Forest City press. (Forest City, Potter County, D.T. [S.D.]) 1883-19??, 1911-09-28
SECOND BATTLE OF
"F|Tz" and JEFFRiEs
The Big Boilermaker Showed
His True Form in Iris
Important Fight.
BY GEO. o'nRlEN.
the Sioux City Tribune

Irhis is the second article by Geors.
O'Brien dealing with famous fights CA IL.
Pacific coaSt.-Ed.
A short time g l was asked 20 'ell
of the Jeffries- battle 80.
9, pulled off in San Francisco July %.
1902. SO. in order to keep my standing
good. l will relate just what i saw frrin
6 p. M. to $3.50 p. m.: also a few inri-
dents that happened outside OF thc eu-
closure.
A lot OF interest WAS created by the
matching of Jim Jeffries and Bon Fitx-
simmons for a second fight. and many a
wise one predicted Jeffries' defeat
when he again faced Fitzsimmons. of
course, now, you and l know Bob could
not come back. During the summer of
1902 l was running my boxing school
in Los Angeles and saw Jeffries nearly
fore he met Fitzsimrnons. and just be-
fore he left for his last training quar-
tiers. Hardin Springs. l asked him
what he thought of the coming battle.
JEFF replied that he felt sure; that
from the way he felt. and from what
he knew OF "Fitz." the spectator would
see Il "corking good fight while it last
ed" This was all the satisfaction he
gave any one. 1 am sure JEFF told
the truth, for after the 'niili' / felt
$3.50 which l paid to see the fight.
The Southern Pacific made a rate OF
$3.50 for the round trip. and $40
bought me a seat within So feet OF the
ring. At S p. m. l had an early supper
and reached the arena at Sixteenth
street and Nalentia avenue. Upon ar
| irving there l found both streets crowd
ed with people. AT least 5000 We're
around the high fence inclosing a
| piece of ground 2O0x2O0 feet. The ring
was in the center, surrounded by three
| grades of seats: IS bought a general
admission seat; $40 a good seat 90 feet
nearer than the SIS seats; SIS bough: a
seat from where you could rot See as
much as could be seen i'm a IS seat;
| the $50 seats were fine. right up to the
ring.
Nearly a Riot.
Before the doors opened at 6:15 p. M
three rows OF humanity were stretched
clear around the square Those outside
of the three rows were afraid they
could not get a seat and all, as one
man. made a rush on the holders of
positions in the rows. Nearly all of
riot took place. Abou 10 mounted po-
licemen rode into the crowd and after
much work restored rider. When the
doors were opened a steady stream of
SIS gold pieces poured into the little
windows where tickets were sold 1t
took about an hour and a half to get
the crowd of 5000 inside. and l don't
think a more interesting gathering
YER graced a seat thar this
n did. About 10 Women
men we'll dressed sat along side of men
whose appearance would hardly justify
their spending 81. to say nothing of
IS for a ticket. The first on the pro-
gram was a four-iound battle royal
between four young negroes. This fight
the audience. The next preliminary
was a 1O-ro,nd go between Dave Barry
and Harry Foley. Foley Knocked
Barry out. BY the time the main event
keyed up for the biggest light of the
times.
A few people We're perched on q roof
of a building overlooking the arena,
and were the first to see .'1Titz' drive
up. He came down the aisle wearing
a bath robe and a few red hairs. The
reception he got was deafening. All
seemed to want him to win. A few
minutes later jeff came walking
down the same aisle and received a
faint cheer. He wore a panama hat
and overcoat. and chewed gum. JEFF"
lost no time in any way and started
testing the ropes. floor and canvass.
After satisfying himself that every
thing was o. H., he took off his coat
and hat and had a talk with the
referee, whom l think was Eddie
Graney. The referee called the fighters
to the center OF the ring and read me
rules OF them.
Fight Begins.
"Fitz" and "Jef' then had a photo
graph taken, showing them shaking
hands. The bell rang for round one.
"Jef" assumed his crouch. .Fitz"
danced around him landing some light
blows on "Jeff's" face and irving for
an opening. Each landed a few blows
In this round n at the end honors
were even. All present were surprised
at "Jeh's' q%uickness. He was actuauv
out boxing "Fftz."
From the first to the fourth round
no hard blows were landed. In the
fourth round "Fitz" let loose and liter
ally cut "Jef's' face to pieces. He
made a chopping block of JEFF" In the
NTH the crowd called to 'Fitz' to finish
his a "Jef' kept right after "Fitz"
and caught him coming in. with a ba,,
right punch on the breast that lifted
Fritz on his feet. This blow turned
the fight. From the sixth to the eiebth
"Jef' kept "Fitz" running back wards
and clinching. "Fitz" landed . bar.d
blow on "Jeff's'' Jaw in the seventh
and stopped jeff" in his rushing n,
the eighth "Fitz' rushed Jim and
cifnched. AS they were coming ont az
the clinch "Fftz' got caught in his own
corner and could not get away. .Jefr"
nit MIN an awful smash in the wind
crossed his left to ..Fitz', law.
putting Bob out. 'a"
This fight proved Jeffries a great
nsneer and a real champion. no yellow
Had Johnson peer Fitzsimmons ~
you'd have turned white from the ef-
lects OF the blow that finished FYtz.
m When ..Jef,, mon 10