The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1910-07-05

| He sat hunched In this squat. eyes
closed, hands dropping over knees.
The sheel was broken, and the arena
roared.
Rickard, the referee, was ratified.
He stood by the side of the beaten
pugilist, counting in a dazed sort of
way. Nobody watched him. Every.
body had his eyes on JEFF In the
uproar Timekeeper Harting counted
| jeff out. Nobody heard him. Abe
| Attell ran over from Jeff's corner and
lifted up the ropes while the fighter
clambered blindly through. The man
| stood, half crouching. knowing moth
ing. Jim Corbett yelled something at
him. The words were unheard.
Then came the black man, not
| knowing that his antagonist was
counted out. He came lightly, step
| ping swiftly, like a cat stalking He
| Jumped to the side of the nalf-con-
scious man and with his arms jerk
ing back and forth with the thrust
| Of an engines piston, he pounded
| and pounded the dropping head Of
| the former champion. Uppercuts,
each one of them. First with the
| right and then with the left, Johnson
swung back the lollng head. Again
| the tremendous bulk Of the white
| man tottered. Sam Berger. Jeff's man
| aber, jumped ino the ring and rushed
\ to Jeff's side. Rickard understood,
| and he waved Johnson back to his
| corner AZ the same time he held up
his hand and motioned toward the
black retreating That was the end.
| The fight was won. A man unbeaten
and thought to be unbearable was
pounded into defeat.
The championship remained with
the negro and $1,000, go per cent of
\ the total purse of S101 900. had been
won. II was what the followers of
! pugilism call clean knockout. The
| blow that the black man sent mp
from his waist to the point Of JEFF
fries chin in that first quarter min
ute Of the fifteenth round was the
blow that finished the battle.
| JEFF was outclassed, outpointed.
He did not lose because of lucky
blow. He lost because he was an old.
er man than when he last fought, be-
cause he had not come back" from
his years of physical and nervous
| flabbiness.
| A surprise, they call this sort of
thing In the sporting world. A sur
| prise because the results were not
| forecasted by the weightiost opinion
of exrerts. Maybe this is because
the ges OF muscle In the mass, of
bulk, of the horsepower register in a
mans blow can not be judges Of
comparative psychology. Here Is what
one knows an expert in pugilism
must have seen in the ring. A white
man whose every nerve was tensed
to fiddle.string tautness who kept
his power on coordination between
mind and muscle at such a working
pitch that mental fatigue threatened
each instant Opposed to him n
negro who wasn't afraid, who was
vain of his skill of self-protection,
but not to the point of recklessness,
who approached the task of stunning
an antagonist with an easy conf.
dence.
| When Jef's face was furrowed
from mind strain the negro was
laughing. When. the white fighter
strained his utmost to free himself
from clinches the black man simply
put his weight on his opponent s
arms and shoulders and rested. One
man worked terribly without rest !;
the other rested much of the time
and was terrible In flashes in ac-
tion.
Perhaps the white fighter mlsun.
derstood the periods of careless
slouching he read in the others ac,
tions. He fought as If he thought
he was invncible, and that the grin,
ming, shifty black before him was not
capable of forcing him into coma
however much he might slash and
slice the flesh. difference in psy
chology had something to do with the
result. No such spectacle as that in
side the graded tiers of humanity
has ever been seen. Probably In this
country no such spectacle will be
seen again. It was the fight of the
century. II was the surprise of the
century also.
Governor Dickerson of Nevada
who had announced that he woulc
not be at the fight, dropped into his
] seat In the second row from The rims
at 1880. He looked stern but pleased
Just about this time Rickard came Il
where the reporters of the press as
sociations were broiling by thei
wires and said that 1t had beer
agreed between the fighters that th'
purse would be split 60 and 40 In
stead of rs TO winner and 25 to thu
loser, as the public had supposed thu
agreement read. Rckard gave M
reason why the rearrangement hat
been made. He called attention Il
the fact thai the total purse wa
1921 900, including the bonuses pai'
by the promoters.
When Jeffries appeared in laver
der trunks sound of admiration
sounded through the tiers of packo
seats. His flesh was deep brown
He seemed to be in very go6d cond