The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1910-03-27
Here.s a smooth Manager.

Enter one Sam Berger. smooth. clever,
naturaI-born manager. and press agent
/ business associate and ehum of Jack
Gleason. promoter end baseball man.
Berger was the sparring partner. man
ager, and press agent. A good fellow
well liked by all his acquaintance. he
was just the buffer against which the
surly srowls Of Jeffries would be turned
aside before reaching the newspaper men
and the public He made the Jeffries
tour a success. and also made Jeffries
train. simply because he realized that
unless JefIries showed a gradual reduc-
ton of flesh the public would see through
the thin veil covering the theatrical in
terest and know that Jeffries was just
out for the fortune to be gathered in
that trip.
Then came the irrepressible sporting
editor and bis prying assistant They
saw that JEFF was making a grand
cleanup. and tho insisted that the
public be given square deal They
shamed Jeffries into declaring that he
would SIGHT Johnson, and once the decla-
ration was made Jeffries' colossal conceit
did the rest The bollermaker was peck
eted in a neat little trap. and the only
way to find his course into public favor
again was to post his forfeit.
Now to get down to the real meat Of
this battle. It presents the greatest mys-
terry in the annals Of modern pugilism
We in the business should keep far away
/ from knocking, but 1 want to be q news
paper man first and a boxing manager
afterward, and that is my excuse for
giving some pointed statements. Pc.
sonally. 1 would not bet counterfeit
money on the battle. That statement is
not original; it is borrowed from Battling
Nelson. Nelson made it months ago.
and at present sees no reason to change
[ it. Last December. when we had Nelson
on the road with the sam T. Jack COM
pany. 1 was writing a number of news
paper articles on the outlook of the
/ Johnson-Jenries battle At that time we
! believed JEFF had a chance But in Buff
falo Nelson saw the ex-ehampion. and
promptly called me by long-distance tele-
phone in Detroit and ordered the articles
praising Jeffries stopped
MY AAtE4tNc itiEliA tttiVN lily ltdu anu
bet on him." said Bat And after look
Ing him over to-day / believe he is
through for all time and 1 would mo-;
bet counterfeit money on his chances"
Two DAYS before lighting wolgast Nell
son again looked Jeffries over. and made
the same statement.
Works Out on Coast.
JEFF worked on a big platform, in the
middle of Recreation Park, san Fran
cisco. II was an ideal day for outdoor
exercise. and everything favored the man.
lie skipped the rope for two minutes,
shadow boxed for two minutes more.
tilted over on chair for one minute,
and then boxed three short rounds with
Berger Altogether, he worked eight
minutes I was standing within five feet
of him at all times He swayed and
pulled ike a sick elephant, and was
about as fast as broken down autonio-
bile climbing Mount Blanc. It was a
full forty minutes before he was able
to dress and get out on the field after
finishing his turn Those pictures you
see Of Jeffries cutting wood and moving
two tons Of alfalfa on a hand car are
all posed for the occasion. a farm hand