Evening star., 1909-02-28
JEM DR|SCOLL'S
BRILLIANT RECORD
He Has Engaged in Eight Con-
tests in This Country and
Has Won Every One.


Grover Hayes, Charley Griffin, Johnny
Mario and Tommy Langdon have met
him. The first named took him on twice
Grover Hayes had three tries and the
other three hooked up once with him.
Clever to a fault, the possessor Of
mighty good punch. he is free from the
many tricks that always mar the work |
of the boxer from King Edwards isle |
Out of the ring he is one of the most |
gentlemanly fellows a person would care
to come in contact with. He carries
many OF his better qualities into the ring
with him. In his bouts in this country |
he has not once been cautioned for bad
acting during the progress of the bout
an opponent. and is the first one to have
good word to say to his adversary |
when the bout is over.
DriscolI Was Born in Cardiff.
James Driscoll was born in Cardiff, !
Wales, December Is. 1881. The town of |
Cardiff is great shipping port. and as
a foreman and subcontractor on the docks |
the elder Driscoll earned good money
and gave Jim an excellent education. |
Until he had passed his fifteenth year
Jem attended the parochial school at |
Cardiff. and when he left the classroom |
to shift for himself he secured employ
Evening Express, the leading newspaper |
of Cardiff.
For four years he remained In the same |
department, the last year acting as fore |
man. He had, during the spare hours |
taken up mechanical course. and when |
the opportunity presented itself he took |
a position running press for the same |
paper. 1t was while running in the press
was frail and weighed but 1O5 pounds. |
but tested his strength and ability against |
many lads pounds heavier than himself |
Coming home from work one night In |
the spring OF 1900. Jem was attracted to |
a boxing entertainment. 1t was an open |
amateur tournament and one of the class
es was a midget class. All the entries |
were lads who had taken part in many |
bouts In public, but this did not deter |
Jem from taking a chance. He entered |
just for the sport Of the boxing. He won
the tournament. defeating six men in one |
night. Jem came out Of the mills with |
out so much as mark Of any kind, and |
to use his own words, dead stuck on
myself
Signal Success.
Dr1scolrs signal success in his first en-
deavor but whetted his appetite for more
trials with the gloves. He entered classes
heavier than he should have, as he was |
too light for the regular tournaments.
He entered the open competition for the |
pounds. held at Aberdare, and won after |
easily defeating four men. Later at Car
diff he won the nine stone six pounds |
Cl32 pounds) amateur championship and |
ship of the amateurs
Confident of his ability to hold his own |
with any man In Wales, he entered |
against the advice OF friends, the open |
pionship Of Wales, at is2 pounds. He
had no difficulty in winning from four op- |
ponents. Driscoll had won these competi- |
tions while working in the newspaper |
ONCE and did not scale himself over 112 |
pounds at any time.
All OF Driscolls work up to the year |
lool had been in tournaments. but his |
win In the open competition caused him |
to be selected to meet Jack Wheel of |
HUI when the latter came to Cardin |
looking for some one to take him on |
They boxed In private. ten rounds, and
Driscoll won without getting ruffied.
Driscoll Starts to Travel.
1t was when the visiting "boxins
booths came to Cardiff that Driscoll |
shone. He always took down the offer
Of the manager for the man who would |
stay or do any other stunt required of the |
home man. His success won for him his |
first offer to travel with one of the boxing |
booths.
Driscoll longed to see the world-that is. |
what was the whole world to him then |
England and Wales.
Jem took a chance with q "trayeling
boxing booth" and left his place with the |
newspaper With the booth" he met all |
comers of his weight. There was not so
much money In the travelling with the |
BOOTH" but the excitement and the
chance Of seeing the sights appealed to
Driscoll, as did the fun he had knocking
out the dubs who would present them I
selves as candidates. for a bout with |
him.
With the travelling booth Driscoll was
called upon to meet every man of his |
weight who desired to try has hand with |
him.
q, 1t is not out OF place to describe a
travelling BOOTH A collection of boxers |
of different weights. banded together by |
a manager, who arranges for their apS
pearance at all large and small towns |
but particularly the small places. The |
weights of the men were advertised and |
the young men of the place were invited |
to come and test their skill against the |
travellers
So much was offered for man to stay
the three rounds with one Of the travel |
ers. or, as in the case of Driscoll, 81 $50 |
was offered for the young fellow who |
could hit him on the nose in the three |
rounds of boxing. This latter PROPOSE |
ton appealed to the young fellows and |
Jim was kept busy at every stop.
In their anxiety to win the So offer the |
opponents of Driscoll would forget he had |
a punch, and in their efforts to land on |
his nose would leave themselves wide |
open.
When they would awake, after Jem had |
hung sleep producer on the Jaw, they
would be sadder but wiser. Driscoll says |
there is no way of computing the num-
Der Of men he has met in the boxing
booths as he has taken on as high as
six men i'm night.
His First Important Bout.
Driscoll returned to Cardiff after a long
spell with the booth and took on several
bouts of little Importance. when he was
engaged for the first real try-out. He met
Joe Ross OF London. the eight stone
twelve pound Q24 pounds) champion of
England. They met for side wager of
925 (S125) and a percentage of the gate
receipts.
Driscoll had great faith in his ability
and posted his own side wager His belief
in his ability was amply rewarded when
he was returned winner on points at
the end of ten rounds. the limit of the
contest. This won him bout in the
National Sporting Club of London
1t was Driscolrs first visit to the big
city. He met Boss Edwards in the
main event for a purse Of $125. to be di-
vided 500 to the winner and the balance
to the loser. Jem was allowed $25 for his
expenses. Drisco!l won with ease. To
both Ross and Edwards DriScoll gave
away many pounds In weight. but was
glad to do II to get the chances to meet
them