The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1910-06-17
JEFFRIEs THE FIGHTER
Career of Johnson's opponent-Lone
List Of Victories


New York, June l6.-The New York
Press says.
II still is a question and one that
will remain unsolved until answered
in the ring in San Francisco on July
4, whether Jim Jeffries after six years
of easy living, can come back.
Jeffries beat the best big men of the
time when the game was famous for
the calibre of its heavyweights. He
had everything that champion pu-
gilist should have. Stamina and
strength he showed in a wonderful
measure in his fights with Sharkey
and Fitzsimmons gameness in his sec
ond encounter with Fitzsimmons
when. after being beaten and bruised
| till his face and body looked in spots
like raw beef he came back for more,
and finally whipped over the knockout
and speed and cleverness in marvel
Gus manner in his second encounter
with the fast moving Corbett, when
the big fellow outboxed and out gen.
eraled one of the greatest ring STRAIT
egists the sport ever knew.
Jeffries was born in a log cabin in
Carroll, Ohio, April 10, 1875. He is as
blue blooded an American as one
could find in days hunt, his fathers
ancestors coming from England and
settling in Pennsylvania in 1851 and
his mother springing from the earliest
Holland Dutch settlers in this coun-
try. On his fathers side Jeffries can
trace his ancestry back to the Scan
dinavians or Morse Vikings
Jeffries' tremendous strength and
vitality are the gift of generations
Of hardy warriors, frontiersmen and
farmers, developed to the utmost by
early life of hard outdoor exercise and
later by the strenuous occupation Of
boiler maker. Until he was six
years old Jeffries lived on the Ohio
farm In 1881 his father took the
family to California settling on a
ranch at Arroyo Secco Canyon, near
Los Angeles.
Jeffries' early life on the ranch laid
the foundation for his wonderful ply
sique. He always was in the open,
and his ranch work as well as his
ranch play slowly but surely nodded
him into a man OF marvellous physi-
que. Jeffries, whose main ambition is
to be let alone with gun and dog, has
toted a rifle since he was knee high
to a grasshopper. He killed his first
deer when only eleven years old. Most
of Jeffries' early years were spent in
hunting and fishing and the splendid
open air life with his buoyant exercise
and strenuous exertions stamped it.
self indelibly on his mighty frame.
Jeffries quit school when he was
fourteen years old and then went TO
the Los Angeles Business college for
year. The labor was too light to
suit him and soon he went to work
as an iron workers apprentice.
Everyone knows the strenuous oc-
cupation Of an iron worker. Few oc-
equations call for greater expenditure
of strength. During the time Jeifries
was working at the trade there was
even more physical labor connected
with It than now. Machinery mas
done away with much Of the labor
necessary when Jeffries was making
his living as a boilermaker. Jeffries
however, thriyed on the labor like a
vail VII AAliihs e. ~ 0thfnAfIll AAt was
more than six feet tall and weighed
200 pounds. Even then he was said
to possess superhuman strength
Some of his companions never tire
Of telling how Jeffries once lifted a
huge mast and boom off a friend on
whom they had fallen and pinned to
the ground. Il is said that after the
| feat il took eight men, including JEFF
| | fries himself to bulge the timbers
: Jeffrles says that II was the only
time he was aroused to the limit o
4 his strength. He also says that h,
4 never has hit man the full strength
4 Of his blow for fear of killing him
4 Those who remember Jeffries In hi
D iron working days say there Is NOR,
. truth than fiction in this statement
Jeffries "iust happened" to becom
s fighter. He fought his first profes
sional fight when only eighteen year
y old. Working and hunting had take
b up most Of his time but Jeffries say
he always had an idea way back /
3 his head that he would like to be
champion.
II Billy Gallagher, a welterweight VIII
was employed with Jeffries alway
was coaxing the big fellow to entC
the fight game and he was largely r
sponsible for Jeffries' first profession
y al fight. Hank Griffin the negro he
n vyweight Of Los Angeles, went on
l. iamboFee one night and wanderir
b into the saloon where many OF n
n men OF the boiler works whled awe
n their evenings threw a handful OF go
twenties on the bar and loudly pr
n claimed that he could knock out al
man In the town.
The men decided that young. Je
ries was about the only man who
size and strength warranted him ha
II ing q chance against the negro M
a man was sent scurrying TO Jeifrie
II home to get the big fellow to take l
the challenge. A match was arrang,
- on the spot, the men agreeing to
- meeting the following night In n l.
- Angeles hall
Il, Jeffries says he never before h,
III on pair Of boxing gloves and IN
the padded mitts felt strange TO hil
i Griffin punched him all over the rii
Il but the big fellow, showing all Il
wonderful Misunderstanding abili
4 that IuNa.s l.