The Spokane press. [volume] (Spokane, Wash.) 1902-1939, 1909-02-08

doing the same in Spokane wit
kilrain, was in a reminiscent moo
and for some time talked of con
ditions of prize fight circles at tn,
present time as compared will
those which existed when thu
sporting world looked to him as thu
greatest fighter that ever steppet
into the ring, sentiment TO which
the majority of sporting men &c
here to this day. Questioned as
to what he considered his creates
| fight, John l.. said:
my greatest fight. eh? Well, tc
a man that has been through as
many battles under as many diff
ferent conditions as | have, that is
rather a hard thing to decide.
| have knocked out 143. Some
wore down and beat until their sec.
ends threw up the sponge, some
stood it well enough and gave back
enough to get draw and Only one
man beat me; he beat me because
I was not in condition and he would
not stand up to me.
But | think the greatest fight of
my ring career was THAI fight in
Richburg. Miss. when | beat Jake
kilrain, in IS rounds. Tie battle
! was fought on July S. 1889.
"kilrain did not stand up and
Sight like Mitchell and Ryan. bat
the length of the fight AMI the con-
slant wrestling made il 4 nari Tat
tie. So | will take this ~ as the
greatest fight of my career for
those reasons and because / won
out in the end.
These fellows who are fighting
today have no idea of what we had
Ito go through in order to hold a
mill While every sheriff was on
| the lookout for us, and the militia
of two states would have camped
on our trail if they had known the
location of the battle ground.
You see, the starting point for
the fighting place was New Or
leans. Nearly everybody of note
who wanted to see the mill gath
cred there to go up on special train.
The state authorities in Louisiana
thought that we were going TO fight
| in that state, and we had some
trouble in getting away from them.
Bud Renaud was engineering
| the special train scheme and was
sort of master of ceremonies. He
was a good friend of the attorney
general of the states, so Bud went
to him and told him: Look here,
we are not going to hold this mill
in the state of Louisiana, and | give
you my word for it. That settled !.
as far as Louisiana people were
concerned, but now we had the Mis-
sissippi authorities to look out for,
and it was a felony to hold prize
| fight in that state.
when we got into Richburg,
Kilrain went to the house of
| IL lt1lu " lo was IN IhC DIN"
in a way; his name was Fisk, be-
leve, and he owned big lumber
yard. Apartments in a nice house
were secured for me. All arrange
ments had been made, and except
ing keeping a bright lookout for
posses or militia, there was nothing
| 6Oino until tho nayf dow
Il had a good, long sleep that
night and ! woke in the morning
| feeling fine. 1t was about 8 o'clock
when ! finished a light breakfast.
We were scheduled to be in the
ring at 10 o'clock, but | knew it
would be nearer ~.
1--WE were ready to start about
1920 when we got word that there
was some trouble with the sheriff.
That was true, but it did not last
long. 1t seemed that after the
crowd had gathered about the ring
the sheriff climbed over the ropes
and read the riot act, or part of
the law governing the case, and
commanded the crowd to break up
and leave.
"Renaud climbed into the ring
and argued the case with him for a
few minutes, but the sheriff said he
was there to stay. Finally Renaud
slipped $3.50 in his hand, and then
several men gathered around him
and hustled him out of the ring
That was all the trouble we had
with the authorities.
The betting was then even
money, and there was certainly
money in bales coming in on both
sides. | walked over to Kilrain' S
corner and shook hands with him
We made a bet of $1,000 there in
the ring.
Both of US were stripped to the
waist then, with long tights on our
legs and the heavy spiked boots
that were worn in fights on the
turf fastened to our feet. ! went
back to my corner and sat down.
Then it was noticed that John Fitz-
patrick, who was afterward mayor
of New Orleans, would be referee
Bat Masterson held the watch for
| tn taJ1