Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1909-11-18
HUN JEFFER|ES
VIEWS FOOTBALL
Is More Brutal Than Boxing,
Declares the Noted Pugi-
lst-Byrne's Fate.

Jim Jeffries, the pugilist, who is
matched to meet Jack johnson for the
heavyweight championship of the
world, has a few warm words to say
about college football. He commented
on the fate of Cadet EugenesA. Byrne,
who died from injuries received in the
Harvard and West Point game. As
usual, it was necessary to corkscrew a
few answers out of him before his
tongue began to work freely.
''Hold on" said he quickly. "I'm a
fighter. Maybe l ought not to have
any opinions about football. 1t isn't
my game I'm not supposed to know
anything about it. Well, yes, I've
been reading the papers. Tell me, on
the level, have they killed seven boys
already this year? That's serious. No
joke about that kind of a game, l
guess. Now, then.
"You can say that I'm against any
game that kills seven boys while it's
only warming up, you might say. That
sort of a game isn't worth while. No
game that kills men as a regular thing
is worth while.
Women Abhor Prizefiehters.
"There have always been a lot Of
men in this country who stand up on
their hind legs and roar about the bru-
tality Of the boxing game. Their wom-
en- will pull their skirts away from
prizefighter as if he was some sort of
an animal, yet these same people go
out to football game and yell them
selves black in the face at an exhibi-
ton that's too rough for men who fight
for a living. The women too! Yes,
sir. I've seen 'em and l know.
Football is all right, eh? It's a
fashionable game. Society stands for
it, yet in the old bare knuckle days
when men picked their hands in brine
for weeks before fight there was
never anything to compare with the
roughness and the brutality of this
nice, social game.
''This will make lot of people sore,
more brutal than boxing-yes, you can
call it prizefghting if you want to-
When q man goes into the ring he
knows he las only got to whip one
man-only got to fight one man. The
odds are fair In this football bust
ness you've got eleven men against
you.
Went Down For the Count.
''I saw in the paper this afternoon
that just before this poor cadet was
hurt he had been in a smashup and
went down for the count. He was
game, and he got up again and went
| to his place. What did they do!
| They directed the attack against tb
weak place. the paper says. In other
words. all those big, husky fellows
smashed into this boy. who was still
| groggy, and they got him.
"They can send all the kilograms Of
coincidence they want TO, but that
doesn't bring him back. They piled
| the whole line on him, and they did ii
when they knew he was weak and
not in shape. They did it because he
was weak. Why, I'd be ashamed to
smash man as hard as | could when
| | knew he was nearly out I'd ask the
referee TO stop the fight before I'd
do that.
Here's another reason why football
| is a bad business: In fight if man
gets clip on the jaw and goes down
ana can't get up again in ten seconds
he's done. He doesn't have to take
any more punishment. In n football
game they give man two minutes tc
I come back. If they had had some
such rule as we have in the ring this
cadet would never have been killed
He would have been out of the game
when he was stunned the first time
Risk Everything For Nothing.
Here's another thing that strikes
me. Most of the boys who play foot
ball are only kids They haven't theil
growth or their full strength. They
go In there and get slammed around
and they cannot stand it. They don
get thing out of it If they win. Dt
you suppose all the rah-rah business
in the world could make up the los
of one boy-to his folk? They risl
everything for nothing.
Let 'em holler about fighting beini
brutal. I'll tell you something
prizefghting should kill fifteen mel
in one year every legislature in thu
country would put the game out o
business. And that isn't all they'd do
They'd hang few of the winners
This talk about boxing being bruta
and football being a fine game make
me sick. If l had Il son I'd send hin
into the ring to fght one man at
time before I'd let him get into on
of those harnesses and take hi
chances with eleven fellows. Yes, am