The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1912-07-05
REFEREE STEALS
FIGHT FROM RIVERS.
After Wolgast Fouls Rivers and is
Knocked Out by Mexican, WEIGH
Picks Champion as
Winner.
woLGAsr DOWN AND OUT
Fight Critics Roast welch Saying De-
eIsion is Big Steal and Wolsast
Camp viii Say
Nothing.
WoLGAsT DOWN AND OUT
BY Referee Jack Welsh:

BY Referee Jack Welsh:
Rivers was on the floor the full ten
seconds. l counted him out before
the bell rang. That's all there was
to it.
By Timekeeper Harder:
l rang the gong ending the thsr--
teenth round before Welsh signalled
to Wolgast that he was the winner.
Rivers had been down about nine
seconds when the bell sounded.
BY Joe Rivers:
Wolgast struck me a foul blow.
Even at that, was on my feet before
ten seconds were up Welsh never
reached ten at all. Wolgast quit. He
was doing it when he took the floor.
By AID Wolgast:
Rivers knew he was whipped. He
knows 1t now. He struck me with his
knee when he fell The pain of that
blow was awful. thought my legs
were five feet apart when 1 got to my
feet.
BY Joe Levy. Rivers manager:
Joe was not knocked out He was
put down by foul blow and even
then he was on his feet at the count
OF eight. do not think the referee
was competent.
By Tom Jones. Wolgast's manager:
1t was clean knockout. A stom-
ach punch did it. Welsh's ruling was
the only one possible.
UNITED Press Leased Wire Service I
Los ANGELES, July 5.--Ad VOL
CAST today retains the lightweight
title by virtue of the verdict of Ref
cree Jack Welsh, OF San Francisco,
who declared that Ad knocked out the
challenger, Joe Rivers, in the thir.
teenth round Of their scheduled 20
round fight at Vernon yesterday.
Never in the history of the fight
game in Los Angeles has such con.
fusion marked the termination Of a
battle. The end came when the fight
iers were engaged in a fierce rally
against the ropes and were fighting
head to head. Suddenly Rivers sanks
| to the floor, his hands over his groin
Wolgast, almost at the instant. pitch
| ed forward to the canvass. his hands
clasped about his stomach.
| While both boys lay on the floor
Referee Welsh counted. Ringside
/ spectators aver that. at the count Of
five, the gong sounded, ending the
round. Welsh continued to count bu
Rivers handlers maintains that theil
boy dragged himself to his feet at the
count of eight, and come persons ever
declare that Wolgast still was on tn.
floor when Rivers left his knees.
Welsh maintains that Wolgast wa,
on his feet before Rivers: that h,
counted ten over the PROSTATE challen
ger and that the gong did not end tn,
round until after Rivers had been de
clared out.
/ The scene that followed the decis
ion was of the widest disorder. No
one spectator in hundred knew
i Welsh's decision. Others, nearer TIL
4 ringside, were crying robbery.
Meanwhile the crop OF country cor
stables of Vernon were making pueril
efforts to clear the ring, which wa
J filled with raving bugs. Rivers, tear
streaming down his blood-stained face
begged for the bout to go on Wol
CAST, after being assisted to his corner
] had fallen back in his chair, hal
conscious.
Welsh slipped from the arena dur
Ing the commotion, and Wolgast. a
, soon as he could be moved, was take
to his training quarters at Doyle
camp nearby. Rivers was given
tremendous ovation in his dressin
room and then hurried to Los Ar
Igeles, where doctors who examine
4 him declared that he had been badl
5 hurt
1 The Wolgast contingent indignant
ly denied that Wolgast had fouled hi
opponent. Tom Jones, the champion
, manager asserts that the wallo
5 which put Rivers to the canvass wa
a hard right swing, following left t
8 the pit Of the stomach Wogast him
slef determinedly stated that he kne,
the moment the blow landed tina
Rivers was out. His explanation @
the general scramble on the mat /
that Rivers instinctively drawing u
his knee when the blow landed in hi
I stomach, prodded the champion, unir
S tontionally in the groin.
S Timekeeper Harder, whose state
r ment was anxiously awaited by tn
e Rivers camp. asserted that River
: was counted out after the bell ha