The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-21
PRIVATE AND PUBLIC
LIFE OF JACK O'bRlEN
He Transacts Big Real-Estate
Deals Under the Name of
Joseph Hagan.
BOTH BUSINESSES PAY
Philadelphia Has Earned $4,000
a Year for Four Years IN
the Ring.
BOTH BUSINESSES PAY

CHICAGO, Dec. 2O.-Joseph Hagan, of the
firm of Hagan & Kelly. real-estate agents
in Philadelphia, was at the Auditorium last
week. He was travelling under an assumed
name. While in Chicago he received tele-
grams addressed to two names, signed let
ters under different names, and not once
during his stay of more than week was
he addressed by friends by his right name
On the register at the Auditorium he was
Jack O'Brien, Philadelphia
AS Hagan, of Philadelphia he communi-
Gated with his partner regarding sales of
real estate. He directed the collection of
rent on twenty-five houses he owns in Phil
adelphia. He owned UP to loss of 5000
in recent deal in dirt in that city.
As Jack O'Brien the pugilist, he received
messages from Kansas City, st. Louis, Bos-
ton and Philadelphia regarding matches he
is shortly to engage in. He fought two bat
ties In Chicago, put 1000 in his inside pock-
ct and signed articles for fight for the
middleweight championship of the world.
! Then he hurried away to Boston to con-
tinue his money-making career. Within a
| day or two he will be in Philadelphia. where
| he Will be alternately Hagan, the real es-
tate man, and O'Brien, the pugilist
Hagan, of Philadelphia, gets out Of bed
at his fathers home and reaches his office
| at Rooms S25-S27 Real Estate Trust building
at IL o'clock to relieve Kelly, his partner.
He devotes himself to business until 8
o'clock His business, aside from real es-
tate sales and trades, includes abstracts,
| insurance, deeds, etc. His partner is a
| notary public. Hagan is familiar with the
business of the firm. He engineers deals
in sol nSfa
| own property, and at o'clock he becomes
| Jack OBrien, the pugilist.
AT that hour he jumps into suit of train
| ing clothes, takes run, goes into a GYM
| naslum and boxes, and at 10 o'clock at night
| may be in the ring battling for a stake
worth anywhere from $500 to $1,000. And he
| usually gets the stake.
Hagan, the real-estate man. is fairly pros
porous. His business is not large but it is
| growing. 1t makes enough to enable him
to support a large family and to keep two
| driving. 1t Keeps up a good home and
makes happy father. mother and seven
| O'Brien, the pugilist, makes money even
faster. His income for the last four years
has averaged over $4,000 a year. Up to
Friday night, when he left Chicago, his
were $14,970. He has enough bouts on be-
| tween now and the first of the new year
TO increase 1t to nearly $4,000.
| Take HaSan and O'Brien together and
| they make one of the richest men in pugil-
| ism in the country. Jeffries earns more in
Jumps, but O'Brien fights twenty times
ges nere deT eash 0Bep
than any other fighter. He has no man
| ager to split with, sparring partner to
hand something to, no middlernan any
where. II the purse Is $1,000 O'Brien gets
| 1T all and keeps most of it. 1t is because
| of this that he grows rich while other
boxers do not He does not get as much as
Corbett, who is on the stage. nor has he
made as large sums as has Sharkey in the
saloon business, but he handles money bet
| ter and turns it over cleverly
| Personally, O'Brien is popular He is a
| tasty-not a loud-dresser He has a yo-
| cabulary that would do credit to a college
graduate, and yet he never went to school.
He pronounces either with the long 'i''
and does not stumble on his words. His
| construction of sentences Is wonderful con-
sidering that he could not read until he was
| nineteen years of age. He is now twenty
| six. He Learned to write late in life and
| even now is practicing penmanship. He
| gives advice after the fashion of Chauncey
Depew, but he does it in one word-"per-
| sistency.'
A few quotations from conversation
| with O'Brien tell the kind of a man he is:
| "A fighter by instinct is ungrateful by in
| stinct. know because 1 have befriended
them and then had them steal my pocket
BOOK"
| TO loaf with buns. / never did that"
Big diamonds are vulgar. / intend to
| sell NINE
Il am pugilist for one reason only. 1
| am getting rich at it, ! intend to quit it,
II am now enjoying certain amount of
! popularity. 1 won it by persistency and
will keep 1t as long as 1 can. When the
wave hits the breakers L will not be in the
| collision
Diplomacy beats stubbornness. learned
| that In England, strange as it may seem. -
| Most men are what they happen to be-
1 am pugilist for that reason"
/ The story of how he became a pugilist
Is told by O'Brien as follows: 81 used to
box in the haymow Of my fathers barn
and was better than my companions. My
| folks knew nothing of it until L appeared
| In an amateur contest and won. Then they
made trouble l struck my gait in Chicago
| Sept. 15 1899. l whipped Tommy Tracey al
| the old Star Theater on the North Side
| and have had money ever since. That
year l picked up S2,4OO. 1t looked like a
fortune. The next year L fought often
| enough to make $1,000 / was a millionaire
| Then L did something against the advice
of every man knew. l went to England
| when other American boxers could not
make a living there l stayed there thir-
| teen months, fought sixteen battles and
came home with $4,000. 1 was proclaimed
a champion, and had L been English born
| 1 could have made three times as much
l made my way there by being diplomatic
When L came back to America with that
| record got matches as fast as / pleased
| In June after l returned fought six times
1t was the biggest month ever had
Aside from engaging in more contests
| imam any modern pugilist in the same
| length OF time D Brien has travelled more
| In five years he has covered nearly 80. OOl
miles and is still going. He may be ir
San Francisco one week and Boston the
next. His itinerary this year has taker
him over Great Britain, France, Belgium
and the United States. His movements
for this year briefly told were as follows:
| From Philadelphia TO Fort Erie the first
| day of the year; Fort Erie to Philadelphia
| Philadelphia TO Lancaster. Pa. and return
| philadelphia to Pittsburg; Pittsburg to Buff
falo; Buffalo to Philadelphia; Philadelphia
| TO Boston and return; two weeks with show
| in Pennsylvania; Philadelphia TO London
| London to Paris; Paris To Brussels; Brussels
| to Antwerp; Antwerp to Ostend: Ostend te
| London; London to north of Ireland (twice)
London TO Observation-Disclosures; New.
castle to London Give tines; Newcastle
TO Liverpool; Liverpool to Philadelphia
Philadelphia 10 Albuquerque, N NJ: Albu
querque 10 San Francisco; San Francisco t.
Chicago; Chicago to Philadelphia Phiadel
phia to Chicago.
O'Brien left yesterday morning for Boston
VIII go from there TO Philadelphia jumI
back TO ST. Louis or Kansas City, and ther
return TO Philadelphia again before New
Years day.
There is nothing boastful about OBrien
He does not claim to be the richest man il
boxing, but he probably is. OF the SOS 400 h,
has made by boxing he has spent about hal
in expenses. The balance has been wei
enough invested TO bring him good incom,
IL he never fights another day. The wealth
of boxers is overestimated. Jeffries was re
Gently said TO be worth 100000. If he coulC