The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-08-11
THE LOS ANGELES MAN THE
VICTIM OF A DRUG, WRITES
ROBERT EDGREN.
TODAY AS GOOD AS EVER
Was Dazed When He Entered the
Ring. While Today He is as Good
as Ever-"l'll Win if Fight
Again" Says Jeffries.

New York. Aug. 10.--Robert Ed
gren, sporting editor of the New
York Evening World, returned here
today, after spending two weeks
hunting and fishing with James j.
Jeffries in the wilds of California
Edgren probably is closer to JEFF
fries than any man in the world,
and today, in a lengthy article in
his paper he says that Jeffries was
drugged and that in the near fu-
ture he hopes to secure evidence
that will convince all that the man
who fell before Jack Johnson en-
tered the ring in helpless con-
dtion, and that a return match will
furnish a different finish.
| spent last week in Jeffries home
country, writes Edgren, fishing down
at Santa Catalina for twenty pound
yellow tail on light tackle and
shooting over the mountains with
Jefries. We were going to get
bear A rancher friend of Jeff's
"baited" for a bear by killing
steer and leaving it out on the hills
but the bear didn't show up, so
me contented ourselves with smaller
game.
Jeffries and l were walking down
a canyon one night with our shot.
guns 1t was dusk. Jeffries, who
has been full of enthusiasm of the
hunt, fell silent. Suddenly he said,
without so much as turning his
head:
q only wish l was going to fight
that coon tonight
That was the only voluntary state.
ment about the fight | heard Jeff
make in many days. He is not a
talker But he discussed the many
angles of the fight with me several
times.
There are curious facts coming out
gradually. Jeffries believes. as scores
of his most intimate friends in the
west believe, that he was drugged.
1t would be a curious thing if it
were proved, some day, that a cup
of tea beat jeff at Reno.
Such things come to light, some
times. 1t may come to light this
time, and if it does you are going
to read certain names right here
in my column And when that time
comes l promise you a sensation. ,
Is Jeffries going to fight Johnson
again in any case? That I'll admit
l don't know. l know that the JEFF
fries | saw at work for weeks be-
fore the fight at Reno was fit to
beat any other man ! ever saw.
know that in the ring before and
during the fight, and for several
days after the fight, he was heavy,
dazed, weak and slow. And that to-
day he is as good as ever and is
keeping himself in condition.
After the fight Jeffres said to
me; "eople will think I'll go to
pieces now, and take to booze;
I'll fool them
When l arrived in Los Angeles
after the fight Luke Kelly, a great
friend of Jeffries, was about to give
him a clambake on the beach near
San Pedro. Forty or fifty friends of
Jeffries had gathered there There
was plenty to eat and plenty to
drink-you know what a clambake
is. In that whole day Jeffries drank
three small glasses of beer. ! was
with him day after day. He refused
all invitations to drink. If he drank
anything at all it was water. He is
not taking on any fat.
Once | asked him point blank: IF
it is proved in the next few months,
that you were drugged before the
Reno fight. and if there is a chance
public opinion would force Johnson
into the ring, are you going to chal-
ienge him anu fight him again.
q don't know" said Jeffries, but
I'll never fight any man but John
son. And if | fight him again III
heat him
In buying a cough medicine don {