The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1906-12-30
SOME SIDEL|GHTS
ON THE PUGILIS7S
Jim Jefries is the Most Taci-
turn Fighter
CORBETT GREAT SPENDER
Almost Anyone Who Can Tell a Good
Hard Luck Story Can Make a
Touch But Not So
With sharkey.
CORBETT GREAT SPENDER

| The rumor current Just now that the
| boxing game is to be reinstated in New
York has been the cause of much jubla-
ton among the pngs themselves, and the
followers of the fighting business, says
the Washington Post
But whether things will be run on so
lavish a scale as they were several years
/ ago, up in Gotham, is question. Yet
! when the game was hourishing in New
| York. UP until they passed the anti-boxing
law, there was something doing all the
time in pugdom and the little old town
was the real mecca for all the lads.
! Bankers, bfokers and the petted idols
/ OF the swell set were as numerous at the
ringside as they were at the horse shows
or at the Metropolitan, during the grand
! opera season. And such notables as JEFF
fries, Sharl<ey, Corbett, Fltzsimmons and
other short-arm jabbers of less note. were
caressed and coddled by the shining lights
of New York's exclusive inner circles as
no foreign celebrity has ever been.
OF all the pugilistic heroes of those
| times Jim Corbett was by far the most
popular, as Corbett possesses many natu-
raj qualities, sufficient to endear him to
| anyone knowing the man As to liberality.
Jim stands head and shoulders above the
entire push, For, strange as it may seem,
| professional pugilists as whole, are
mighty loath to give up the coin without
they receive compound interest on the
| same
! Corbett is a glowing exception. Most
( any one who puts up a hard luck story
| can separate Jim from his money When
| he Kept saloon in New York, he prac-
| tically gave the place away, as he never
| had the heart to turn a man down for
n drink; and the down-and-out fraternity
used to waylay him all along the route
for a atouch.
|. One shrewd panhandler, posing as n
newspaper man up against 1t, got Cor
| bett coming out of Jimmy Wakelyis
1 Forty-second street place ono night and
4 spelled to Jim about being the reporter
who wrote up that affair Corbett had
with the fireman in the Philadelphia thea
tire, in which account the panhandler
claimed to have given Jim the best end.
Without hesitatlng a second, Corbett
put ten-dollar bill in the mans hand,
and told him to come to his saloon when
he needed more. This is just one of the
many well-known instances of the big
fellows generosity. s
Sharkey "Close."
Take Sharkey, on the other hand, and
try to M Ike a touch" off of him, and
you would think you had accidentally
butted into the frlgid pole that Peary
has been trying to discover.
There used to be a recipe in the pos
session of the New York talent as to
the only manner in which Tom and a
piece of money could be pried apart
| The minute particulars concerning this
recipe are forgotten but the prelimi-
nary proceedings consisted of catching
Mr. Sharkey, throwing him down, and
performing n surgical operation on him,
with the aid of an AK. There was a
lot more to the recipe but no one re-
members any one who ever tried to work
it on Sharkey.
Sallorman Tom, like Corbett, is ready
spieler. but, unlike jim Toms vocabulary
is of the rough-and-ready variety. Tom
has more horse-sense today, however,
than pugilists, past or present, in Amer
lea.
Both men are fond of dress, and while
Corbett has a fondness for the English
walking suit, topped off with a white
Fedora hat. OF a wide brim, Sharkey
leans toward the double-breasted, close
fitting sack coat, checked trousers, fiat,
widetopped Derby hat, and broad-toed
yellow shoes.
Add to this a lay-down collar, with
a flowing necllte, of the kind worn by
sailors, and Mr. SharlSey would consider
himself fit to attend an afternoon tea
at Newport.
Fltzsimmons, whom you invariably see
pictured as a man whose face Is covered
with frecSles, has, strange to relate, not
the sign of a frecllle on him. His skin
Is as fresh and as fair as baby's, and
many n blooming debutante would envy
him his fine pink color.
He is a voluble talker, after you once
get him started. But there's the rub.
Some men he will talk to- while to
others he win give a splendid imperson-
alton of a deaf and dumb clam.
When sizing up man Fitz will let
his eyes travel slowly from the PERSONS
feet to the top of his head several times
before he speaks a word and If you do
not look good 10 Robert he will pass
you up with a supercillious air that would
make Harry Lehr turn green with envy.
Let him start to talking once and you
will find him a rapid-fire conversational
list and really companionable sort of
fellow, although he has You uneasy all
the time as he invariably gives you only
profile view of his vlsage; and try as
YOU may. you cannot get 1t ont of your
mind that he Is sitting in his ringside
corner and that you are his opponent.
For Fitz has that shifty left eye on
YOU all the time You feel something like
a condemned criminal under the eagle eye
of a viglant warden.
Fitzsimmons Particular.
Sir Robert is very very particular in his
dress, and when in the midst of summer
will wear the stiff white bosom shirt
and the low-cut black vest OF course,
he would not think of appearing in pub
lie without the ministerial frock coat, and
the high silk hat, which is domelike
affair, such as Abraham Lincoln used to
sport.
sporting fraternity and for this reason is
not recognized as an idol by this class
of people.
He is reputed to have the knack of
getting his moneys worth when he
loosens up on his purse strings, and for
this he can hardly be blamed.
Jeffries is the most silent of all the
pugilists when it comes to talking, al
though his one time manager, the fat Mr..
Delaney would spiel plenty for dozen.
jeff though, Is natural wonder when
1t comes to slow thinking Ask him the
simplest question and in about five mini
utes get ready for his answer. Every
word he utters-and they are few and fsr
between-he seems to either carefully
weigh. or else has an internal eruption in
bringing forth the same
When talking to amy one he Tolls in a
chair with his neck down In his huge
shoulders. and keeps his eyes fastened on
his questloner, without blinking an eye
lash. throughout the interview. lie never
ceases staring, and all the time his face
Is absolutely without expression of any
kind The impression he conveys is that
of man In a dazed condition.
But this attitude is habitual with him,
and 1t caused DIR. Sargent. of Harvard
who has measured and examined ail
tho strong mon of Aheriea durinp tho