians Of Manhattan, who tried SO