Omaha daily bee., 1910-01-09
SEE JEFF AND COTCH
Lovers of Ring and Mat Fill Audi
torium for Exhibition.
CHAMPION FORCED TO TALK
HEAVYWEIGHT I'm Fair Condition, but
slightly Henvy-Clever Features
in Last nights Exhibit
ton.

AA.
One Of the largest crowds that ever
damned its way into the Omaha Auditorium
left the building Friday divided in opln-
ion whether james ]. Jeffries will be able
to round himself into condition to win a
fight from Jack johnson. Six thousand
people paid their way in to see Jeffries.
Gotch & Co. give an exhibition-for It was
only an exhibition.
Jeffrtes was the center Of attraction and
appeared last on a long card. When he
was introduced as the indicated champion
heavyweight OF the world the immense
audience, after deafening applause and
cheering, called on him for a speech. The
big fellow was evidently not at home on
the mat In this role and the resin on the
soles Of his shoes roubled him, but he
finally walked to the center of the ring
and said: 81 thank you from the bottom
Of my heart"
The reception given Frank Gotch was
hardly less enthusiastic and Farmer Burns
drew his share Of plaudits from lovers Of
the wrestling game.
Fighter In Fair Condition.
Jeffries' first exhibition consisted of skip
ping the rope, which he did in fast measure
to the time set by the band. He followed
with some rapid foot work, showing his
limbs in good condition. Jeff then sat on
a chair, and with his feet braced under
another chair, leaned back till hts head
touched the floor twenty times-a strenuous
exercise for q big man. He then boxed
three short ounds with his sparrlng part
ner, Jack Mccormick, a fighter Of other
days.
The general impression seemed to be
that Jeffrles has an immense amount OF
hard work in front of him IL he expects
to win from Johnson. While his legs are
in good shape and while he has cut down
his weight many pounds, still he is too
fleshy for q hard battle. But that is a
long ways off. During his boxing bout
he jumped back and one leg went through
the ropes, cutting his knee slightly on the
edge Of the arena.
GOtch Toys with HOkuf.
Frank Gotch threw Bill Hokuf in 1OH
minutes, although he purposely let him
slip away from several bad holds to pro-
long the match. Gotch is so much in a
class by himself that all his exhibitions
look one-sided.
Farmer Burns gave an exhibition with
Jack Asbel of Kansas City. Burns has
taken the place of DR.. b. +. Roller in the
all-star cast and, of course, was called
upon to make a speech. The Farmer die
not give his lecture on physical culture
but simply told them how good his boy
Frank Gotch. and Jim Jeffries were and
said he would bet 5000 on either agains,
anyone.
Jack Toliver and Mack Light, two Local
llghtweights, wrestled until it took Toliver
four and six minutes to throw Light with
a hammerlock each time.
The real fun of the evening was the
vaudeville stunt of Charles and Anna
Glover, which consisted of baton and water
twirling. The fun was the wetting of the
baldheaded row in the water twirling part
of the exhibition. The show was opened
by Hermanson, the worlds champion bag
puncher, followed by Logan and French in
a comic knockabout stunt.
Lions of the Hour.
Both Jeffries and Gotch are favorites lr
Omaha and Farmer Burns is always wei.
coined. All day the Henshaw hotel was
crowded by the curious striving to get g
good look at the champions and after
O'Clock the sidewalk in front of the Hen.
shaw was completely blocked, while the
interior of the hotel was packed, making
il necessary for the police to open the way
when Jeffries and Gotch came from theil
rooms to go to the Auditorium.
Gotch has never failed to draw a bis
house IN Omaha and Jeffries has Away.
been a strong cRrd and the combination Of
the two was irpeslstable. Every seat in tn,
Auditorium was filled, even to the distan.
corner seats in the balcony. Every sea
downstairs was filled, including two hug,
banks of seats which Manager Gillian haC
built for the event. Green's band occupied
the stage, where We're also several hundred
spectators, and people stood rows deep al
around the top of the balcony as well a!
downstairs,
A number of the fair sex attended tn,
exhibition and the best of order was pre-
served, all smoking being abolished, even
without an announcement from the stage.