Daily Kennebec journal., 1910-12-02
"JEM" MACE.
CheCkered Career Of Fa-
nous English fugiIist.
He Had Earned S1,250,00O,
Yet He Died DesiItuta.
His Own Story Of His L;ie.--Had
Boxed In America.

London. Dec i.-"Jcm' Mace one
tinlr chaInn;un 81 the world and one
ri the greatest b. .eIs i not IT,: great
est the ring mas cver known. M.iI dlcu
Wednesday. a ia. years ago .'ctitioh-
ed to hcrcfit bl tho "iu as" prnsi"n
tuna. hut WAS refused. II" had lost
all lis nlpncy and was in destitute cir
crme,3mccs. although 80 years ago hN
could have written his check t0r S35".-
oGU. tic estimated his winnings rom the
priz,. ring at Sl,25O,"".
II. 10 4 fc.v years ago Maze lived
in An I'D London tavern in lslin@ton,
known as the Bmecoat Boy. Mace was
otter S"cn there IN the saw -dustet
parlor taking his evening iHrA! II iHc
family circl, Of some professional
fricn3s in Clc.krnwcli. .AC tast time he
was = lthc. erect, handsome old man
still, win Gnc eyes, and Wav> gray
nair above q eood forehead. and strong
wel-formsd features.
"S;nc. ! lost ny u:ilc." Ac !;;,ia trn.
'nothir2 mas Gou" ri@i.,. AIN rs
want d :; nas,lr ;ni >tnc" So" al 4 /
have had nobody e. tai n!".
OF, the bacI; o. racn llama j. iDN the
wrist tacr, Was q BIZ. b"IN swelling
Asked what had caused that h, sai, ::
"punchina did t'iat punching In"n.
M .n,iaort is coin:. ana | can't re-
ror1h"r ;,' th.ir nHincs. lore than
.,ol Aavc haitlc6 Nit;'. and hca. them
al. I.lt tWC of i.'m bat !.ir. Bob
Er.ttlo h,at mr end Tom King beat
me. nut these W"r, accidents. and IN
other battles r,@t lh,m toth.
"Ghcs. never g@Ve me II" thick cars.
none OF them suffered NOR" il my
HANDS from puncnin% th@nl than frnn
them punching nc. knew NOR" than
tncv did, mad Il better headpiece: but
since nv poor wife died I've Gad no
body to tell me.
zone million, two hundred and fifty
thousand dollars l have took out Of
the prize ring, and all gone. Ten cham
piorshir cups and four championship
belts have won. all silver with dla-
monds ana precious stones, and they
| have all gone. | haV" got bust o. Ola
| Tom Savcrs lett, and | would let 1t
go ror a couple of eoVcrei@nS. for /
have @1t nothing.
In 1896 on trip to America. Mace
himself told tho story OF his lomark-
!. able career
II am now &C wears oli-prctty near
| the tl!ccscorn and ten the good book
al!ots to man-and am just as healthy.
hearty. rugged anG strong as | ever
was in my life. Competent critics are
KIND enough to say that / still pre-
serve ;ll my old time clcVcrncss, al
belt not quite as quick OF a. cndur-
| ing as Of yorc. The latter part OF TN"
proposition. Of course. is to be expect
ed 4 man is not like good Winc-lm-
proved in every respect by age / haze,
howe Ver boxed not long ago with Such
GOOD ones as Dan Creedon and Tom
Tracey and held my own. Plucky Joe
| Cnoynski ana clever Jim Corhctt can
| tell YOU. too, that l put mp fair game
with them in friendly bouts when they
visited England. OF course, both OF
these boys could easily outlast me.
Thc,c is quite n difference in tho
spring and autumn Of life Whtn 1t
| comes 10 staying power.
First. let me say that I have been
boxing for over 80 years. and have been
| in over POO ring fights. large ANA small,
and all the punishment | ever received
| has rot hurt me a particle. ON tnC
| contrary. nay ring experience has made
ne the hearty. healthy. Old man that
| an.
al attribute this solely to tn" diff
ference in living between the old ana
now champions The old chaps did not
90 the swift pace Of the up-to-iato
lads simply, | suppose. because they
did not have the money. There were no
SO 900. s25.00o or $4,000 purses in those
days, nor talking matches in print. nor
big rrcnipts 'on the road ! have seen
many a hard fight and been in them in
nv Younger days for a so $500. Then.
as q rul,. a few mugs Of alo-and good
alc IL that-cach nigh; for fortnight
or 81 after victory. and not 4 wine
racket night after night the wear
round. was the winners only dissipa-
ton
II am glad to see the elevated plane
bovin- he's reached in America, and
tho stanoh support it has received
from men Of learning. influence and
high social and political standing. !
have met many great men in my day
who were warm advocates of the man
" art. Principal among these were
Roscoe Conkling. John 4. Logan and
Zachary Chandler. senator from Mich
isan. That was - years ago. at Wash
ington. and | gave the distinguished
trio points on the game. Senator Chan
dler was little too OLD and stiff to
box wcll then, but Senators Conlling
and Logan were exceptionally fine
spalrers for amateurs, Conklins ospo-
cially."
Jem Mace was born in 1884 at Swaff-