Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1911-11-05


But the spectacle of schaefer just hop
ping from one side of the table to the
other annexed Ives Angora SO com
pleteiy, go destructivcly. that he went
into the air like a square inch Of Korean
kite paper in a typhoon. He couldn't
make thereafter shot. He was gone.
His temper had got the better of him.
His nerve had got lost in the shuttle.
Schaefer beat him badly. Ives was the
better billiard player at this time: all of
the sharps Of the game knew that. But
Schaefer had the seasoned. case-hard-
ened, .invulnerable nerve. and the nerve.
as usual, snageed out the coonskins
Almost as many years ago l saw
great chess match between two or the
renowned players of that day: Zuketort
and Blackburn.
Zuketort, the champion ut that time,
was almost invincible. He was tower
ing genius at the ancient game. Black
burn was a mighty distinguished player
himself, who had beaten more of the
crackeriack at the game than had beaten
him. Zuketort and Blackburn had never
met before this match. They had. how
ever played many series of games BY
telegraph and cable and Zukctort always
had won these 1ong-distance matches.
he had won.
Now they We're playing at famous
chess club in New York. The chess
sharps. silent. ruminative, speculative
but always silent-stood and sat and
watched the wonderful pitting Of intel
lects.
Zuketort was crotchety, highly Or
ganized, excessively nervous Teuton. He
was, besides. arrogant with the memory
of his years Of triumph.
Blackburn was a porpoise-cold Scot; n
man with a Sphinx face sef-control
al RrnhdIpnHgi1n.
repression not to be expressed in speech
or written words He was. by common
consent two or three shades lesser as a
player Of chess than the marvellous Ger
man, but he had the nerve OF Rob Roy
McGregor and then some more nerve
Blackburn, regardless of all of the eyes
of the sharps boring holes in the play,
played on with deiberation, caution and,
finally, with brilliance: Zuketort. self
consciously FESTIVE, squirmed in his chair
as he saw the Scot baking him at every
turn. Zuketort couldn't stand for the
many eyes upon the game. He couldn'
stand. particularly, for the thing Of be-
ing baked with all Of those eyes to see
Blackburn won. 1t was all a matter OF
pure nerve.
l saw one OF the first scraps that Tom
Sharkey ever engaged in. 1T wasn't a
regular prize fight. but boxing en-
counter on the man-o-war on board
which Sharkey then was serving as a
bluejacket master at-arns. Sharkey was
most incontinently drubbed on this occa-
sion by a man who shouldn't have been
able to lick one side of him. But the in
ferior man had the nerve. and Sharkey
hadn't yet developed the indubitable nerve
of which he later showed himself the
possessor-particularly when he gave JEFF
| fries one of the hardest fights of his life
The scrap of which / speak occurred
| on the old cruiser Philadelphia, in the
| harbor OF Honolulu. In 1895. Sharkey was
| O. husky gossoon then, with torso like
! a bull of Bashan and the reputation OF
having the makngs of coming great
/ heavyweight. On board that same shiI
with Sharkey was big lubber of a
marine whose very name l have now for
, gotten The marine was of the long
! snoreman type and build. a man nowhere
| near Sharkey in strength or boxing abb
| ny But he had a vast amount OF self
confidence. He really thought that he
was fighter. sharkey was unproven, OF
| course, at the time: but all hands knew
that Sharkey ought to be able to wax
around this big lufnmox OF a marine Ike
| q cooper around barrel.
| One evening, after knockon, Sharkey
1 and the big marine put on the gloves IN
| the main gangway. All hands gathered
1 around Sharkey had made every Other
near-boxer on board the ship look like
1 an exceedingly small segment of rained
on sour dun. and |. looked as II one large
cocky marine was going to be slaughtered
/ 10 make a man-owar holiday
The marines idea OF boxing was like
q childs idea might be of calculus. AL