The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1910-07-05
NEGRO D0ESN' 7
LACK COURAGE
Johnson AstOnishes Multitude
by His Grit, as Well as
His Skill.
FORMER CHAMPION HASN'T
SO MUCH AS A L00K-N
Jeffries, for First Time in His
Life, Is FayOrite Of
Crowd.
BY RANDOLPH HAYES.

RENO, July 4-IIe did not como back.
The black man did not show trace OF
OF brute force. One OF the most glorious
"reminiscences Of the prize ring faded Ike
violet cloud under the Nevada sun. IL
was pitiful night. yet a. clean. game.
sportsmanlike exhibition. There was as
semblcd the largest crowd ever seen In
the west, and It paid twice the money
Yet II was one of the poorest fights ever
seen. Jeffries faded, faded. faded. and
was knocked clean out at the end OF the
fifteenth round Then the sun-licked,
| ight-innarned mass OF swelterlng men.
and a few women. faded just as Jefries
had and went of quietly. sick There
with the affair. first, last. or In the mid
die The crowd seized avidly on every
slight chance TO cheer the white man,
but the chances were very few.
johnson Enters Ring.
Johnson came into the ring wearing a
Mocha bathrobe. smart. smooth. smiling.
sunbaked. Jeffries entered In a few min
| utes wearing an old suit OF clothes. un-
gainly. full-faced, dog hammered JEFF
won the toss and took the corner with
! his bnck 20 the sun.
/ When johnson was introduced he got
/ about nine handclaps, and there were
upward Of twenty thousand people with
When Jeffries was introduced the mob
| howled. cheered, clapped, tossed hats IN
the air. punched each other and frothed
out their pent up energy. For the hrst
the favorte OF the crowd. He has often
| been the favorite in betting. but never
in the sympathy Of the audience. Today
! there were probably not a hundred peo-
pie within sight who wanted him TO lose
Jeffries the Favorite.
Therein lies the pathos. The first round
was only a feeler-out, Neither man did
much There were no telling blows
son retreated slowly. jeff held his right
arm out as a matadore points his lance.
Johnson stood erect. In conventional box
ing pose. flat-footed, oily. smiling. de-
In the middle OF the second round a
gronn went up from all seated around the
ringside. the veteran sports. the old prize
| fighters. the boxing experts. AT that mo-
ment the two srappled for the nrst time
! In deadly earnest. Everyone said: Now
walt I'll the coon feels that bears
But there was no bear strength, John
son lifted Jeffres and set him aside ten
or twelve inches, easily. gracefully. with
sat between Tom sharkey and Bob
Edgren. Sbarkey fought Jeffries two OF
| his hardest fights and ten years ago. in
San Francisco, | saw Jeffries in the sec
ond round OF that fight do TO Sharkey
did TO Jenries. Edsren is one of jeff
ries's closest friends, and wrote the story
OF his life.
'It's ALI Over
IT'S all over" said Edsren. with
deep and terrible, sigh.
test"
In his dressing room. after the hght,
Johnson said; When l set him aside IN
the second round ! knew for sure had
| him. That's when l got his goat l
wasn't so sure the FIRST round. but when
he found he couldn't bulge rne by show
| ing. his eye WINGED and the smile left
his face. II you rememt =T. be was chew
ing gum when he began. From the mid,
die OF that second round he never chewed
any gum"
Yet the crowd did not know the bat
tie was over then. They kept on hop
@ sn6 ks9Rns Jess sh& noD1s Was sP panhe
less than In any of his big fights and
those who had seen him In his prime re-
days for punishment. could not believe
that those light Johnson blows were hurt
ing him. They expected him TO take
them. 10 rally, to come in for more. and
then to win in a punch as he had done so
| often before.
Crowd Encouraged.
Along toward the end OF that second
| round the crowd was vastly encouraged.
| for Jeftries then drew the first blood. He
hit chopplnG right on Johnson's lip
and from II the crimson began 10 streak.
1t was the lip that Johnson's. sparring
partner Cotton had cut open four days
ago. and the hurt was of no moment. but
the crowd drew deep inspiration from IL.
Then in the third round those OF us who
/ had hoped and whose hope had been
crystallEed into veritable belief that
Jen would once more be that glorious
aghting machine l we AL , Knew ,E eiSht ,,on sna
We saw johnson. in clinch. take JeHs
left arm In his right hand and deliber-
ately twist II, holding It as Ions as he
wished Jefr could not move a muscle
For the first time in his life he was In
the grip Of his master, master; That hat, left am nm
Knocked out Fitzslmmons, Corbctt- kuhlin
and Peter Jackson; with II he broke
human being ever held and twisted It be-
That was like seeing fan the key to
the defenses ut Port Arthur. Jefrs left
arm was the 2O3 metre hill OF his situa-
| ton. With it gone he had no dofonse.
He never landed good punch with II;
every time they came to, clinch he
seized IL and gave il another twist
AS for .Jsffries, defense he never never , had
much and he had less In this fight than
ever before, He just stood there and
took those punches, those deadly right
nppercqts. those choppins. those sriinns
were closed. his face bleeding and until
all tho vitality he had left was sapped
at It's source and then he fell cropping,
stumbling. OF sheer exhaustion,
In the fourth Johnson began kidding;
Don't rush, jim. he called, almost
softly as the huge hairy white man came
laundering at him. That joke was eN,
pensive. for on its heels Jeffr!es landed
his most apparent blow, ~ saSd Was sa"ars sbs
black man In his tracks. AS they broke
the blood ran trickling down Johnsons
chin.
Will Lose Nerves.
Then for half minute, ! was tempted
TO believe what Tommy Burns told me
last night, that II Johnson meets game
man. who can hit him. no will lose his
nerve and lie down. For half a minute
johnson was worried. The smile left
his face. He quit kidding. He tended
strictly TO business: After all, It was
game man In front of him, but one who
could not hit. AT least, jon could not get
TO him, The blacks defense was perfect,
Continued on Pago Eleven