Los Angeles herald., 1907-01-03
TAUGHT
SUNDAY SCHOOL
AUSTRALIAN CHAMPION QUEER
SPECIMEN
Does Not Care for Notoriety and Lives
Extremely Temperate Llfe-coun-
trymen Place Much Faith
In His Ability

Perhaps Bill Squires, the muchly
talked of Australian wonder, Will come
\ to America and perhaps he VIII not, but
at any rate in view OF the hubbub
which is being made over him 1t may
not be amiss to give synopsis of his
career which at this time Is unknown
to practically every follower OF the
American ring sport
| Old-time Australian devotees of the
game aver that Squires Is a fighting
phenomenon and would have "routed"
Fitzsimmons, Jackson, Slavin and God
| dard in short order had he fiourished at
| that period when they were giants In the
land. AS 1t is, Squlres has 'woodened"
| every heavyweight of note in the Aus
tralian commonwealth with as great
ease as any well trained athlete could
knock out a beer-soddened wreck of 20.
Suuires is natural fighter Two
| years ago he was hewing coal in the
pits of the Pelaw main mine at New
castle, ignorant of the fact that his
hands were capable of aught but labor
| His work was his pride. Today, when
/ he stands champion of the continent of
| Australian, with not another man capa-
hle of standing three rounds before his
mighty fist, Squires' pride remains In
the work he did, stripped and be-
grimed, in the bowels of the earth.
Proud of His Work
That he is champion of Australia and
has solid body of his countrymen be-
lieving that he will be champion OF the
orld troubles him but little. he does
not care to discuss lighting. But MS
face brightens and his voice grows elo-
| uuent when he tells of the hundreds OF
tons of coal he broke down or the thou-
| H. lot nrnf f1.A
contract before he started coal mining.
II don't like to 'skite," says Bill,
"but 1 never met man yet who could
work alongside of me-"
Like most Australian workingmen,
Bill is a Socialist. A prominent member
of the Miners union, he has for years
been one of the foremost workers IN
the cause of the Labor party in New
castle.
Though he never reached greatness IN
any other department of sport, Squires
great strength and activity made him
leading football player in the state OF
New South Wales and he was a swim
mer of note in the land where every
body is a swimmer.
That Squires is today a boxer bid
ding for the worlds championship is
due to chance. A sober quiet man,
whose only interests in life were TO
bring heather to the fold of Socialism
and truant youngsters to his sunday
school, Squires was one who had never
an opportunity of finding the power or
his potent fists. He passed through his
first youth humping nothing but the
Bible at his little meeting house.
When disputes would arise in the
mine and Squires' fellow miners would
jeer at him, they would be received
with quotation from scripture Sull'
at heart, the man was an athlete, anu
though taking no active part IN poXlng'
he invariably attended the fights put up
by visiting pugs in Newcastle. Many
times was he seated at the ringside
gazing with admiring awe on second
raters whom he has since knocked out
in a few seconds.
One night several miners prevailed
upon Squires to visit an athletic nall
kept by local pugilist named Blil
Smith. For the first time in his lie
Squires pulled on the gloves ana was
brought out as the sucker that
Smiths pupils were to practice on.
How'll / start?" asked Squires, as
Smith called on him to begin.
"Go in as you like" replied Smith,
"IIit him whenever you can"
The words were scarcely out before
Smiths pupil was. Squires had rushed
in with a left swing the like of which
Australia had never seen before.
Smiths other pupils came up one by
one and had to be carried into the open
air and revived. and Squires' fellow
miners, who had been accustomed to
| giving him back talk in the pit and
scofing at his religious sentiments.
started patting him on the back and
calling him "old man."
Smith lost no time in putting the
polish on this raw material of cham
pionship. Every evening that Bill could
spare from his prayer meetings he
would visit Smith athletic hall, which
became so purified by his influence that
soon not a blasphemous word was
heard Two months later Squires won
his first fight against Balmain (Sid-
ney) quarryman weighing $50 pounds,
and the gong sounded to reveal new
style of fighting.
| In the ring Squires Is more like a
seismic disturbance than man. He is
San Francisco incarnate, Vesuvius con-
tracted into 172 pounds of fiery man
hood. He is the personification of
strenuous life adapted to pugilistic
principles.
Has Splendid Physique
Squires is 27 years of age, feet 9s
inches tall and weighs 172 pounds in
condition. He has spread of feet
| s inches between the hands, his chest
measures 40 inches in repose and his
biceps Is inches. He neither drinks nor
sWears, and smokes rarely
Australia rejoices in the fact that
Sauires is pure Australian, both his
parents having been born in the south
ern land. Unlike most pugilists, there
is no Irish blood in him. on both sides
his descent is pure English. Born and
brought up in back township of Mar
rabri, Squires is a product of the Aus
tralian bush, where his massive frame
was invigorated and developed by the
perfumed breath of the eucalyptus.
Sduires disowns any knowledge of
hghting and his modesty is eXtraor-
] dinnrv. Since he gained the Australian