Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1910-07-16

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Copyright. 1870 by Mcclure Newspaper
Syndicate. Copyright In Canada and
Great Britain. All rights reserved.l
CHAPTER XIV.
Ny RETIREMENT AND HOME LIFE AND
TIE MATCH WITH JOHNSON.
= SETTLED down now TO n quiet
family iife-no more stage work.
- no more lighting. believed
that ia never put on u fight
ing glove again. bought a tine
ranch Of 145 acres near Los Angeles.
with country house on It. and be-
came a farmer again. For two years
worked hard on my ranch. clearing
away the brush and then putting a
hundred acres in alfalfa. which grows
eight crops n year ina my country.
did the heavy work myself. and
never enjoyed life more than down on
the ranch. l was tired OF fuss and
publicity. Here | was Just a farmer
again. and IL was great.
From time 70 time. OF course. I went
20 see n good hgh' somewhere or other
or took a good hunting trip TO the
mountains or went fishing at Catalina.
where we have the best fishing i'm the
world. ! was as healthy as a man
could be. 10 used 70 make me laugh
when some one sent me the papers
and / read stories Of my "disslpated
hfe.' Why. no man since Noahs time
ever lived cleaner life than I did. ND
early and to bed early after a hard
days work
After two years on the ranch / built
dne town house. with everything IN
Il that one could want and everything
the best / could buy. I won't saw what
II cost. but it's insured for S15.5OO. so
it's something OF house. In the same
year | bought tract OF land near the
town. cut II up into lots and sold again
with a profit Of $4,000 \ friend OF
mine and myself cleared $4,000 OIL
another tract. so l didn't need TO hgh,
10 earn money. In the next year
went into partnership with another
friend, ana we got one OF the 200 ban
licenses in Los Angeles and built the.
finest cafe west OF New York. Tha,
was big money maker too. Fitting
il up cost over $4,000. I moved into
town now 10 my big house and attend
ed 10 the cafe. Because ! was there
so much OF the time the old stories
about my drinking broke out again.
never did drink 10 any extent. Ny
limit was usually a glass OF charged
water with about n spoonful OF clarer
in It. and only a few OF those.
When not hunting or working mix.
ed u2 with the lighting game a little.
often refereeing important fights. one
OF these was the Hart Root fight up IN
Nevada. The promoters asked me 10
officially present" TIE heavyweight n
tie 10 the winner. / refused Nobody
can give away championships. But
they told everybody | had given" the
ute To Hart after he stopped Root.
and didn't take the trouble To deny il.
While was In retirement Bin
Squires came over from Australia.
Billy Delaney went to work and sign
ed for a fight with Squires. But
hadn't given him the right to repre-
sent me, and | refused the match
That broke up my old association with
Delaney.
One Gisagreeable thing happened
about this time My reputation mas
always been clean in ring affairs. and
II any crooked work has ever been
planned In connection with any OF NV
fights I've never known about IL. In
fact. / don't think any ever was plan
ned. for people have known that I'd GO
out TO win and would win. But while
l was at home in Los Angeles Ger.
tain heavyweight. who shJtiy after.
ward became notorious through the ex-
posture of his trickery. came TO nv
house 10 see me. He talked little
while and beat about the bush. and
then he said
II have just been over In Nevada
One OF the promoters over there put
up proposition TO me that sounded
Ike Tot OF money. He said that he'd
give a purse of $4,000 for a fight be-
tween you and me. then he'd put
$4,000 in the bank with the purse. and
you could have the whole $s5 1000"
Here he stopped and looked at me
Queerly for moment.
'YesY' | said.
"Of course" be went on. "the pro-
m0ter would have TO make his money
out OF the match some way besides at
the gate. anu I'd have 20 make mine.
too. n VOC got the whole purse and all