Daily capital journal. (Salem, Oregon) 1903-1919, 1910-05-26

| COST much when we've got a champion
| like Fltzsfmmons for a headliner." he
went on, "and | won't have to give
that big stiff Jeffries more than a
few dollars. As soon as the fight is
over l can send him back to the coast
and get rid of him, so I'll save money
that way too. l figure that l can give
Fitz 60 per cent Of the receipts, win,
lose or draw, and still make enough
to cover all expenses and have a fair
profit left over. Tell him that he can
have Go per cent, and wen draw the
biggest house on record"
Brady had struck the right scheme.
Fitzsimmons listened and agreed to
fight.
So we got Fitzsimmons, and at last
the thing I'd been dreaming about
ever since that day when l walked
down the street with Charlie White at
Carson had come true. had my
chance to fight for the championship
Of the world, and l made up my mind
right then that I'd either win it or
they'd carry me out Of the ring on q
shutter. l didn't intend to take the
trouble to provide the shutter either.
Now that l was really matched
work started in earnest We got a
cottage at Allenhurst, N j., not far
from the beach at Asbury Park.
Back of our cottage we had a hand
ball court built. 1t was like the hand
ball court Corbett had at Carson ex-
cept for the fact that 1t wasn't rooted
over. The weather was fairly warm
now, and like to work as much as
possible in the open air. Beside the
cottage there was a croquet court.
Croquet may be a ladies' game, but
nobody would have thought so if they'd
seen Tommy Ryan and big Ed Dunk
horst, the "human freight car" at it.
Then it was more like football. Tom
bet a quarter a game. One day l was
acting as referee, and Tommy had won
about a dollar and a quarter from
Dunkhorst. Ed had only two bits
left, and he was sore. Tommy just
touched the ball with his mallet be-
fore making shot and moved it an
inch or so. Dunkhorst jumped in and
claimed a foul. AS referee decided
that there was no foul. Dunkhorst
started to holler, and Ryan turned on
him
"You big quitterp' yelled Ryan, and
he reached over with his mallet and
cracked Dunkhorst on the nose. The
blood flew all over the front Of his
shirt. That broke up the game.
My training staff at that time con-
sisted of Billy Delaney, my special ad-
wiser, and Ryan and my brother Jack
and Ed DunkhOrst. Ryan was middle
weight champion. Jack weighed well
above 200 and was game and clever.
Dunkhorst was like an elephant. He
weighed over 300. He was covered
with layers Of fat that made him like
a punching mattress.
When l boxed with Ryan it was
pure fight. Ryan was supposed to
be in the camp to give me the benefit
of his skill, for he was one of the
greatest boxers in the world and full
of tricks. But I'll say right here that
during the whole time l trained at
Allenhurst Ryan didn't show me
single trick. He surely didn't invent
the crouch" for me, as most of the
papers said at that time, for l used
that crouch in my first fight and in
every fight afterward whenever need
ed it, Ryan didn't want to show me
anything. His whole Idea was all
Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. He seemed to hate
me for being so big and strong. He
was envious, for if he'd had my ply
sique with his skill he'd have been
heavyweight champion as long as he
cared to keep on fighting, and nobody
would ever have come near him as a
fighter.
One funny thing happened at our
camp that l nearly forgot. Next door
there were several of those imported
English fighters training.
/ had several cases of good Bass ale
shipped down to the cottage when
training began and stored 1t away in
the cellar. Every day l went down
and got what we wanted for our din
ner. After awhile it seemed to me
that ale was going mighty fast l be-