Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1910-07-11
Jeffries Says "l'm
Through Fighting.''


fries submitted to his first interview
Saturday since the fight at Reno on
the Fourth.
So persistent were the demands for
an expression of opinion from the
beaten pugilist that his friends let
down the bars and let the newspa per
men see the ex-champion. The first
question asked was whether it was
true that he wanted another fight
with Jack Johnson.
mo, I'm through fighting" he said,
mumbling. II fought once too often as
it was. and I guess they'll let me
alone after this. I might have beaten
Johnson six years ago. but I don't
believe l ever could again.
II have no excuses to make. I
| couldn't come back, that's all there
| is to it. 1 don't want to fight Johnson
| or anyone else again"
The intervieWerS were warned by
| Jack Ripper his partner. to expect a
| much bruised man, though Ripper said
| that he was greatly improved Satur-
day
'"This is the first day since the fight
that Jim would speak to any of us,
even his wife, said Ripper.
But Jeffries is in bad condition
mentally as we'll as physically. He hes
itated in his speech and stopped in the
middle of sentences. as if hunting for
i his thoughts. His face is still puffed
UP abnormally and he hears with diff
Guilty. He has great trouble with his
| speech also. and at times gave up en-
tirely without trying to finish his SEN
| tence.
| Glow about the story that you were
doped. jeff" he was asked
Nothing to it; was not doped. No
one could have doped me. Someone
said that the dope was rubbed into me
| hut that is not so. Not man In my
camp would do anything to injure my
chances under any conditions. They all
lost about all their money on me. All
nv friends lost all their money.
"The trouble with me was that l was
| almost broken down HerVously ana
didn't know it. I guess it had peer
coming on for week, but 1 dldn
know it; 1 thought l could fight.
thought 7 could beat johnson when l
| stenned into the ring. but | couldn
get into action at all | guess l am
too old to fight any more
Jeffries said all this hesitatingly. shak-
| ing his head at times like an old man
His hands trembled all the time as II ne
| had the palsy. When he was asked
| about Tex Richards statement that ne
| had the fight in his pocket with signed
| contracts two days before the bids were
| opened in New York, he flared up and
answered shortly
| "what has that got to do with it? You
| had vour fight didn't you?'
Then he was asked about Johnson
statement that he was offered huge sums
of money to throw the fight.
| "Why should | ask Johnson to throw
| the fight? I felt sure I could lick him
| until after we had fought two or three
rounds I don't believe there Is anything
| in it,
Ripper and Jack Jeffries, Jim's brother.
both said that they believed Jim had been
| doped in some way.
| II am not sore about losing my mon
ey," said brother Jack. But something
| more than fright was the matter with
Jim when he went into the ring. But I
| am a s much in the air about 1t as anyone.
| for I don't believe anyone in the camp
would have done it for all the money in
| the world, and no one else had chance
| to-"
Jim was on the verge of a nervous
| breakdown" said Ripper, when he en-
| tered the ring He may have been doped
| but the thought that all his friends had
bet their money on him and the fear that
he had not come back. as he thought he
had. had more to do with his losing that
fight than anything else, in my opinion"
Sam Berger is still talking about get
ting another fight out of the ex-cham-
pion. to the great disgust of the Iatters
friends
Berger says Jeff is sure he can beat
johnson, but Jeffries denies this abso-
lutely,