Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1911-04-17
.LANGFORD MAKES
HIT IN ENGLAND

the London correspondent of the
Chronicle. His training quarters at
! Wembly, a little suburban town few
miles northwest of London, is the
Mecca for all the fight fans In this
part of the world. There Sam, with a
smile on his dark features that makes
him look as harmless as newborn
babe, tells tlfem all what he will do
to "Mistah" Johnson when they meet.
Round about Membly Langford has
some splendid roads for his outdoor
work. His training party, which is a
good sized one, including Bob Arm
strong. "Porky" Flynn of Boston.
George Byers and Professor Davis,
has taken possession Of a quiet Eng
fish inn called the Norfolk Arms, on
the outskirts of the town and from
there start Is made every morning.
The Boston fighter loves the cards
and spends couple of hours every
day playing solitaire.
Just before dinner Is served Sam
entcrtains the training camp and any
early visitors that have dropped In to
some Of his ragtime piano playing,
And how he does fight that instrument
to a finish! lie can make II talk in
several different languages, he says.
AS matter of fact he is really
clever player, but when he is at the
piano he seems to imagine that he IL
In the ring and is intent upon making
every blow knockout The whole
building shakes as he rains blows
upon the defenseless keyboard
Then Sam breaks into song. To be
sure. the operate stage hasn't lost
anything in Langford. but he is not
afraid to let his voice go, and his
humping piano serves to drown
many Of the defects of his voice.
American Pie for Langiord.
At ! o'clock dinner is announced
Oh, my, what dinner! No English
fare for Sam and his party. Mrs.
Sampson, the wife of the proprietor
of the little inn. has learned to cook
pies and buckwheat cakes and corn
bread, and many other things cal
culated to tickle the stomach and
gladden. the heart of an exiled Amer
lean. don't believe Sam would stay
a minute in this country II he couldn't
have his American food.
An hour later the men are in the
gymnasium. Sam throws the medi-
cine ball with Byers and Armstrong.
Then he INDUCES in shadow boxing
and exercises Of the arms and body,
followed by rope skipping. Finally
Sam dons the gloves and trouble
begins. Armstrong is the first to get
his dose. The latter towers above
the Boston Tar Baby" as the Eiffel
tower scars above Paris But there
is no denying this little giant killer.
He hooks and swings and uppcrcuts
and jabs and loops the loop" and
Armstrong grunts and grimaces as
the ,blows come home to roost. After
"A round with Armstrong. Sam takes
on Byers, who is shorter and faster.
But, speedy as he IL, Sam makes him
hustle all the way, and has him per-
spring and breathing hard at the
finish. While Byers and Armstrong
rest and talk II over Professor Davis,
an English mitt pusher with the clev-
erness of kid" Mccoy, tries to keep
the black out of range through three
minutes of boxing. Sam repeats this
programme twice, and then, AS a
wind-up, takes on couple of the fast
lightweights In the camp for one
round each.
Popular with English Sports.
The days work completed Sam
gets good rub down. followed by
a cup Of tea and some biscuits All
the while he is being watched by a
crowd of English sports. Titles are
weR sprinkled around tire gymnasium
and Sam has become quite chummy
with the holders of many of the
proudest names in Great Britain.
They clasp his great right paw and
slap him Familiarity on his shining
back. II the old system still pre-
vailed In England whereby some
noble lord took fighter under his
patronage, paid his expenses and
backed him in his matches. this 1T
tie chocolate drop" from Boston,
U, s. A., would be inundated with
offers.
One of the visitors is Eugene CORR.
the famous English referee, who of
hciated in the match between Lang
ford and Lang. A few years ago the
idea Of a referee visiting the train
Ing camp Of fighter would have rails
ed a storm OF protest in England.
He was not expected to see the men
before they stepped into the ring.
1t was rather foolishly felt by those
In control of boxing that If II were
known that "a referee paid visit to
the lighters, a general suspicion of
crookedness would arise.
Revelation to Britt.
Another visitor the day I was at
the camp was Jimmy Britt himself.
He sat next to me in a corner OF the
gymnasium. We talked about Lang
ford and this is what the ex-light-
weight champion thinks of MIN: