Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-09-10
MEASUREMENTS OF THE RIVAL FIGHTERS.

| but seemed to give ground. Brltt ITeSSeu
| the advantage With his feet set far apart
| to steady himself once more he met Nelson
| with full-arm swings, finally forcing me
| Dane to ciinch. The gong soundeo WINE
| they were standing head to head slasElns
| at each other with both hands. len tilOu-
| sand men rose and cheered the boxers. Inc
! desperate struggle in the fourteenth rouilo
| compelled both men to slow up IN the
| next two rounds and no decisive work was
| done by either, though Nelson sho"ed more
| strength whenever they came to cilnch.
| The seventeenth was Nelson's by goou
| margin.
| detailed account of the round, when
| lasted about two minutes shows little dif-
| ference from the preceding rounds BRITT
| was tired, but game and willing. Nelson
| forced him about the ring and gave MIN
| many body blows. always boring in.
He cornered Britt and drove him against
| the ropes. Britt squirmed out and sent III
! a terrific left to the stomach that appeared
| to hurt Nelson. Nelson covered his body
and Britt swung for his face. Quick as a
| fash Nelson sent in short, sharp ielt-
| hand blow to Britts stomach BRITT eaNe
| way and stepped back. crouching to deceive
| Nelson and give himself time to recover
| Nelson saw the damage his blow had in
fiicted, however, and pressed on
Britt Down and Out.
He forced Britt into his own corner. and
| there in a rally that lasted only few
| moments, the end came. Britt went down
suddenly. Nelson says it was from blow
| on the jaw. Britt had no clear idea after
the fight what put him out, but in the opin-
| ion of those who were close by IL was tHe
! blow in the stomach that took all his re-
naming strength and he fell from cXhaus-
| ton.
! When Britt fell in his own corner, fiat
| on his face, there was momentary hush'
and the voice of the official timer was
distinctly heard counting off the seconds.
| Britt turned on his back and lay gasping,
! his bloody tongue protruding from his
mouth. Five seconds had scarcely peen
| counted when there was a from the
| crowd, which saw that the little San Fran
! cisco boy could not arise.
Nine. Tenr' shouted the timer. Graney
| pointed to Nelson and the roar from the
| crowd increased.
! Then there a rush of spectators into
| the ring, most of them eager 10 get close to
| the new champion. few faithful ones,
! however, gathered about Britt. who still
| lay gasping for breath. Finally he recoV-
| cred sufficiently to regain his feet and was
| led from the ring by his seconds. Nelson
| remained inside the ropes several minutes
longer before he could break away from
! the crowd He walked rapidly out of the
| arena and then to his quarters, 800 yards
| away.
Statement by Nelson.
| At his training quarters Nelson said
"The fight turned out just I expected
| It would. Referee Graney was perfectly
/
| sure he would be. 1t was blow in the pit
| of the stomach, followed by a left hook to
| the jaw that gave Britt his quietus. He
| did not have me in distress at any stage of
| the game, even if some of my friends
| thought l was going once or twice. On the
other hand. 1 knew early in the fight that
| l would conquer Britt, and that 1t was
merely a matter of rounds before | would
| put him out. But | must give my adver-
sary credit for having fought squarely.'
Contrary to expectations, the crowd OF
5000 men and score of women at the ring
side was orderly. The stubborn action OF
Nelson's manager which left the public in
doubt up to the last minute, probably Is
| responsible for the crowd falling below ex-
pectations and made the total receipts
about $50, 900 instead of $4,000.
Referee Graney caused much surprise
after he had been chosen to act by declar-
ing all bets off. Subsequently about 2:3o
O'Clock he told newspaper men that bets
made after his acceptance as referee would
stand.
What Graney Had to Say.
At the conclusion of the fight Referee
Graney made the following statement:
1T the greatest lightweight fight
of modern times. Nelson kept after Britt
all the time. He was too strong and tough
for Britt l thought Nelson would win
after the eighth round. Britt is the gamest
boy l ever in the ring. He took the
greatest amount of punishment 1 ever saw
a take.
BTU ana L ulu not speak, and had he
won l would have spoken to him, but when
he lost l went over to his corner and said:
jim my, you and Will be friends
Nelson is like Fitzsimmons; he is al
ways boring in. / did not see what blows
settled Britt in the last round, but 1 think
he went down from exhaustion
The scenes just outside the high fence
around the arena had all the appearances
of a frontier mining camp or the immedi-
ate vicinity of circus. Taking advantage
of the fact that they were outside the city
and county of San Francisco. and across
the border line of San Mateo county, gam
!, bling sharps operated games of infinite va
riety. AS is usual at great sporting events
there was crowd of hangers-on outside as
large as that inside, and these freely
| played the games. Thousands of dollars
| changed hands. On many of the roulette
and faro tables hundreds of dollars were
| stacked up in coin In plain view of the
crowds.
number of the games We're conducted
| by women, who reaped q rich harvest on
| the percentages the games Melted them.
almost every automobile in San Fran
| cisco had been engaged to bring parties or
| sporting men over the ten or twelve miles
| of as bad stretch of road as could be
imagined Improvised garages outside the
arena were filed with machines and hastily
erected stable sheds housed every sort OF
eGupage Several tally-ho parties lent a
spectacular feature to the arrivals of the
sportsmen known on the Pacific coast
Sports From Everywhere.
Large delegations of ring followers came
from all the large cities of the coast and
numerous eastern points. Several cars
brought the leading sportsmen of Kansas
City. Butte, Salt Lake City, Goldfield New
| and Pacific coast points including Los An
| geles, Portland, Sacramento, Seattle and
Spokane.
Elaborate preparations had been made to
preserve order both outside and inside the
arena. Officers from San Francisco de-
tective agencies. as well San Mateo
county constables, were much In evidence
There no disorder outside and inside
1t was as calm as camp meeting. Every
one was in good humor and sat about eat
| Ing luncheons from boxes and wondering
what would happen.
The main portion of the crowd did not
commence TO come until l O'Clock. AT that