Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1909-07-06
William Perry's Reward of Sixteen
Years Vanishes in Nine Months

they match him for $1,000 in another
! trial This is fought on August 4,
1886. The ring has record of few
more savage affairs. Parker, early dis
covering himself overmatched, sets in
biting and gouging Perrys eyes in the
clinches. The Slasher awaits his op-
portunity. 1t comes in the twenty
second round. Parker's guard is down
and the Slasher's left, flying straight
as an arrow. lands at the left base of
Parkers nose. The latter falls like
dead. His seconds work over him
falls in heap at the commencement
OF the twenty-third round.
Championship Fight by Moonlight
Four years of inactivity pass, four
years of waiting for a match. Mean
while Tom Paddock has sprung up,
has given Bendigo, the champion,
terrific battle for the belt, and with
victory in sight, has lost on foul.
Bendigo announcing his retirement
from the ring in the summer OF 1850,
Perry and Paddock are matched in
battle to determine his successor in
the championship.
1t is close to O'Clock in the after
noon of December II, 1850, when the
rivals strip. Faces can barely be seen
from one side of the ring to the other,
and there is doubt about the posssi-
bility of the fight being held. For the.
first time in recorded history the moon
comes up prematurely to have the day
for the fighters. 1t is large, bright
MOON and by it's light William Perry
and Thomas Paddock struggle for the
worlds championship.
Up to the twenty-seventh round 1t
is a merry test of punches. Paddock
has had rather the worst of the going,
but still is far from whipped man.
Perry engages him in his own corner.
There Is an exchange of blows and
Paddock falls. The Slasher starts to
walk to his own corner, when, his
back turned, Paddock leaps to his feet,
swoops down upon his ungaTded rival
and strikes him viciously OH the back
of the neck. The Slasher falls heavily
to the ground, but the real fall comes
to Paddock, who is promptly disqual-
flied for fouling.
Perry now demands that Bendigo
hand over the championship belt, but
this the latter refuses to do, declaring
that the belt is his personal property
and not transferable. Perry retorts by
posting $3.50 as a forfeit to bind a
match with Bendigo, but the ex-cham-
plon elects to remain in retirement.
Matched With Harry Broone.
In his elatement at finding himself
in undisputed possession of the title
for which he has battled sixteen years,
the Slasher defies any one in the world
to meet him for his honors and a
stake Of $500 to $500 a side. In May
Of 1851 the def is accepted by his for
mer manager, Johnny Broome in be-
half Of his brother, Harry Broome.
stakes are fixed at $1,000 a side "a
tremendous sum, thinks the public,
for any one to wager On an untred
youngster like Broome.
Not that Broome NAV not be cap
able, but when last seen in the ring
he weighed but 40 pounds and stood
barely feet s. 1t seems incredible
that since then he should have grown,
as his friends say, to a weight of ITS
pounds and a height of feet 1917
inches. Still he is little more than a
boy, having been born in 1926, defeat
Ing Fred Mason, middle-weight, in
thirty-nine rounds in 1843 and Joe
Rowe in twenty-seven rounds in 1S45.
Young Broome is indeed a different
athlete when he appears in the ring
on September 20, 1851, to battle for
the championship. He is taller and big
ger in every way. Nor is he lacking
in confidence. The S1asher, looking
him over, sneeringly refers to him as
a green boy
eyes, here 1 am, old boy" speaks