Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1910-12-16
JACK JOHNSON AS A PROPHET
What the Giant Negro Has to Say
About the Future.
HAS CONFIDENCE IN HIMSELF
said at Reno that mo Fighter Fight
Ing Now thrt would beat Him
81 Tie should Win from
Jeffrfea."

one hot afternoon last June in Reno,
New when the sun was emptying hot
blasts from its gigantic retorts over the
brown fields and the irrigation ditch
through which the water gurged with the
only suggestion of comfort near Johnson s
training quarters. the big black athlete,
now champion sat idly on the veranda Of
the roadhouse which was his temporary
abiding place.
''Who is going to whip you in case you
whip Jeffries?' said one Of the group,
who were making merry while awaiting the
elusive motor cars which ran between the
city and the camp.
Nobody" was the laconic reply.
What nobody? DO you think you're
invulnerEble?"
spell that one again. mistuh. 1 don
just find II in muh dictionary"
do you mean to say that you will die
champion, that nobody can beat you II
you put Jeffries out OF the way Of your
immediate asprations7'
PIensed with the Words.
Il ce'tainly do like those words" was
the quick reply They put a shine ovun
the las lot I heard when they arrested me
the las time for runnin' muh speed wagon
too fractiouslessly, an what / mean to
say is this, they amt nobody in sight, muh
boy. that's goin to beat me II beat this
white man. don't know about dytn a
champion | nevuh give much thought to
that mattuh of dyin'. They keep me too
busy trying to keep alive But I amt
goln' to be licked by no man fightin' now
II put Mstuh Jeffries on de shelf"
Would you give the championship up II
you retained It a long timer
don't IxndJu gaid 40 napro slowly
Il really don't know. amt got 1t yet,
but 1 got q chance an II l should get it
l really don't know. Mebbe II l fought an
fought for it, an hadn't been licked, an
my old bones began to creak, an this big
arm stretching forth his right arm and
contracting the muscles-'it is a pretty big
arm, amt It, an this big arm should begin
to get a little stiff. like l had toted too
many cotton bales along the levee, an
should begin to go back on me, l might
give it up"
DO you think it would be right to give
it up?"
cites Jeffries,
"why not, when you come to think Of
it why not? Amt a champion a law unto
himself. That's what that judge told me
the last time they held me up for speed
ing muh car. He said that l thought that
I was a law unto myself. l like that Judge.
He done give me something to think about.
Didn't Jeffries give it up? What's to pre-
vent me, If 1 get it, OF co'se I know you
gentlemen done think I ought to fight for
1t. Meb be l had, but I've been q long
time goin aftuh 1t, an when l fight, I'm
goin' to know who I'm fightin, an If I
fight. I'm goin' to go in to win, jes as I'm
goin' to go In to win against Mistuh JEFF
fries. But mind one thing" said the smil-
ing negro, as he rose and stretched him
self lazily, a little CLEAN OF fire shooting
from his musing eyes, they amt no
fighter fightin' now who's goin' to beat
Jack Johnson If Jack Johnson beats
Mistuh Jeffries. They got to grow a new
one an I'll be here If they grow him
quickly enough"
Yet If Johnson has travelled the pace"
as the saying goes, which brings forward
reports that he is suffering from a ner-
Yous breakdown, or likely to suffer one,
perhaps the prediction which he made on
the veranda Of the roadhouse at Reno, with
its motley crowd around the grounds and
scattered throughout the interior of the
building, may not be fulfilled as he ex-
pected
The strong point in the negro's state
ment at that time Is the absolute con-
fidence which he had in himself In case he
should be successful against his white
rival.