Omaha daily bee., 1909-04-04
PUCILISTS AFRAID OF GUNS
Many Of Them Terrorized by Merry
ShsrpshoOters.
COCK ROBINS RACE FOR LIFE
English Fighters I'm Particular Were
Fearful OF Dead Game American
sports, Handy with re-
voIvers in old Days.

NEW YORK. April 2.-"ln the good old
DAYS we had a lot OF fun with some Eng
fish fighters who came to America to win
fame and fortune in the ring said the
old New York sporting man the other
evening. 1T seems to me that nearly
every pugilist is afraid Of a gun. and espe-
cially the Johnny Bull fighters, who have
an idea that every American is a wild west
desperate and will shoot at the drop of
the hat. We had all the British scrsppers
buffaloed on the shooting end Of the game
In the old days. Even Jem Mace. Tom
Allen, Joe Goss and other good English
pugs were lesry OF the Yankee shooters
when they first came over here. But after
getting next to the right people they in
turn used TO scare other English fighters
who arrived here by relating alleged hair
breadth escapes from a rain Of bullets at
the ringside.
There was a game little English chap
who called himself Cock Robin and he was
dead crazy to have a go with any 100
FOUNDER. so we matched him with Soap
McAlpine, who must have outweighed him
by at least twenty pounds, but Cock Robin
said he'd fight even IL Soap weighed a ton.
1t was a cold night in midwinter, showing
hard, when we got together in an old road
house not far from Ridgewood. L. L. The
fun did not begin until long after mid
night, in such a cold back room that
everybody was soon lit up with the in
fernel booze which the bloated innkeeper
was only too glad to sell. It was a banner
night for him. and he told us to go as
far as we liked. as he had everything fixed
so that there was no chance of being
pinched,
Made y Marathon Record.
1--WE let the game Robin punch old Soap
for half q dozen rounds, when we started
a fake rough house across the ring. First
1t was a war Of hard words and then we
began pulling our guns, shooting at the
ceiling. Poor Cock Robin was the worst
frightened man ! ever saw. He was para
lyzed for a couple of minutes and finally,
dashing out OF the ring, he bolted through
a back window, carrying sash and all with
him. All hands cried to him to come back
and he would not be harmed. while some
OF the boys started after him across the
fields in the deep snow. But Cock Robin
could run. and did run. faster than any
Marathon star ] ever saw.
with only a pair of tights and shoes to
handicap him he sped along like a deer in
the chilly wind. We felt sorry for the
Robin. for II vas only a joke, and we
wanted to hand him a purse for his game
ness in the ring. But he was never seen
in America again. How he ever got to
town that night. half naked, nobody ever
knew. I heard years after that he went
back to his old calling, that OF training
dogs at Birmingham, telling his countrymen
what terrible gun fighters there were in
this country and how he ran fifty miles
with a hail of bullets falling all around him.
One Bunch outwitted.
I'm 1887 Charley Johnston. Jimmy
wakeIy, Phil Lynch and Billy Porter. the
bank burglar. crossed the Atlantic for the
purpose Of seeing Jake Kiirain meet Jem
Smith in France for the championship Of
England. These four Americans had the
reputation of being handy with the gun.
Charley Mitchell, who was Kilrain's chief
second and who didn't fancy the presence
OF these gentlemen at the ringside, quietly
nut up a Job ia shut them out. Johnston
had been appointed Kilrain's umpire and
had declared in London that his man
would get fair play OF there'd be serious
trouble. He was so loud In his threats
that George Atkinson soon declared that he
would refuse to referee the mill II Johnston
and his party were allowed to be present.
Mitchell was evidently playing the double
cross game by pretending to be Kilrain's
friend and at the same time betting his
coin on Smith, as II was afterward
learned. On the train to Dover Mitchell
crossed over to where Johnston was sitting
and began in a rather playful manner to
fan the American for his gun. When he
found that Johnston was well heeled.
Mitchell said: ct see you've got your re-
volver with you! Do you expect trouble?'
"'Not at ALL replied Johnston, I've al
ways got it with me!
THAT was enough for Mitchell. VIII re-
turned to Pony Moore and Atkinson. with
whom he held a whispered consultation.
When the party arrived at Rouen, France.
they put up at different hotels. Johnston
and his three friends asked Mitchell IL
they'd have the time to get shaved and
wash up a bit. Mitchell assured them that
there was no hurry and that they would
not have to leave for the battle-ground until
Q o'clock the next morning. But when
Johnston and his friends called at Mitch
ellis hotel at I o'clock in the morning
they found that the fly Englishman and
his oronies had skipped out about ten min
utes before, leaving no word as to their
destination. Johnston wired all over the
country and finally discovered where
Mitchell and his gang had left the train.
When Johnston. wakely, Lynch and Porter
reached the station they were informed
that Mitchell and company had taken a
boat up the river. There was no boat in
which TO follow them, so the four gunners
were left high and dry without a chance
to witness the battle they had Travelled
800 miles to see, II was a clever trick
on the part of Mitchell and he got away
with It, although Johnston came nearly
blowing his head off in Paris the day after
the mill. 1t was only the interference by
some gendarmes that prevented a gunplay.
How smith Was Saved.
'Kilrain and Smith fought 1s rounds
TO a draw. Referee Atkinson said he
stopped the fight on account of darkness,
but most OF the fair play Britons at the
ringside said the battle was stopped
merely to save Smith, who was backed
by a tough mob. II was the old Jack
Baldock gang. whose motto was win, tie
or wrangle.' With Johnston and his fell
low gunners at the rlngside the result
might have been different or there would
have been some trouble. Mitchell knew
] .hf. .nd hat the aaap he Uava fha four