River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1914-02-19

on the face of it, a joke-the men In
the fighting game We're notorious jok-
ers-and be tried TO discern the fine
hand of Corbett or the big friendly
paw of Fitzsimmons in the screed be-
fore him But if it were genuine. he
knew it was worth looking into.
Pat GIendon was before his time
though, as cub. he had once seen
Old Pat spar at the benefit for Jack
Dempsey. Even then he was called
"Old" Pat and bad been out of the
ring for years. He had antedated Sui
Ivan in the old London prize ring
rules. though his last fading battles
had been put up under the incoming
Marquis of Queensberry rules.
What ring follower did not know of
Pat Glendon Though few were alive
who had seen him in his prime. and
there were not many more who had
seen him at all.
Yet his name had come down in the
history of the ring. and no sporting
writer's lexicon was complete without
it. His fame was paradoxical.
No man was honored higher, and
yet he had never attained champion
ship honors. He had been unfortunate
and had been known as the unlucky
fighter.
Four times he all but won the heavy
weight championship. and each time he
had deserved to win it. There was
the time on the barge, in San Fran
cisco bay, when, at the moment he
had the championship going, he snap
ped his own forearm, and on the is
land in the Thames, sloshing about in
six inches of rising tide. he broke
leg at a similar stage in a winning
fight In Texas. too, there was the
never to be forgotten day when the
police broke in just as he had his man
going in all certainty.
And finally. there was the fight in
the Mechanics pavilion in San Fran
cisco, when he was secretly jobbed
from the first by a gun fighting. bad
man of a referee backed by a small
syndicate of bettors Pat Glendon had
had no accidents in that fight, but
when he had knocked his man cold
with right to the jaw and left to
the solar plexus. the referee calmly
disqualified him for fouling Every
ringside witness. every sporting ex
pert, and the whole sporting world
knew there had been no foul
Yet, like all fighters. Pat Glendon
had agreed to abide by the decision of
hn Dot oh a nd fn6
as in keeping with the rest Of his bad
luck.
This was Pat Glendon. What both.
cred Stubener was whether or not Pat
had written the letter He carried it
downtown with him.
"What's become of Pat GlendonY
Such was his greeting to all sports
that morning Nobody seemed to know.
Some thought he must be dead. but
none knew positively. The fight editor
of morning daily looked up the rec
ords and was able to state that his
death had not been noted It was from
Tim Donovan that be got clew
''Sure an he amt dead" said Dono-
van How could that be-a man OF
his make that never bOoZed or blew
himself? He made money and, what's
more, he saved it and invested it.
Didn't he have three saloons at one
time? An wasn't he maxim slathers
of money with them when he sold out?
''Now that I'm thinkin'. that was the
last time laid eyes on him-when he
sold them out II was all of twenty
years and more ago. His wife had just
died | met him headin' for the ferry.
Where away, old sportY says | It's
me for the woods, says he. T've quit
Goodby. Tim. me boy And I've never
seen him from that day to this. OF
course he amt dead"
"You say when his wife died-did he
have any childrenY' Stubener queried
zone, little baby He was luggin'
it in his arms that very day."
"Was ii a boy?"
How should | be knowin'Y
1t was then that Sam Stubener