Omaha daily bee., 1908-11-15
WRONG ABOUT TOMMY BURNS
Two Men Who Made a Mistake on the
Fighter
GET FOOLED ON THE CHAMPION
One Thought lie Had a Cinch with
Him-Other Recognized reat-
est Money Make since
John l..

A man who promotes inland skating Kinks
and bicycle races and wrestling matches
and prizefights and things was reading the
other day that Tommy Burns will be COM
ing back from Australia with a $4,000
bank roll after his fight there with John
son.
(which the same" he remarked mourn
fully, makes lonesome reading for me.
l could have had that fellow. Anybody
could have had him at the time ! met up
with him.
II was willing. eager in fact, to bar
nacle onto anybody who'd take him in
hand and give him a managerial shove
along. But we were all wearing blinkers
at that time and none OF us could see him
with a four inch b~lnocular. He had to
make his own way, and by the time he'd
forced himself out of the plug class he'd
develop a crouch against managers that
he's held onto ever since and decided to be
his own manager.
when 1 met Tommy Burns first, he
was mooching around Michigan picking
up S25 and $50 purses when they could be
snagged and making pretty poor weather
Of 1t at that. 1 landed at Port Huron with
the idea Of starting a skating rink there.
There I got into an argument with a travel
ing man about how long It had taken Jack
Dempsey to polish off Dominic McCaffrey
in their Jersey City scrap. The travelling
man bet me 50 that Jack had turned the
trick in six rounds. Then / dug around to
prove my contention.
Gets Line on Tommy.
The hotel clerk gave me the address
Of an old sport who kept all the fighting
dope. I found him and got him to look
through his scrap dope to find out how
many rounds the Dempsey-McCaffrey fight
had gone. Then I fell into talk with the
old chap and he told me that there was a
husky young Jewish boy hanging around
Port Huron who looked right fair to him.
"'Youngster from over in Canada who
calls himself Tommy Burns the old Port
Huron sport told me. He's only been up
against dubs, but he has got a lot on any
kline Of 6ubs. l like his way OF handling
himself. He's in trim all the time-doesn't
drink or smoke. If you'd care to have a
peek at the youngster I'll have him down
here at my place
eth old chap sent for young Burns that
evening and 1 sized the STRIPPING up. He
was the same quiet, s~elf-oontained, level
headed luck then that he's always been
since. He struck me, even on that first
view, as having all kinds Of the makings.
But It never occurred to me that he'd be
worth while signing up.
after a talk with him 1t struck
me that maybe it might be worth while
to play him along for some kind OF a little
scrap in Port Huron. So I asked him II
he knew anybody around Port Huron Of
his approximate weight who would give
him a ten-round go.
Little Old B~ritIsher.
Well, there's a little old English fel.
low, a man about 40, working as a team
ster down the street, who's going around
telling folks that he can lick me- said
Burns, with quiet amusement in his eyes
I know that he'd fight, and he'd be pretty
soft at that
IT went right down to the shop where
the little Englishman was employed and
told him what I had in mind
"'WnI you tackle that Burns boy for
ten rounds?' l asked him.
" 'Whoy, bloime me, Hill fight tn
bleeder to a finishl' replied the little old
Engllshman cockily.
".Au right said 1. I'm fix It UT. The
purse will be fifty bucks. The winner
gets thirty five and the loser fifteen. Thai
satisfactory
ut was perfectly satisfactory to the lit
tie English chap. he told me. In fact. hi
was so perfectly certain that he could
whip Burns that he wanted to have 4
rugged for the winner to take all. I cam
help chuckIing yet when I wake up In th'
middle of the night and fall to thinking
of what an alright cinch that little cock
ney thought he was going to have will
Burns.
$50. solely as a means to make myself
} acquainted around Port Huron with thu
skating rink enterprise in mind. / starteC
In to arrange the details of the bout.