Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-07-24
NEGRO BECOMES
A MATINEE IDOL
Johnson's Victory Over Jeffries
Makes Him New Sensation
in the East.
BILL LANG VS.. LANGFORD
PROBABLE NEXT SCRAP
Mcintosh May Match Pair, in along
Fight if Champ Turns Down
Boston Black.
By James J. Corbett.

After the excitement winch preCeoeu
and gradually has Gained down since the
greatest fight of the century," at Reno
July 4, we now have a closer view here
in the east of the new champion, who has
become a sort of matinee idol.
Probably no man ever has come under
closer scrutiny than Jack Johnson some
Of the best writer's on the great newspa-
pers in the metropolitan district having
been assigned to write up" this new
man Of the hour, and, incidentally. his
new manager, Sigmund Hart, for without
Sig the show wouldn't be complete.
When the late Charles Dana told his
young men on the staff Of the Sun that a
newspaper would be improved by throw
Ing away their poor stuff to use the good
things from others, or something like
that, he paved the way for a whole lot OF
cribbing from the exchanges. In my own
case, while 1 plainly stated in my letter
of July 10 that j regarded Johnson as
the best heavyweight We have at the
present time, / now am inclined to De
leve that on account of my race preju-
dice there are many in the east who are
not inclined to accept my opinion as their
own.
Quotes From Cobb's Article.
One Of the best articles I ever have
read in a newspaper is "One Hour Win
Jack Johnson, Champion" by irwin ..
Cobb, printed recently in a New YORK
paper Cobb is a great student of what
I would call emotional humanity. His
articles during the Thaw trial excited
wide interest Writing Of Johnson, he
says
tnO
the past life of this leading matinee ldoi
of the season OF 1901, I'll bet that ne
never was a fighter by choice; he Is
fighter by chance. And while we are OH
this subject, I'll predict this much more:
I don't believe he ever will fight another
championship battle, and If he does ana
should meet a real fighter l do believe
the white supremacy will come pack lh'o
it's own again.
II don't believe he is made of the stun
champion? Yes Regular champion? NO.
Not in eleven million regulation length
wears: for they tell me that in the long
run it is not boxing that makes cham-
pions, but fighting. and Johnson Is not
6ohter by instinct or by nature. He's too
Vood-natured, if / am any judge: he'd
rather grin than frown, rather play the
bull fiddle than change the plans ana
specifications of fellow beings front
elevation facade
Jeffrfes Lacks the Punch.
Later Cobb goes on to say that latter
a close study Of Johnson's mentality, one
can appreciate why he entered the ring at
Reno scared to a wet ashes gray and
also how it was that as soon as ne
found that he didn't have anything much
to lick except a memory and set of
good press notices, he chirked up and
became regular sun-cured cut-up, fuli
of ginger and confidence. But If the late
ex-James Jeffries mad peen tnese VIII VIZ
the punch 1 viii take the long end OF the
bet and let you write your own ticket
that one solid wallop on that weathered
mahogany chest would have shut OF the
flow of merriment."
The writer further assures his readers
that Johnson is IA self-made man. and he
was assured of this by the statement OF
Sig Hart who said: Sure thing Cham
pion Johnson's a self-made man. All MS
education would you think lt0 ne GOV
himself. Educated business head and full
of fun. too. He's all right since he quit
that loafer Little and made me his man
ager, self-made.
I have used considerable of Cobbs ar
ticle because it shows how the puoiic
will run away after new fads and fancles.
Johnson is getting the same sort or a
reception in New York that Craig, the
Harlem Coffee Cooler, and McVey and
Jeannette later received IN LONDON ana
paris He is the new sensation
From Poverty to Riches.
His Neutrality-suspicious. auto and swell
suite of rooms at the black Delmonico'
Baron wilkins Hotel are not alone ad-
vertising features, but they also are IL
Illustrative of the change from poverty to
sudden riches. as Johnson himself says
that when he trained for his first fight in
Galveston he was glad to eat stick gin
and gatherings. with an occasional pork
chop and fried cabbage, while now he
reveis on the fat Of the land.
There's another side to the story, too.
George Little the former manager OF
Johnson, is here in New York anxious to
meet Johnson before a committee OF sport
ing writer's and to prove all the asser-
lions he has made concerning the state
ments that the fights with Ketchell and
Kaufman were fakes. Well. l don't
know. Does the public really care wheth-
| err they were fakes or not? There have
been instances where fighter himself
has declared that some of his contests
| were fakes and. if / remember correctly,
proved that he was a faker by later con-
| tasfa All this never did the snort any