The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-07
From the Louisville CONGRESSIONAL.

From the Louisville Courier-Journal.
TT is announced that Jack Johnson
has asserted, In fit of bravado, per-
- haps or of temporary mental aber-
ra ton, that he will enter the ring as the
vis-a-vas of James Jeffries without
wearing rabbits foot, and without
even rubbing his gloves with the magic
miracle-working fur Of a rabbits foot
| The rich chocolate tint of the johnson
epiderms precludes the possibility of
harboring the idea that he will partici-
pate In a contest of such magnitude and
Importance without rabbits foot. un-
less he is mentally incompetent. No ex-
ample of mems ssna in corpore sano'
whose complexion is the Swallowed liv-
cry of the FURNISHED sun would go back
upon the rabbits foot at such a time.
alternating the affections of his race and
risSing defeat that. under the circum-
stances, would provoke oboquy and os-
tracism.
The fistic debate in which Jeffries and
Johnson have convenanted to appear is
not merely an event in which the victor
will win a large fortune, over and above
the large fortune that will go to the
| loser 1t is a gladiatoral encounter upon
the results of which hang the happi-
ness of some 100000 Afro-Amercans
who would rather see the left hind foot
of every rabbit between Maine and Cali
fornia amputated at the hook than TO
see their idol take the count.
The potency of the rabbits foot, when
the animal is killed under certain condi-
lions, has been recognized SO long that
| it i'll becomes an upstart pugilist to
make light Of it in print, even II ne. mas
privately supplied himself with the
charm. How many ardent admirers Oh
the negro pugiist have screwed their
courage to the sticking point to visit
graveyards In the glimpses of the moon
and at the witching time of night when
graveyards yawn, in the hope OF secur-
ing the rabbits foot that will insure the
victory of Johnson, we're not prepared
| TO say. But 1t is indisputable that the
great man has but to crook his finger in
the direction of his race to receive
carload of rabbit feet to stack around
the ring. If need be- in order that the
talismanic power may make Jeffries as
puny as to tonsured Samson, and child
| in the hands of his antagonist.
| Possibly Johnson wishes to appear So
phisticated. emancipated from slavery
to superstition, scoffer at "hoodoos'
and at magic. Let him beware of rum
ming into the great misfortune of in
surfing his defeat by seeking to avoid
the smaller one of being reported as
resting confidence in rabbits foot.
| Twas always held, and ever will,
BY sage mankind, discreeter.
To anticipate lesser i'll
Than undergo greater
| Even If 1t be true that, of the two,
Jim Jeffries is the better gladiator, who
among the 100000 earnest anxious Afro
American advocates of the dark pugilist,
would ever believe, in the event of his
defeat after his having spurned the rab--
bits foot, that the powers of darkness
had not exacted of him meet and fit
ting penalty for his self-sufficlency? This
point is worthy of consideration There
| Is another.
There is the psychological effect of hav-
ing left undone something that. ought
TO have been done. If Johnson should
enter the, ring without a rabbits foot
would he not suffer the consequences OF
rcpenting his rashness from the very
beginning OF the fight? Might he not
waver at some critical moment, and, as
result, receive an. unsupported Mary Ann
upon an unprotected, solar-plexus, or a
llightning-like left hook over an unguarded
X dney? AS the remembrance of his mis-
deeds is said to add to the horror of
the situation when a drowning man is
sipking for the last time, the awful
Thought that the rabbits foot would have
sawed him pisht scar ths brain of the
pufllipt IKE white-hot iron a I've attempt.: