davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Alaska citizen., 1912-02-26
It's New Only in Name, Though.
BY HARRY SMITH.

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan. II. - The
'fistic alibi' is the latest name for
excuse of the loser in the boxing
game. And it's a pretty good ex-
cuse. Did you ever stop to think
that there's only one thing as fixed
as death and taxes?-that's the ex-
PLANTATION of the man who has been
whipped in the prize ring
| don't know of an exception.
Quite frequently, of course. they
start off with the modest state
ment that they have lost and have
no excuses to make But sooner or
later, either in that same statement
or a day later, they are on hand
with some good reason for taking
the losers end of the purse
With the Fastener, who is 60
ing back home again, it is quite sim
pie. He can lay the blame on the
referee for robbing him and he can
point to the home audience as Civ
ing him all the worst of it.
The Alaska citizen., 1912-02-26

Where both chaps happen to be
from the same secticn and have to
remain there II is apt to be differ
ent. The defeated boxer can blame
1t on the weight. or give some other
line Ct explanation that will sound
fairly feasible.
Perhaps in the millennium they will
abandon the fistic alibi, but not in
these modern days.
When Battling Nelson was beaten
by Ad Wolgast and lost his title, in
the Richmond arena. he laid it on
the late Eddie Smith and intimated
that if the referee hadn't stopped
the bout he might have turned the
tables before the forty-fifth round
had come to a close.
Packey Mcfarland worked some
thing new with reference to his
poor showing against Tommy Muir
ply. Albeit he won. the Chicago
stockyards boy knew that il was as
good as a loss. and told his friends
at home that he had been worrying
about that breach of promise suit
that had been filed by a girl from
the Windy City. Freddie Welsh ad-
mitted that he might have made a
more spectacular showing against
Willie Richie, but told his sympa-
thizers that he had worried so
much over Wolgast he wasn't in
proper frame of mind
Some Famous Excuses.
The famous excuses of the age,
of course, you will remember
There was the "ulna bone" when
Jimmy Britt didn't want to face Joe
Cans any longer out at Recreation
park.
1t was the "os Magnum" with
Stanley Ketchel when he made a
poor showing in one of his San
Francisco bouts.
And it was Who put something
in Jeffries tea cup?" or WAS the
big fellow drugged?' after the Reno
| affair was ended and the friends of
the former champion were busy tell
ing why it didn't happen their way.
Truly enough the boxing game
has made history for us.
The Alaska citizen., 1912-02-26

triple for three runs that would
have been good for a homer.
Jim Delehanty in the same game
hit a homer with two men on and
tripel with the bases full.
George Stovall, playing for Cleve.
land against Boston, hit a home
run in the ninth inning with two
on and did the same stunt.
George Ruhe, substitute third sack.
er of the Chicago White Sox. ham
mered out triple in the final game
of the Cubs series and won the
worlds championship in 1906.
Joe Tinker, with a triple won the
famous "Merkle' game that was
played off. Joe's hit came off
Christy Mathewson.
Joe Jackson hit home run with
the bases drunk off Jack Powell at
ST. Louis.
The Alaska citizen., 1912-02-26
Twenty Greatest Binoles.

Larry Lajoie. Cleveland, July l,
batted for Jack Grancy, and hit
Jesse Baker, White Sox pitcher, for
two bases, shooting three men across
Sam Crawford's home run against
Boston in 1909 clinched the pennant
for Detroit
Fred Clarke tied the first game
Of the worlds series between Pitts
burg and Detroit in 1909 with a
home run.
Frank Bakers two home runs
against Mathewson and Marquard
came pretty near to settling the
worlds series,
Otis Crandall, when he doubled in
the ninth inning of the fifth worlds
series game and pushed two runs
across. sewed up the game. The
Giants won in the tenth.
Joe Jackson made the longest
home run ever seen at the Cleve-
land grounds. 1t blew over the
right field wall
Luderus' two home runs against
Babe Adams, tying and winning the
game.
George Moriarity, from whom Del
ehanty was passed by Harry Krause,
came up at Shibe park and cracked
the ball to the scoreboard for three
sacks.
Cobb, Crawford, Delehanty and
Gamer, in game against Wash
ington with Long Tom Hughes,
pitching, each tripled in turn.
Charley Hickman made wee Will
lie Sudhoff damned one over the
fence with man on and the score
3 to 2 against Hickman's team. This
was for Cleveland against ST.. Louis.
Big Bill Lange bumped one over
the center field fence at Cincinnati,
the ball breaking a pane of glass
in saloon and also breaking up a
pinochle game in progress
HeiDe Zimmerman made two home
runs in one day over the left field
fence in Cincinnati, the only time
a ball has been knocked over any
of the present fences.
Buck Ewing hit one over the right
field fence in the old Cleveland
ground that is one of the greatest
hits ever recorded there
Sam Crawford in a game at De-
troit against the White Sox picked
The Alaska citizen., 1912-02-26
The Supreme Bumper Degree
By Charles E. van Loan in
February Popular Magazine

You've got to give it to Mike
He could box. But there his polite
accomplishment ended And that's
what made the theatrical managers
sore when they wanted to star him
in "vodeveal." He couldn't learn
| trick bag punching. Then came the
great idea-the Supreme Bumper De
gree. A winner from the start
| You never saw a greater attraction.
1t is in all the record books, and
| if you know where TO look you can
find it for yourself. I'm not hold
| ing you. I'm not asking you to take
my word for it when you can flip
over few pages, get back among
the hasbeens, put your finger on
Mikes illustrious record, and see it
| in print. There it stands, line
of cold black type with a date and
a blot on great mans banner,
blade, still mutely demanding an ex
| PLANTATION.
Possibly you think a record can
not be explained away; it may be
you are one of those midnight stu
dents of the past performance who
believe that a fighters record is
simply matter of fact and figures;
something to gamble on; something
to accept as the gospel truth That
shows how much you know about
| machinery. Let me inform you that
a record book, innocent as il may
| look, has old man Ananias stitched
up in a side pocket when it comes
to plain and ornamental untruth.
That's because it has so many fig
ures in it-and figures, the proverb
to the contrary, are no little George.
Washingtons. They can't lie, Ell?
Man, they wrote the game! You
show me anything with a lot of
| figures in it which is on the square,
barring perhaps a calendar, and
may reconsider my statement, but
show me first.
OF course, we might have explain
ed this thing at the time it hap
pened, but it was one of those I'M
fortunate affairs where an explana-
ton would have been about as
healthy as the smallpox We didn't
like the medicine, but the doctor
was standing right at the bedside
with club, and there was nothing
to do but swallow it.
You see, they had us, either way
the cat hoped. You can't explain
fifth ace in a poker deck, can you?
Or couple of cards up your sleeve?
And what are you going to do if
they find a dab of quicksilver in
your dice? No, sir, when they
catch you with the merchandise on
your person, the less said the bet
ter, and, when they got us. we
were loaded with the plumber, and
couldn't say word
AS long as he lived, Mike never
let me forget that the idea was
mine in the first place. Most of
Mikes ideas were mine, for the
matter of that, because Make had
been a truck driver before he be-
came a fighter, and when he became
champion he retained most Of
the delicate characteristics which dis
tinguished him in his early days He
had to hire a man to do his think
ing, so he hired me, but l was
never his manager l was only
his secretary.
! used to attend to his mail, which
The Alaska citizen., 1912-02-26

was heavy; give out his interviews
TO the reporters-that was a cinch,
because all had to say was that
we were open to fight any man in
the world at any time or place or
weight-lo-k after his personal eff
fects, make announcements from the
stage when he was on the road
stall off the people he didn't wish
to see, and help to count up the
house when Bill Gay, the manager.
was in such a condition that he
couldn't tell a silver dollar from a
pancake
A nice, soft job | had with Mike.
because he left all the details to
me. All Mike wanted was the
money. and he didn't care for any
thing else on earth. There are lots
of better men in Mikes fix.
During the winter after Mike beat
the English champion in three rounds
things were rather slack in the fight
ing department. There wasn't
man in America who cared to face
the Great Finisher in the ring, though
there were several who were fight
ing him hard in the papers and post
ing hypothetical money-accent on the
hypo-to bind imaginary matches be-
VII oh flt1 he ct,
ed for another theatrical tour of
the provinces.
You know the kind of show
that was-part burlesque and part
variety, which they call "vodeveaP
in these days-with Mikes "act"
sandwiched in between the trick BIZ
cycle riders and the grand finale.
I'm not boosting it a bit when
say 1t was one of the very worst
of its kind, and, without Mike, any
show that he ever travelled with
would have died the death of a dog
and walked back home.
Don't think for a minute that
Mike was much of a hit on the
stage, but he was a drawing card,
and, when you're playing the one
night stands, who cares so long as
the money comes into the house?
Nobody but the people who pay to
get by the gate
People came to see our show be-
cause they wanted to see the Great
Finisher They saw him, and that
was about all. He never could learn
trick bag punching, like Mccoy and
Fftzsimmons, and the very best he
could do in that line was the cid
right and left-wham. wham!-and
finish up by breaking the rope and
knocking the bag out into the front
of the house. OF course there was
nothing new in that Fighters have
been doing that stunt since a punch
ing bag was invented!
Mike couldn't act, and there was
no use in trying to make him. he
wouldn't make a speech, though |
must have written a thousand for
him at different times, and his ex-
hibition boxing was a pitiful thing
to see. Mike didn't know how to
box like gentleman. The best
thing he did was to hit a man on
the jaw SO hard that all his wifes
relations felt the shock, and of course
it cost more than a dollar a throw
to see him do that 1t was Mikes
only polite accomplishment.
This time when the theatrical peo-
pie signed him up, they said they
must have something new, something
attractive. Mike had been over the
The Alaska citizen., 1912-02-26
By W. W. NAUGHToN.

Sy W. w. NACG n ION.
SAN FRANCISCO. Jan = -
Jack johnson is "a queer fighter
remarked q sport who keeps close
tab ON the development of the pug
jli>tic belt He says he won't
tackle sam MoNta or Jim Flynn un-
til he gets $&u"o0 cold. but declares
he Is willing 'o trade punches with
Jim Corborr just for the fun of the
thing
Well what's the diff renee What
Jack j husou SAYS matters little. II
is what he does rHa- counts. And
the man who can predict with anF
degree of certainty the nature of
Jacks activities during The next few
months mus, be- gifted with second
sight in an extraordinary degree.
Pair Of Guesses.
Here are couplc of suess,s If
Johnson boxes either Ncyea or
Flynn the remuneration will he con.
~iderahly less than $ao.o0e If John.
johnson and Corhe,r meet face ia
fac, there will D., ro blood shed
Johusou.s sp,c,ho- and actians for
many month. mast have beee .
fimhle of thing. in snrr an avtant
hat At limo. fl seems a. tAoagh
The Alaska citizen., 1912-02-26


As rule horses that have made
trotting history on American soil
have been those of medium size.
Great Eastern was an exception,
and SO was Mosul, and we have
read of other equine giants on the
trotting turf But the rule is as
stated. Lady Suffolk, the first trot-
ter to trot as fast as 2:30 or better,
was scant Il hands. Flora Tenn
pie. the first trotter to beat 2:20,
was about 142 hands. Dexter, the
first horse to beat Flora's time, was
about l52. SunOl, on the other
hand, was nearly, if not quite, 16
hands. if we remember rightly.
Nancy Hanks was scant Is hands.
Arion and Dictum, both champion
trotters in their day, were about
15l2 hands. General Watts. the
first entire 3-year-old to trot as fast
as 2:o6&i, is scant Is hands. Color
do e., the greatest 3-year-old trotter
ever foaled, promises to develop in
| to a 16-hand horse. Uhlan, king
of trotters, is close to 1873 hands
high. Cresceus, king of trott.ng
stations for many years, was close
to 16 hands, while the Harvester,
who in 1910 seized the crown that
the noble son of Robert McGregor
had carried so CALAMITY for so many
years. is fully 1873 hands in height.
The Alaska citizen., 1912-02-26
latest Outside Sporting Dope

BILE opponents the name of any
heavyweight who boxed in New
York. Jim Flynn and others please
take heed.
Would Defy o'Neil.
1t was a fearful threat, but it
was merely another of Jacks pass
ing whims Before SO hours passed
he declared that he had changed
his mind. Instead of avoiding New
York and demanding that his oppon-
ents avoid New York, he would take
the big city by storm and defy Box
ing Commissioner O'Neil
The Frawley law. he urged. was
framed for blacks and whites alike.
and he would stand upon his rights
As an American citizen He would
box or know the reason why.
And that's the way it goes Jack
is as shifty in his conversation as
he is in his ring work But scarce
ly as good a general.
I CHICAGO. Jan. 10. - Billy Papke
is going to start his ring life all
over again and he believes he can
once more attain the position he
held when he knocked out Stanley
/ ketchel in Los Angeles in Septem,
Der of 1908. 1t is not so very
long ago that the Kewanee middle.
weight it might be said that he
is almost a full-fledged heavyweight
now-was considered a worthy bat
/ Tier to fill the vacancy left by the
death Of Stanley Ketchel, but from
The time the one heralded Illinois
thunderbolt' hit the foreign shores
. he began to drop back until he re-
tired, which followed defeats at the
/ hands of Sailor Burke and Bob
Mona
Only 20 years old and still in pos
session OF good health, Papke says
there is no reason why he cannot
+ come back" and he will not al.
I low himself to believe differently
until he has given himself a severe
tryout. He is determined. Papke
today is in Hot Springs taking the
baths and such other necessary treat.
ments that will whip an athlete into
/ condition.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-15
SAYS UNCLE CAV

Did it ever strike you that he who is
specialist in minding his own business
is seldom annoyed? Most of US are
unconsciously trying to regulate the
affairs of others. Nine-tenths of the
things that worry US really do not
concern US at all
A friend of mine who has a peculiar
knack at getting at the bottom of
things took census of his worries.
I'D like to know what Uncle Cav
thinks of this" he said, and handed
me the result of his observations brief
ly summed up as follows:
Times annoyed during week. $500. Sc
Real causes of annoyance ...... 6
Annoyances chargeable to self. -. 6
Borrowed troubles ............50
'Note-Upon two occasions, my
own shortcomings were responsible
casions, the shortcomings of Others
were responsible. Fifty times during
the week / have been worried and my
work has been interfered with by my
interest in matters which did not in
the least concern me, and would not
have affected me in the least had 1
not been paying a sort of officiouS at
tention to the doings of those around
me. For instance, it was no concern
of mine that two of my neighbors en-
gagged in a quarrel over politics. The
shiftlesSnesS of a certain clerk in an
office next to mine is not a matter in
which 1 can be legitimately Interested;
neither have 1 any business to- worry
over the manner in which a man
who is all but an utter stranger to me
is training his son. Yet these things
and forty-seven others of the same
variety have kept me more or less
constantly annoyed during the week.
/ have come to the conclusion that
and most of my acquaintances are
busybodies who are Furnishing them
selves by worrying over matters with
which they should not be in the least
concerned
There seems to be moral in this
as plain as a pikestaff and as big as
barn.-(Copyright, 1912, by w. E.
Williams)
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-15
FROM OTHER PENS

OF COURSE IT WOULD NEVER DO.
Mrs. Clara Freedman, who is urging
the Hebrew mothers in Chicago engaged
in fighting the present high prices OF
meat to marshal a parade of nude chill
dren through the streets of the congest-
ed district Of Chicago's West Side, ex-
plains that her object is to attract pub
lie attention to the cause. Undoubted-
ly it would have that, effect. But
there is room to doubt its expedlency.
There are parts of the world where
children go without clothing as a mat
ter of course, and where the attire of
grown folks is scant, according to west
ern standards. Here Is Kipling's de.
scription of Gunga Din:
The uniform e wore
Was nothin' much before
And rather less than art o. that
behind.
This would be too oriental for Chi
cago, and so would the suggested pa
rade of children. Mrs. Freedman in
sists that the kosher butchers as well
Is the packers are OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES
the butchers buy at 16 cents a pound
the meat for which they charge rs. I'm
doubtedly the situation is exasperating
but even If butchers insist on charging
higher prices, that is no reason for en-
listing children in a parade that would
offend public decency and undermine
their own Observation-Disclosures Wiscoa-
sin.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-15
GLOBE SIGHTS
BY THE ATcH1soN GLOBE.

A carrier pigeon contest doesn't interest
us greatly, but we have observed it is
never won by the Dove of Peace.
Providing you have moved around a lot
you have forgotten a lot of friends who
seemed worth while when you knew them
After reading the weather reports. one
naturally spends some time wondering
how they find time to raise wheat crop
in Canada.
Despite our high literary standards, you
will observe it is the book agent who has
to hunt you up to make a sale, and not
the barkeeP.
If you work hard for money, people say
you are gasping; and if you demand
nothing for your service it is said you are
grandstanding.
Baseball usually occupies more space
than news In congress, and the morning
papers have some other good points If one
looks for them.
hard working man finds some conso-
lation in reading of the troubles of the
idle rich, but. as rule, he would be will
ing to share them.
So many presidents are being broken
that some day soon some man will an
nounce that the spare the rod and spoil
the child theory is a relic Of the past.
Having heard that there will be a big
demand in Kansas for harvest hands this
summer, Jude Johnson. who complained
all winter about there being no work Is
preparing to go to Seattle to look for a
location.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-15
HUNOR or THE Day

The angleworm wiggle is the latest
thing in frenzied dancing. Eftsoons We
shall be confronted with the frog hop,
the lizard squirm and the centipeded shuf-
fle.-Milwaukee Sentinel.
do you think the Chinese republic VIII
be success?' I'm afraid not. 1t
public office for everybody who has taken
part in the revolution. Chicago Record
Herald.
is she really an expert stenographer:"
ssVelI no But she's as expert as you
could expect a girl of her beauty to be-
Cleveland Plain Dealer.
Future Observation-Disclosures Visitor
And what are you going to be. my little
man? Little Boy (after a huge dinner)-
I'm going to be-sick.-Sketch.
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-15
AYHAWKER JOTS

Mack Gretchen says that if you have
determined to climb. never make the
mistake of going back down hill tc
get a running start.
A poetic spasm by Finch of the
Carbonate POST 1 tried to call her
honey, but she stung me yessirree-
And now you bet your money, 1 call
her honey bee.
Adam Croaker, of the Holton Re
corder calls attention to the fact that
the old fashioned reporter who discov-
cred hail stones as large as a hens egg
has come to the surface down in Riley
county.
Neighbors worth having live in dis
trict No. A, Marion county, as the fol-
lowing from the Florence Bulletin
shows: Mrs. Craig lost about all her
chickens in the cyclone so the women
of the neighborhood each gave her a
hen and a setting of little chicks and
now she has over a hundred chickens.
Hint" items are often good detec-
ives, says the Atchison Globe. The
day after one has appeared in the pa
per some man my7steriousiy approaches
the reporters and says with studied in
difference: wonder who that hint
item in the paper last night referred
to % That settles it: the item referred
to HIM
A Fort Scott housewife has the fol-
lowing advice to offer to people I'M
accustomed to travelling and visiting:
III going to visit a young girl take
your party clothes; if the hostess is a
woman with a family take your kitch-
en- dress; if she is noted club woman
slip some crackers and canned goods
into your trunk to keep from starv-
ing to death.
One of the stories in the Lawrence
Jcurnal-World on the day it was got
ten out by the Douglas County Equal
Suffrage association was by Margaret
Cameron, who told of a hired girl she
cree employed. The girl left her en-
ploy and soon afterwards was married.
When Miss Cameron met her again,
she congratulated the bride, who re-
piled with a faraway look "Taint
much"
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-15

would become no less patriotic; for II
is always that the more intelligently
one learns to love others, the more
deeply and sincerely one loves one
own. 1t is only the intolerant ane
prejudiced whose love, whether for their
own or others, is selfish and superb
c:aI
Then America would be doing mel
share for the worlds peace, for the
elimination of the pettiness and selfish
ness and miserable MISUNDERSTANDING
that arise between nations. These
things take place only because we oil
the different nations do not really
know each other. If our children lived
their childhood in a United States OF
the world, 1t is ten to one that they
would carry it on when they grew UP.
Put this high ideal before your chill
drep in the simplest language-the
young are all sentimental without lik-
ing it to be known. They grasp and
understand far more than We think
they do; so that there is no more fool
ish thing than to talk down to chill
dren. Rather talk up to them. And
it is above all necessary that we pro-
pagandists should be not only lovers
of children but also experienced in the
world-if possible, experienced in wal
as we'll as peace-and filed with the
enthusiasm of an apostle"
The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-06-15
Vital LAMPADA.

There's breathless hush in the Close
tonight
Ten to make and the match to win
A humping pitch and binding light
An hour to play and the last man in.
And it's not for the sake of a ribboned
coat,
Or the selfish hope of a seasons fame,
But his Captains hand on his shoulder
smote
PLAY up play up. and play the game.'
The sand of the desert is sodden red
Red with the wreck of a square that
broke
The Gatling's damned and the colonel
dead
And the regiment blind with dust and
smoke.
The river OF death has brimmed his
banks,
And Englands far, and Honor a name,
But the voice of a schoolboy rallies the
ranks,
play up! play up! and play the game"
This is the word that year by year
While in her place the School is set
Every one of her sons must hear,
And none that hears it dare forget.
This they all with a joyful mind
Bear through life like a torch in flame,
And falling fling to the host behind
PLAY up! play up! and play the game!
Henry Newbold.