The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1905-01-30
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Jimmy Britt's funny fall-out with
Jimmy Coffroth, the big fight pro-
noter, Is the hugest joke offthe sea
son, with Britt, who is a. serious
youth. refusing to look at it that way.
Coffroth, who is interested in a music
hall, billed Jimmy. without Jimmy
permission. to appear in free min
strel show to be given at Coffroth' S
| joy emporium. James Edward waxed
| exceedingly wroth and Immediately
bought up a bunch of injunctions,
caused Coffroth's arrest On a charge
! of libel and sued him for 1000, al
| leging that his reputation had been
| injured to that extent. To make mat
| ters worse, Eddie Graney, Coffroth's
| partner, gave out an interview in
| which he said that he did not see
| where Britt's reputation could be in
jured $4,000 worth and that all
prizefighters, be it Cans. Britt. Wal
colt or Jack Johnson, looked alike
to him. The public laughed heartily
that he was not being taken seriously
he withdrew the suits.
o Q Q
Fight followers are smacking their
lips over the possibility of a fight
early in the spring between Phila-
delphia Jack OBrien and Tommy Ry-
an. Rumors of a battle here be-
tween OBrien and Fitzsimmons fail
to arouse interest. Fitz's affair with
Geo. Gardner, one of the ''Coldfeet
Brothers," who cringed for 20
rounds before the wornout, battle
SCARED ex-champion, has not been
forgotten and it's a case Of nothing
doing" when Bob's name is mention
ed O'Brien and Ryon, two of the
most scientific men the game has pro-
duced would draw the mob and If
the match is made the fans will be
happy.
"Jim Corbett's story of Bob Fitz-
simmons fight with Arthur Upham
reminds me, in a roundabout way
said the "Old Timer" in Tim Nc
Grath's smokeroom, ''of the last skin
tight glove fight l saw. About the
time the New Orleans people were
looking for an opponent for fUpham
there was a pretty tough middle
weight named Joe Tansey hanging
around Memphis, ready to do battle
| with anybody his weight Tansey
| was as unprincipled as he was ugly
but he could fight bit and his claims
| for the Upham match were pushed
| When the match was given, to Fitz-
simmons, Tansey's hackers looked
about for a suitable opponent fol
their man and thought they had found
him in the person of Jack LeClafr, q
husky molder from Pittsburg. They
were to fight to finish with skin
tights. The ring was pitched on the
turf across the river in Arkansas, but
a few feet from the shore. Inside
the ropes the weeds and grass were
pretty we'll cleared away, but good
fringe ran from stake to stake. Well
the first round developed the fact
| that LeClaire was badly outclassed
but he was game. The second round
was not more than 10 seconds old
when Tansey landed a heavy right
| on LeClaire's head that sent the
| Pittsburger down. He fell outside the
! ropes and in doing so ran stiff blade
| of grass into his ear The yell of
+ pain that he emitted scared every
| hound and razorback for miles back
1 He did not wait for the count. but
| clapping his hand to his ear, he jump
ed to his feet and hoped around like
boy with a bad tooth. His agony
/ was evident, but Tansey, brutal and
! pitiless, and not giving the referee an
opportunity to intervene, turned the
unresisting and suffering LeClaire
around and then landed with every
ounce there was in him on his de-
| fenseless antagonists jaw. LeClaire
went down like a shot and was out
| Is minutes. The last l heard of Tan
sey he was in Jail for larceny, and
hope they give him life. It's good
thing for the game that there are nc
more such brutes as he to disgrace
| it."