Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-07-06
Are Speeding Home from
The Reno Fight.
Next Question Who viii Wrest
Belt from Johnson.
Champion Is $4,000 Richer by
Fight-=-Jeff Gets Sii6,400.


a train that left Reno soon after mid
night and will reach Chicago Thurs
day morning. He is under contract to
fill vaudeville engagements for time
and says he will be glad to get anoth-
er fight soon. but SO far as can be
learned no man in the world is really
eager to get into the ring with him.
Jim Jeffries. the wealthy farmer.
left for his home in Southern Cali
fornia in his special car. Graymont.
at 100 last night. As a result of the
fight he is probably 100000 richer
and the damage to his body and the
humiliation of his spirit will be healed
by time.
Every train. East or West is crowd
ed to its fullest capacity with people
eager to reach their homes.
Johnson was $1O.6OO richer when
Jeffries went down for the last time
in yesterdays fight. He took 50 per
cent of the SOL 900 purse. a bonus Of
$4,000 and he sold his picture inter
ests for $4,000.
Jeffries took fortune out of the
defeat at Johnsons hands He re-
ceived 40 per cent. of the purse.
amounting to $4,000. the bonus of
$4,000 and he sold his picture inter
ests for $4,000. making his total $116.7
400 The owners of the picture films
are calculating on $1,00O,000 profit.
Reno, New. july 5.-Reno is as busy
disgorging the fight crowds today as
it was on Saturday and Sunday vel
coming them, The get away began
within three quarters of an hour after
Jeffries went through the ropes yes
terday afternoon and trains have fol-
lowed one another out of the city in
quick succession with every car pack
ed to capacity. All the evening and
into the early hours today. automo-
biles swept out bound for the coast
and the California valley cities. for
the mining camps far out in the Neva-
da desert and places more remote. and
TODAY Reno begins to look normal as
far as population is concerned.
Here and there groups of fight ex-
perts still linger The big battle is, of
course. the one topic and is discussed
in tho cold calm that has followed
previous enthusiasm. There is no
luminosity against Johnson. rather
keen admiration of his ability as a
fighter and his beautiful sparring, but
apparently the fight had not gone five
rounds before Jeffries' partisanS be-
gan to doubt and in the eighth they
felt sure they had been self deluded
With Johnson the undisputed worlds
champio the next question is who
will wrest it from him Ring followers
agree that no man now in the game
measures up to the job, Very little at
tention is paid to Sam Langford's
challenge and the black champion
himself regards it as a joke. He said
last night he would disregard a chal
lenge from that source, so apparently
it means wait for an unknown.
No one knows just how many people
saw the big fight or what the gate re-
ceipts We're. No turnstiles were used
and the tickets were on sale in so
many places that only approximate
figures can be given. The lowest esti-
mate of the gate money is S230,0O0 and
the highest $4,000. Guessers among
the promoters staff place the attend
ance at from $4,000 to 10000. At all
events it was the biggest crowd that
ever saw \ prize fight and the rates
were so far ahead of any other en-
gagement that the record disappears
In all the fight talk one thing stands
out sharply-there is no more men
ton of Johnsons yellow streak" The
experts who sat at the ringSlde agree
that not once did he give any indica-
ton of fear. His nervousness in the
first round was apparent. but no one
who watched him in that period of the
fight could fairly attribute 1T to any
thing else than a kind of stage fright.
He was not afraid Of the big man who
faced him. His statement given out at
MS quarters last evening had been
well thought out. but his remarks as
he stepped back to his corner after
Jeffries had been battered down were
spontaneous and show his state OF
mind when the heat Of battle was still
on him.
As his friends and the newspaper
men crowded about him. while he lay
back in the hands of his seconds. he
said
"Jeffries never could hit me: he
couldn't penetrate my defence. | have
always known this. and he has Just
found it out. When he Crouched ]
made him straighten up and then !
pjcked him to pieces / used every
thing there is in pugilism on Jeftries
and he could not stand the strain"
Jeftries' people had little to say
They were too sorely hurt and disap-
pointed Jim Corbett said last night:
ut was simply the old story of the
pitcher and the we'll once too often. 1t
has happened to whole lot of us and
that which happened to Jeffries was
just as sure as fate.
"Jeffries did not box often enough to
give US a line on him. We all knew
him to be in good shape so far as run
ming miles on the road was concerned
but he did not spar enough for any
of us to guess how he would show up
on the firing line. AS soon as he had
boxed two rounds today. | knew he
had nothing
'rhe big fellow thought himself right |
and he must have been or he could
not feel as we'll as he does after that
beating. He should have boxed more. |
left would have done better in g. |
Marathon race than he did in his
fight.
tx was only his courage and his con- |
dition that kept him there so long"
Frank Gotch sized the ex-champion |
as follows: