The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-12-29
Monument for
Jack Dempsey

Admirers of poor Jack Dempsey will be
glad to know that a movement to erect
a monument over his grave in oregon and
provide for the education of his two
little ones has been started atzlaSt. me
association to raise the necessary fuflsiSa
was formed in San Francisco the other
night and young Mitchell was elected pres
ideEt. A monster benefit will be geld
soon and other ways TO raise money VIII
be put into force. 1t is also proposed.
to issue a handsome souvenir in which
will appear all the names of the con-
tributors, picture OF the grave ana the
tombstone and of Dempsey, and also
of other noted lighters Of his day al
of ours.
In selecting Mitchell to lead in this
worthy cause, Dempsey friends encse
wisely, for he Was a lifelong friend gcf
the departed, and it was their devoted
friendship for each other that skspt
them apart in the ring. Very tempting
offers were made them TO fight for The
sbelt in their days, for they We're re-
gdrded as the two best men IN Their
class. Both had met all eomefs and ne,
feated them one and all. 70 get Mitehell
and Dempsey to fight was the che am
bition of the clubs then bringing OF
fights. Once or twice they nearly Sue
ceeded, but only by resorting to unoef,
hand methods. They went to Mitchell
and told him that Dempsey said so ana
so about him, and at the same TIME
agents were sent to Dempsey, Who flied
his ears with untruths But hard as they
tried, the clubs never got them IN ILL.,
ring and would nave but for the deep
friendship. Even to this day Mitchell snffk-ss
er talks about the dead champion VIII
out tear coming to his eyt- Otto
Flote. OF the Denver Post IN comment
ing on the action, says:
sPoor old Jack! He is certainly err
titled to all this. In his day OF reign
the purses were small and fighters WefeE
compelled to battle with Skin gloves
out on the green. He did not have
chance in his day to fight In well lighted
and heated clubs, With limited NUMBER
of rounds to go. In Dempsey s time ne
never saw the end of the race When ne
entered a ring he did not know whether
he was going 10 battle one round Or one
hundred He knew. however, that ne
winner or loser No draws in those !
DAYS It's great difference with a fight
er when he gets into the ring and knows
just how far he has to go, and tnen,
again. it's a vast difference when they
go in and don't know when they re conl-
ing cut, Not that the fighters OF tooaY
are not as game as the fighters OF TOR
mer years, but certain it IS that the o!dea
time fighters had to face more hardships
and required stouter hearts than some OF
the fighters of today. In his DAY Delnp-
sey would fight anybody lie ,dlo hot
care who he was or how big he was.
/ He showed this when he fouSn. McCaf-
ferty and others. There was, however,
always a mistaken idea about the weight
of Mitchell ana dempsey, Indny- -P~OtizLs
thought that the English scrapper out
weighed Jack by at least ten or tWellty
pounds, but the writer was present WHEN IA
both men were weighed on pet
was the day after Mitchell defeated Jack
burke in Chicago. Dempsey was pres
ent and wanted to fight with mitchell.
Mitchell did not care to mix with Jack,
owing to the latters populsa i.lo.; anu
- sYou ought not to be afraid TO HGbt
me: you outweigh me twenty POUNDS
said Dempsey. 20
fight you. Jack I will agree to knoca
YOU out in eight rounds at Battery
1Cnieag o), and if fail will then sign
up with you for a finish night; But YOU
know bloomin' well l wouldn't nave
chance on earth with your mob around
the ropes Then to say l outweigh No!,
ri bet a basket of wine I don't weigh.
five pounds more than You do, repiied
Mitchell.
ssWhether Dempsey wanted to satisfy
himself lust what Mitchell weighed or
faought he would win the wine IS
question However, the bet was s1 eager1
and Parson Davies and the writer walked
over to .Bathhouse Johnny's Turkish
baths and the men weighed. L1einIsey
weighed 159 and Mitchell ISL rms was
in 1885, if 1 remember right. OF course
Dempsey lost the wine 1mmeolately
after the men came near getting losetn-
or without any kind of rules. III was
his temper. This occurred in the pri-
vate Office of Parson Davies. Dempsey
made some uncalled-for remark TO /
Mitchell. The latter grabbed Dempsey
by the collar and said: IF these men
will get out of the office, Jack, you ana
I will have it out right here once ana
forever.
But Parson Davies interfered Jack
was, however. as Willing as Mi ,ls
and maybe had the men been allowed
to get together it would have prevented
many an argument since that time as
to the merits of the two men and set
tied once for all who was the pest
Poor lack has since passed away and
it's 50 only right and just that some kind
of stone should mark his last resting
place"