Waterbury evening Democrat., 1904-01-12
THE PUGILIsTS.
NEWS FROM
 THE CORNERS
Remarkable Career of Jack O'Brien-Fitz After Cor. bett Several Scraps Last Night.

Very TeW pug1l1SrS nave naQ a more varied career in the ring than Jack O'Brien of Philadelphia. PrAc- Ideally unknown five years ago, O'Brisn is now the possessor Of q snug fortune, well up in his class, an embryo lawyer, real estate agent and likely aspirant for the middle weight championship Of the world
 The other day O'Brten told the story Of his career. which is all the more interesting because of his strug- gle for fame and glory. O'BrieD tells of his life hfmseIf-
 T always had q longing to be an athlete,'' O'T3rien said, s'and I thought that I was cut out for lighter But there were drawbacks, such as parental opposition and lack of funds. I got my first experience as a fighter in the hayioft Of my fath- CTS barn, and used to engage fin a number of battles on the quiet. | won and 1t filled me with pride. My folks knew nothing of my pusilistic aspir- ations until appeared in an amateur contest and won. Then they made a. lot Of trouble. They threatened me with all sorts of things, ana finally I gave it up. But the longing to be great was in me. and set ont again. This time left home. fought sev- eral times under another name, the one by which am known to the pub- lie, my correct name being Hagan, Well, struck my gait in Chicago about September IS. 1SD9 I whip- ped Tommy Tracey at the old Star theatar and got my first bit of change.
 From that time till went to Eng land I made $2,4O0. It looked like a fortune. The next year I fought enough to make $SOOO. I thought I was 3 millionaire Then I did some thing against the advice of every man knew. went to Eng could not make a living there. re- mained there for thirteen months, fought sixteen battles and came home with $15,000. I was procairled cham pion, and had I been English born l could have made three times as much, I made nay way there by being diplomatic. When got back to my native country was recog- nized and got matches as fast as I pleased. The June after returned fought six times. It was the big gest month ever had.''
 0'Briefa IS credited with having en- gagged in more contests than any pI-i gs1ist fn 4he same length of time. But his most notable achievement is his travelling. Tn five years he has cov- cred nearly 55,oOo miles, and is still going. He may be in San Francisco In one week and in Boston the next. His itinerary last year took him over Great Britain, France, Belgium and the United States. s4@ Since 1896. 0'Brien has engaged in 525 battles with a total of 115 rounds. Of these he won seventy-five and lost one. in 1900 Twenty four were tho decision and fifteen were draws. All of these engagements brought him a revenue of $66.400. Of this sum 0sBrien admits that he has spent abuot half in expenses, but for all that lie is worth $5,o00. which is a lot of money for q fighter. The Philav delphian has q big expense account, He took two sisters to Europe last summer One of them he left in Paris to attend school, and 1t cost him s10o q month to keep her there, O'Brien owns 8 lot of real estate and gives his parents the entire income from the business and part of the money he gets from boxing. Tn his leisure moments O'Brien studies law, but his one ambition now is to own A hir hotel