Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-01-21
UP AGAINST IT HARD

sassy with respect 70 my own pugilistic
ability" said a young government official
from New YORK; who's now given rather to
amplitude of waistband than to athletics.
My belief in my own punching ability
melted away 50 rapidly as a result of this
occurrence thai I've never been able to re-
crystalline it. | was pretty husky young
chap, practiced in a gymnasium faithfully
for couple Of hours every night for four
| or FIVE years. and us began to expand
some got to thinking that the time would
| arrive when I'd be aBle to give any of 'em
an argument at the hammering game. So
L got the boxing bee in my bonnet and
practlced hard with the gloves every night.
L had been Sparring with fellows in my
gymnasium for about six months and pick
ing up what thought was whole lot of
cleverness, when l moved to a boarding
house on Pierrepont street, in Brooklyn. l
had room on the top floor of this board
ing house. The top floors rooms were all
occupied by young fellows like myself-law
and medical students, newspaper chaps and
that sort 1t was rather scapegrace lot,
and l got acquainted with most of them inn
mediately. l had lot of athletic gear
along with me--clubs, dumb-bells. weight
pulling machines and stuff-and from the
jump l gave these fioor-mates of mine to
understand that l was some consid rable
pumpkins as an athlete. When showed
EN- my boxing gloves l was particular to
dwell upon the fact that boxing was my
Oile PAL grant, anu 1 tNtuhf1 IIlOuSStiy
threw the hint out that I'd never yet met
man of my weight that could put the
gloves on with me in the amateur class.
| They all looked at each other when / thus
delivered myself and seemed to be duly i'm
pressed. For a couple of nights running l
let them look at me in the act of punching
bag l had suspended from the ceiling of
my room and they all agreed, l think, that
I'd be rather an unsafe proposition to get
added UP with in a scrap.
Zone of the occupants of that top floor
was away when l struck the house, ana
he didn't return until 1 had been in the
house for about week. When he got
back the other fellows introduced me to
him. didn't catch his name at the time,
but he didn't strike me as being very
cheerful chap, and / rather ignored him.
Well, all got to talking on my favorlte
subject, sparring, after a while, and 1 in
vited any of the fellows present to put on
the gloves for little go with me.
II won't hurt you, you know, said ].
III just tap you lightly and you can hit
me as hard as you want. It's raining, and
I don't want to go to the gym. tonight and
l wish one OF you ducks 'ud just slip 'em
on with me-
meant when they exchanged glances and
pushed forward the man who had been
away since my advent in the house, and
,whem l had just met.
T." Go on and put 'em on with him. they
urged this man. He won't hurt you.
You've had the gloves on once or twice
anyhow, while none of the rest of us knows
anything about boxing. Go ahead and
give him a little exercise
All right, said this man, rather re-
luctantly. He locked just like an ordinary
man with his coat on, and | felt that he
would be dead easy a subject upon
whom to practice and to show the other
fellows what l knew about the fine points
of the game. When he returned from his
room, however stripped to his trousers
and his gauze undershirt, l couldn't help
no phan Of
nary size he had the hugest chest / had
ever seem and his arms and shoulders
were simply knotted and twisted with mus
cles He was as quiet spoken a duck as
ever l saw, though, and he didn't look to
be lively on his feet, and l figured it. after
my first surprise. that his remarkable de-
Velopment was nothing, and that, as he no
doubt possessed no Knowledge of the game
OF boxing, he'd be the easiest kind of
game. | remembered afterward that the
othe" fellows Had grinhed a good deal when
my man turned up ready for the boxing
bout, but I was too busy before the bout
thinking how I2was going to polish him off
to notice this when we went at it.
We'll, say, that was one-man bout, and
the other fellow was the one man. There
was nothing to- it but: him. From the very
minute that we squared off / could see by
the way he handled his dukes that the
boxing game was his'n, and that l was
like six lead nickels1 in comparison with
him. He just fooled with me at first
raped me here and there at will, adding
insult to- INJURY by quietly. announcing
where he was going to jolt me nexr-and l
never got in a lick OF a dab on him.
tried my dernedest, when | saw was total
ly outclassed, to get in Just one belt at
him somewhere or other but it was no 60
He had lightning guard for every essay
l made to crack him one, and after about
five minutes l was putting like a tree-toad
and still taking whacks all over my hide
while he was cool as a cucumber and
just enjoying himself. So were all the rest
OF the ducks present enjoying themselves.
They just lay back in their chairs and hol-
Tered oh, he amt a-going to hurt him.
they shouted as my antagonist raned one
after another on me, and then they fairly
grcaned in their delight. 40.
" You're pretty good / gasped when
we took a momentary rest. You've been
at this game often, haven't YOU?
I've had EN- en- a few times he re-
piled quietly. Lets have another short
go.
Then we went at it again. He tiddled
around for a minute, and then he caught
me one with his left fist right under the
chin. 1 went sailing UP into the air-I saw
enough stars to nave gone sailing right up
among 'em-and / was out when ] came
down-good and out; as clean a case of
knocked-out boxer as ever happened in a
prize ring. 1t was fully ten minutes be-
fore l came to, and when 1 did the other
fellows were all tanning me and rubbing
my head with ammonia and wondering if
1 a sure-enough dead 'un. / was all
right after got my head under the cold
water spigot, and then one of the fellows
took me into the center of the gang, and
said he:
MAYBE you didn't quite catch the name
of the man you boxed with when you were
introduced to him, hey?
No, didn't, said 1. Who is he-John
L. Sullivan
mot exactly. Mr.. Ford, step up and
shake hands again. This, went on the
young fellow doing the introducing. ad-
dressing me, is Malcolm w. Ford the
champion al-around athlete of America
He has held that title for three years, earn
ing it each year in competition with the
best men in the whole country in athletic
games. He holds the record for the run
ming broad jump, the standing high Jump,
the pole vault, hammer throwing shot put
ting, and he's among the best in the world
as a 100-yard sprinter. He's all right
YES said 1, 4 think he is-even if he
is party to this awful job on me- and we
shook hands. When the gang saw 1 was
game enough to take my roasting good
naturally they let up on me. But my
pugilistic ambition wilted absolutely from
that night.
Malcolm Ford afterward became mil
lionaire upon the death of his father, Cor
don Ford of Brooklyn, and he was for a
number of years the editor of the magazine
Outing. He may be yet, for all know"
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