Evening star., 1909-04-11

must have found out about the box fight
ing game. You've got to know lot
about that mitt stuff, you know, to climb
into the ring and arbitrate and decide the
rules and bust 'em apart and keep the
gang good natured at boxing bees held
In halls where the smoke of cutty pipes
is thick and where the bunch of low
brows in the galleries as we'll as the gang
of evening-coated fellows in the ring side
seats know all about the mitt thing from
soup to nuts.
But this fellow did know all about it.
He proved himself the rattlngest referee
of the limited round bouts in New York,
and his services were in demand. some
times every night in the week, for from
$50 to S1OO per toss.
!. X
After a bit they began to frame the
limited round fights and the bottom fell
out of the mitt club game in New York,
and Pollak took the little hop TO Aus
tralia to have a peek at what might be
doing in the bifferino line down there. He
managed Australian boxers for a while,
but Australia was suffering from one of
it's periodical depressed eras at that time,
and so he hiked away from there for
France.
The fighting thing was just taking hold
of France at that time, and Pollak got
there in time to nudge in on the high
tide of the game. He didn't pike at it,
but took lease on the Paris Hippodrome
tween all of the offscourings of the fight
ing game that he could corrai-mostly
NUTS from England, two or three fairish
American dinges, some French soldiers
that Pollak trained himself. and that
thought they could fight, and that sort
of thing. After while he got some of
the good ones over thre, like Jack O'Brien
and Sam McVey and Willie Lewis and
people of that kind. and the French dead
games ate the thing alive. They went
crazy over the NJ 500 Pollak biffter nights
and Pollak cleaned up something tidy.
When the fighting thing began to slump
in Paris-as it did begin to slump about
year ago. reports to the contrary not
withstanding-the former Westinghouse n
beat it away from there and returned to
New York. He returned by way of Lon
don. He was in London in time to have
a peek at the Olympian games. and.
watching Dorando limp along. the British
ers holding him up. to his No. , finish to
Johnny Hayes in the Marathon, he had
an idea.
His idea was that the Marathon thing
would be all of the bonbons and then
some mixed chocolates for professional eN-
ploitation in the United States. Some of
his Washington ancestors, it seemed Gas
he told me later on had staked him to
Interesting yarns about how the great
Indian runner Deerfoot had raced big
ong-diStance races IN no less place
than Washington way back yonder in the
fifties, at track at the head of 14th
street. called the Holmead Manor track,
and how the man-running game had been
a big thing even at that remote period,
and it struck him at the London games
that it was where the kale would be IL re-
vived in the United States
He had bit OF a talk with Dorando
before starting for this country, but Do
rando was then getting more money than
he'd ever heard of before for appearing
at the London music halls. and couldn't I
get his face Strengthened out of its grin
long enough to talk of terms for a trip 10
the United States to engage In profeS-
sionai running here. Moreover, there was
doubt to whether any of the other
Marathoners could be INDUCED to enter the
professional ranks. and these things had
To be fixed up before the young fellow
with the idea could 90 ahead
:: y
/ happened to be with Pollak on the
day he had the talk with Johnny Hayes
which finally induced that little man 10
abandon the amateur ranks for the pro-
fcssional game. On that very day Pollak
sent his cablegram to Dorapdo naming
terms for a race between the first and
the second men at the big London Mara
thon.
II don't know whether I'll spring the
Wap or not, he said 10 me, showing me
the cahleSrar. hut If | get him over here
YOU can stand by TO see me get about half
the money III North America. for the