The St. Louis Republic., 1903-05-24

WRITTEN FOR THE SUNDAY REPUBLIC.
Probably the event of most national inter-
est, in pugilistic way. to the credit o!
last week was the final signing of articles
by Jeffries and Jim Corbett. thus practical
1y assuring the heavyweight championship
battle for August p. The sole point to
be settled, and it is most important. is the
selection of referee.
From all indications. Eddie Graney will
be chosen to fill the post. Graney has al
ways given satisfaction as an official and
has never had any reflections made on his
honesty. The fact that he is Californian
and that the battle is to be fought in
Frisco has boosted his stock considerably
. in State where the native SON, feeling
is strong.
San Franciscans support home material
in the ring. The result is the development
of good men in all branches of the pugil-
istic game. A rising Frisco fighter is ac-
cordeo every support and encouragement
and a promising referee is Warmly sup
ported. This has caused GraHeys name
to be ad yanced as the logical official for the
pending bout.
1t is good thing for the game that this
state Of affairs exists. The result probably
Will be the forcing of Jeifries TO accept
Graney as referee or to make him uppopu-
lar in his home country by placing him in
the position of fighting home talent. Weeks
agreed upon. Jeffries conceded point after
point to Corbett. but would not commit HIM
sell on the referee question. He undoubt-
own nominee get the place: now 1t looks as
IL the sporting public was able to force
him to accept an impartial official.
When the informal articles for the bout
were first drawn up it was remarked in
these columns that Jefries was not con-
ceding points about bandages. limitations Of
the number Of rounds and so on merely to
be obligtng to Corhett The champion made
a great show Of concessions, so as to be
able to insist upon one point later-the NOM
He doubtless desired to impress the sport
Ing public with the idea that as he had
yielded every other point; Corbett should
as Corbett would likely forfeit much of his
chance in the bout did he allow Jeffries's
partisan to preside, the idea of fooling the
Jedries can raise no reasonable objection
to Graney, and he is doubtless much
paign which he doubtless imagined was
Machiavellian in its cleverness. The pub
lie will not stand for a prejudiced referee in
such bout. Even II Graney, is not Sc
lected, other good judges can be found to
preside.
One or two Of the best known names in
post. One of these-John KeIly-would meet
the approval of most sporting men. So does
the nomination Of Charley White. Several
prominent pugilists also have been proposed
for the post, but as they are generally be-
lieved to have predictions one way or the
other. their selection is out of the question.
the objection raised to them that they are
prejudiced in favor Of the champion eie-
WtS the IT s 9hsp words ha, th string
of the best known officials have shown this
tendency to stick with the side on which
Of tber bney e ss 6s Of the fairness
them, In public opinion, from presiding at
the pending bout.
lutely killed their chances for presiding at
bout of the sort by their evident favorit-
ism towards certain pugilists in Chicago
have contributed largely toward the rec rec
ords OF certain pugiists in the city by the
lake. This may have profited the referee
from the pugilistic blackboard SO far as the
sporting public is concerned.
,Jeffries will not be able to foist one Of
this class In on the pending fight. He may
refuse TO fight, to be sure. unless he can
name the man. This possibility makes many
eps %en Wifi IF the bs Spnen that the
Forfeits were placed by t both S0ilsG men last
bind each to decide upon referee within a
certain period. Exactly Of what value this
idea is remains to be seen. If Corbett re-
fuses 10 agree to JeffrieSs nominations and
Jeffries declines to accept names proposed
by Corbett within the specified time, who
Is to pull down the money? Each win ac-
the path, Of failing to come to terms, and
the stakeholder will have to leave the State,
Easily the feature Of pugilism for this
part of the country was the Young Cor
bett.Keefe bout Of last Tuesday. While the
result was an easy victory for the feather
weight champion. the affair lasted long
enough to give a good idea of Corbett's
style. and to show how much he outclassed
That corbett is. a boxer as well as a
fighter was proved by his sparring tactics
in the first round. He sized Keefe up to
perfection. judged his swings and countered
lightly, and evidently came to the conclu-
sion that Keefe's blows wouldn't hurt IL
they did land. At least, he failed to try
to avoid them IN the second round.
Except for. one brief period, when he
trying to land an upperctt, he made no
effort even to slip the East Side mans
lead in the second round He merely took
Keefe's blows, smiled sourly and went in
with half-arm punches at Keetes stomach.
When he did put .three-uuarter strength
behind one little hook-that to the jaw
Keefe's chances were over.