The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-02-18
JOHN |. and |
Good FRIDAl
What Happened When tn
Waiter Brought the Steaks
to Famous Fighter

TO FAMOUS FlgnCer iii
ST. Louis Host Tells Of DIM
ner rendered to Sullivan
In His Heyday.
Tho billboards advise me that Jol1n|
L. Sullivan is with us. The dear old
gladiator who really "gladiated" in
his day. Comes to mind a day met
John L., one of the days Of his glory.
1t was at bar where officiated Ed
Cuthbert, once renowned as a mem
Der of the old Philadelphia ball team
It was in the days-wen such a Vie,
de Boheme as might be duplicated al
| the banks of the Mississippi from the
model on the banks of the Seine. nj
was in the consulship of Plancus II
mean the mayoralty of Noonan. And
present were the leaders Of what thea
| we called .'the push There Were.
bert, Lou Guion, Jim Cronin. Ton
Skidmore, Tim Scully, I believe, Tom
Wand and some more.
Nothing would do but that VIZ
! should have a dinner out at Harr1
Falks roadhouse, and ! thither we
Much merry fstianic converse was
there, John L. being especially el6-]
quent upon the shortcomings of one'
Richard K. Fox We sat down 10
dinner. The first course was cham#
payne, and the second, and so on I'm
It'll we lost count. Johns big voic8I
| booming away like giant fire-cracls4
er going off under a barrel. Som
one oddly enough thought that Hl
might not be wholly unconv entiondfz
of a fN az hi fn
| There were loud and prOfane calls for.
| F'alk and food. Tn a minute, gentle1
men, said the ingratiating Falk, ana
/ there was more champagne. BuE
presently in came the waiter and puk
| upon the able one, two, three enof$
nous porterhouse steaks. "Ah!' Ard
again .tAh!' and much gathering OF
knives and forks, and more .cham4
payne, served by Falk himself, a gen1
/ tleman of the race that does not al Il
ways get the money as inevitably as
popular superstition believes. Il was
seated next to John L. think there
was some more champagne.
/ Bang!-there was a crash on the
liable of Sullivan's terrible right that
sent the fizZ water spouting to the
| ceiling and made every plate dance,
| and then there was such an objurga-
| tory and execrationaI outburst from
the large gentleman at my right as
has not been heard since the cardinal
cursed the Jackdaw of Rheims. Ev-
erybody stood up-with difficulty.
| Sullivan lowered like giant Sarpedon
over the Ilian throng. What's the
| matter, Suily?" queried Cronin. why
what the does
| this - - roadhouse take me fort
Where is he-let me see him, the
| -. Serving me meat on Good FRI
| day" And the incident was fntensi-
fed to the. big fellows mind by the
/ fact that F'alk was of the race that
i gave us Good Friday. There WASN'T
| a. man there but one who would;
/ touch the meat, and not one but SUI:
ly had rem embered the day. Fall
came in and offered profuse apologies.
accept. I think I reminded him that
/ Good Friday was the only day in the:
year upon which his church prayed
| for the Jews. And the Falk had the
/ great steaks removed There wan
| some more champagne. Then some
| one, I think it was Jim Cronin, left
| the table and went out into the kitch-s
/ en-, whence emanated instantly in his
lgolden voice, words which origina ted
in emphasis and diapasoned into a
scream, )Cronin was apoplectic. Falk.
was as gray as one who had seen a
ghost what do you think?' walled
| Cronin. Hes getting us chicken. Says
Falk, it's Good Friday; can you get
US some fish ?" And all the fish Falk|
had was three boxes Of ,sardinesx
which we had, handsome more cham
payne. Then we piled into the Wan
dian hacks again, and it was a fun-;
| eral procession that came back To-
! town. That night we went to see Sui
hlivan act at Havelin's He had at
sparring partner, and one swipe -1e
landed on that sparring partner land-
ed the man almost in our box from
| the middle of the stage, while tho
Boston boy winked at us with a dull
thud of the eyelid that could be heard
| two blocks.
It was / know not how many years
after that, one fearsomely hot day in
New York, I stopped in bar on 42d
street to cool off. I didn't notice the
big man at the end of the bar, but.
! he spoke and I knew the voice, say
| ing Hello st. Louis! Say, did any o.
| you fellows ever pay the bill for that
dinner you gave me out at that road
house?" I could only confess that 4
| hadn't and John said, Served him
right, that roadhouse fellow, serving
a lot o. us good Christians mean on d
Good Friday. I'll have little sody."
Five of the diners of that day are.
dead. The rest of us might as well.
be-we've reformed For what's life
without hacks and roadhouses and
worshipfulness towards champions or
the ring and champagne and a mayor
in the City, hall who you could call
upon and address. by his Christian,
name and get "a good ward worker.
out of the workhouse for the asking
Good old John L.! His business was
fighting, and he 'sft' and he bought
wine" as if that only that were what
he fought for, and when he finally.
went down he was glad he. was lick
ed by an American" and didn't say
he was "doped.'' and he never threw.
fight or had one thrown to him.
and he remembered when it was
Good Friday and wouldn't eat meat
Painting time tolls after him in
vain" as he toiled after Charii08
Mitchell in the ring in France, gruln- j
bling s"This is a. foot race!" He's good
to look upon yet, with Jake Kilrain.a
whom he trounced proper so long ago,s
aid he's chiefly good to look upon
because he was true to his code, such
as it was, and as he never was SUI
percilious in days of popular favor no
has never whined in days of DISTRESS
How many Of us are as true to our
ideals, such as they are, as he has.
been to his? Good Friday? Who re-
members it, or what it means? we
only remember Christmas because.
that's the time we get something. And
there's only one reason any time for
not eating meat, and that is because
the beef trust has put the price too
high.rWilliam Marion Reedy in ti,s
ST. Louis Mirror.