The Virginia enterprise., 1906-05-25
From
Inside the
PriizeRing. (. i
I INTERESTING LETTERS OF AN
EX-WORLD'S CHAMPION
HEAVYWEIGHT
By BOB FlTZSIMM0NS
FOUL PLAY IN CORBETT
AND SHARKEY AFFAIRS.
Copyright. BY Joseph B. Bovlss.l

Since writing my first two articles,
the one on the Corbett affair at Carson
City and the other on the; Sharkey
matter out in Frisco, have been in
receipt of numerous letters which hint
that have been keeping back some-
thing about both of those mills.
That's right. have, and I'm. going
to say right~here that there are lots Of
matters connected with those two
fights that will never be told by :ue.
The tone of three Of the letters refer
to is such that some righteous indigna-
ton las got me, and I'm going to hand
out a few wallops where they belong.
let several people down light in those
two articles, and if they hurry up and
claim they were not fairly treated it's
up to them to get some more Of the
same medicine. T.
As1 think I've said before, I'm
pretty easy going old chap until they
get my dander up. Even then I don't
get mad, but there's one thing no
white man ever said to me yet and got
away with. and that is that I don't
know myself or what I've been talking
about.
There are, LOT of so-called sports
who owe their present position to the
fact that I've kept my mouth closed
concerning some propositions they've
made to me. and if you should happen
on one of those crooked pikers you
might find out that they went away
with flea in their ear that they have
no difficulty in remembering.
I'm not sitting up on tin pedestal
looking down on the sporting crowd
and telling them how good I am, or
how honest am, either, but I'm will
ing tc let my record and my patience
speak for itself, and 1 don't want any
half-baked near-sports running up to the
ropes trying to make feeble bluff, be-
cause I'm going to call it every time.
With that warning I'll go ahead and
hand out those thingsjI spoke of, prin-
cipally because of what the wise man
can read between the lines above, if he
mas a mind to.
- * 81 y
When told the;story Of the .sharkey
fight omitted lot of things because
I couldn't see any useful purpose in
telling them. Since then. as I've said
I've had few letters and I'm going to
answer those by opening the subject
again. I'm going to take the Sharkey
fight first, be"a"se it came first, and
some of the things that occurred there
had bearing on the Carson City busi-
ness.
l tried to- let Wyatt carp down easy.
but it doesn't seem to be appreciated
so I'll SAY he acted like a yellow cur,
in spite of his record. I knocked Tom
Sharxey out fair and square. and carp
l:new it, but when it came to announ-
cling the decision he never made it. In
fact no decision was ever rendered out
side of the one made myself. When
I dropped Sharkey and he lay there
like a log until his seconds picked him
up, carp merely walked over to his
corner, put the check for $4,000 il the
hands Of Toms seconds and walked
out OF the ring and out of the build
ing
He didn't have the nerve to stay
there and face the music, in spite of
the fact that he wore a gun. I knew
then for absolutely certain that I'd
been trimmed, and it was myself who
called for order and shouted to the
crowd:
''The referee says I've lost on foul,
gentlemen. ,
All this time Tom lay like a dead
man. until a certain man well known
in San Francisco came down from his
seat in the balcony and stopped over
him. possibly five minutes after carp
had left the building: AS L say. he
stopped over him and his words are, as
plain to me now as they were then.
He said: ( /; :.>* i 81. 80
"Put your hands on your abdomen
and groan as if you were in great
Ipain"'' :. .-~., a
|: These weren't the exact words. for I
can't give them here, but they are close
enough for all practical use. In the
fog that was hanging over him
Sharkey heard them anyway, and did
as he was told. He drew up his legs
and bis groans could be heard all over
the ring. / said before that T. didn't
think he was in on the original play.
I can say that still; but he was In on
the: finish to it. and did just what he
was fold. Isknow and proved later. lii
court that the doctor the i Sharkey
crowd had got to inject something into
him, to make him swell up before they
bandaged him, had a job doing It, for
Tom howled like stuck pig and put
up a hot battle to keep them from do
ing it.. Then they bandaged him anc
when the regular doctors showed up to
examine Tom his crowd wouldn't stand
to have the bandages disturbed. It
looks funny now, but 1t was no; joke
then. / took that case into court and
proved by Toms own seconds that he
was taking. proved by others that
the whole thing was job, but / was
up against the political gang there and
the Judge, after telling me he would
give q decision in my favor II proved
my case. WEIGHED on his word and