Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1909-04-04
JACK O'BR|EN LAUDS
STANLEY KETCHE[L
Claims the Young Fighter Is
Better Than Langford
or Johnson.
By Clarence L. Cullen.

Special Correspondence of The Star.
ATLANTIC CITY. April 3. 1909.
Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, still wear
ing the pair of blueblack sinners and the
slightly out-of-contour nose that Stanley
Ketchell staked him to in their biff-fest
the other night dropped down here yes
terday morning for the weekend. y'knaw,
Slumberville Jawn being y'see. good
deal of a toffy gink in little matters like
week-ends and things.
His features were, as / say. still pretty
messy, but they'll grow right again in
time, and this fellow is there with such
doings as bank accounts in all kinds OF
uanks and hunks of real estate in all sec
tons of Phillie, so he doesn't have to
bother much about the marks that fell
low like ketchell was naturally bound to
hang on his map when the two got to-
gether. His lips were pretty puffy when
saw him at the Shellburne, but they
weren't SO puffywuffy as to keep him
from wading into a platter OF nitty-look-
ing shrimp salad as IL he liked the same,
not to mention the two or three or four
scoops of malt that he used Tor wash
erino purposes as he went along.
/ didn't trot up from here TO see the
ketchell-O 'Brien go, thereby missing the
best punch carnival that has been pulled
of anywhere around New. York since
Kid Lavigne and Joe Walcott slaughter
ed each other at MaZpeth, on tother side
of the East river, back yonder in 30.
But all of the scouts that saw the fight
the gang that went up from here, that
is-have been talking about it ever since.
and, after listening TO all Of their enthusi-
astic south breeze. l was curious to hear
what O. Brien himself was going to have
to say about it.
This Philadelphia Jack glug. you know.
has always been there with a hull lot of
excuses for himself when things didn
break his way, and l was keen to see If
lie was going to try to pull any of that
baby stuff in connection with what Ket-
chel handed out to him. l knew that
O'Brien had fought the fight of his life
with Ketchell, that he had exhibited an
amount of courage to Startie the gang
who had been holding that he had a
citron streak, and that he was only
beaten down by superior ruggedness and
youth and strength. But nevertheless.
knowing O'Brien pretty well. / sort of
figured that he might try to unloose one
of those wall things about how 1t all hap
pened.
He fooled me, and fooled me plenty.
What was the matter the other night
anyhow" asked him as he hid away
that shrimp salad, as If he was afraid
somebody was going to try to take IL
away from him.
What was the natter" was his
instant comeback. grabbing the words
right out of my teeth.
"Oh. nothing. nothing at all. except
that 1 got HI walloped out of me.
That's all that was the matter"
But" 1 stuck in, maybe you
werent-er-exactly fit and all like
that stuff, and-er@'
Tin that" he chopped in right there.
Tin it quick Nothing like that at
any stage of the route. 1 never was
so fit in my life. I was on edge.
Stronger. quicker. better in every way
than I'd ever been before in any fight
that l can remember. And l got the
out of me. that's all. No other aspect
to it. Those are the facts"
And you're there with nary a squeak
about it all?" said 1. wanting to be
sure that my ears weren't fooling me.
Nix the squeak was his quick get
back. just like that. Not a squeak
on the face of the globe. No chance
for any squeak. l was looking for
trouble. and got it. l wanted a hack
at that Ketchell fellow. / never doped
thought maybe I'd be able to sling one
over on him, seeing that he wasn't. as
I'd always heard. anything Of boxer.
but merely punching boxfighter.
taken. Nobody ever got fairer drub-
bling than I did. nor a harder one.
Don't talk about that hard thing
Makes me lonesome" and he felt ten
tatively Of his chops. both sides. and
then passed his fingers under mis-
blackened eyes, where the puffs still
fingered. That fellow could wear
mattress on either his right
or his left and then slam either one
OF his mitts through the 'midships
part of battleship at the thickest
part of the armored belt. I'll be eating
Cruel. pap, cornmeal mush and marsh
mallows as steady diet for the next
three months, I guess, for that CLUB
loosened all of my front lower teeth
and some of the upper front ones. 1
don't want any more of his game. /
wouldn't mind taking a Xhack at a