The San Francisco call., 1910-07-04

X more and the battle of the cen
= - tury will be in full swing. We
have waited long for this time to
come, yet even now we can hardly
realize that all the training, the hard
work, the period of sudden rumors
and alarms, IS over.
Two days ago Reno was merely a
hustling Nevada town, with here and
there a face familiar on other and
distant streets In 4S hours it has
become d swirling, sccthing maelstrom
OF rushing. crushing, colliding bodies,
tossing sea of excited faces. a twist
ing, Writhing current OF humanity torn
by the rocks OF a score OF different
desires and emotions. The streets are
jammed. The hotel lobbies are
packed TO suffocation Once crushed
in through the doOrways. one finds il
impossible to move hand or loot. for
endless periods OF time. near the hotel
desks hundreds ClamOr for rooms. and
all the rooms were given out days ago
Al the dining room entrances hundreds
more struggle and elbow for advantage,
peering eagerly past the guards at the
feeding multitude inside. Restaurants
are overwhelmed. This morning | ate
breakfast in Reno's most celebrated
restaurant. / ordered pancakes. The
waiter came back i'm moment and
shook his head. Nothing doing" he
said briefly
NOTHING But PLAIN STUFF
Why" / asked Cooks up in the
air.. said the waiter. He says nothing
goes bur plain stuff from now on All
he'll cook is fried eggs and plain steak"
Al the more conservative hotels an
absolute order has been issued to serve
only rooming guests.
Today specials rushed in almost
hourly. Tonight the railroad kept on
rumbling as train after train rolled in
from the Pacific coast and took it's
place on the sidetracks
The streets became more and more
Jammed- At every step big gambling
places did a rushing business. Every
where the click Of the dice the Whirl
OF the roulette wheel the call of the
dealer and the clink OF gold and silver
coin. Into the gambling district poured
steady stream of eastern money
Eastern men had never seen anything
like IL before. They were fascinated.
And the lean. brown tanned men of the
west collected steadily. They had con-
tributed literally TO the arena and the
nght fund. Now they were playing
even Their money was coming back to
them
PICI<POCKETS CAPTURED
All through the crowd circulated
scores Of pickpockets. most of them
from New York. They were a gleeful
lot Of pickpOckets. Reno was their
oyster. and they weren't delicate in
opening it, They alternated in alb
stracung watches from easy pockets
and raiding hotel rooms. Last night
Jim Flanagan. brother of the famous
John and the scarce less famous Tom.
had room a little way down the
hal from mine in the Golden He
carefully folded his clothes. placed
. them on the chair beside his bed and
went to sleep. In the morning he
found his clothes lying near the door.
He was shy just sI20 in cash. a watch
and chain and one Of John Flanagan's
championship hammer throwing med
ais Poor Jim nearly wept when he
told me about the watch and medal
And there were others. Captain Cox
Of the state police caught a pickpocket
Tedhanded in the hotel lobby. This
Captain Cox, by the way, is a genius.
lie showed me his collection Of data on
American crooks, and believe me he can
E(enufy a crook from New York ~
tsicky as one from Nevada. Captain
Cox had his men distributed aro,1u,r
through the crowd, playing roulette
loafng, talking fight on the street cor
ners. He had crooks and picknoclxefs
spotted the moment they left the trains.
Tonight he was ready for grand clean
up, and al a certain hour his men closed
IN on their victims In Is minutes 27
pickpockets, most of them from New
York, were behind the bars The San
Francisco dips" viii be snapped up
from this moment on as they leave the
trains. Every crook identified will
spend his time in Reno Jail until the
fight is over and the crowd has left
Nevada Never have the pickpockets
and strong arm men been handled so
summarily before. Nevada is a law
abiding spot. and the visiting crooks
are going to find it a mighty hard
place TO get away from.
ALL KINDS THERE
But these fellows are a mere detail.
remotely connected with the movement
Of the sporting public upon Nevada
RenOs great arena tomorrow will seat
the large crowd that invades the
streets It's a wonderfully interesting
crowd. Every trade profession and de-
gree Of leisure is represented in it.
There are cooks and millionaires COW
punchers, miners, capitalists. Indians,
Chinese, bankers, businessmen, college
students, professors, gamblers-every-
thing you can imagine. The betting on
the fight has been brisk. Big men from
the east have come in with Jeffries
money and have stirred things up.
Robert Guggenheim from New York.
for instance, hardly hoped from his
special car before he tossed $4,000 into
LAWYERS poolroom with instructions
that IL must be placed on Jefries at ! 0
10 2. Frazee, Jefries' theatrical agent, |
put up $4,000 in real money on Jeffries