The Washington herald., 1914-03-01
SPORTING
SIDELIGHTS
BY BILL BAILEY

There is chapter OF prize ring history
yet to be written. Of which the following
will serve as an introduction.
One evening. or to be more exact, one
morning. / was seated with Dan Stewart
| in his private room at the Southern Club.
at Hot Springs. Ark. The merry click OF
! the roulette wheel had stopped and the
Il box was cased for the night. Mr.
Stewart was In a rerpinescent mood and
| Inter ALA, the Corbett-Fitzsimmonsf fight.
which he brought of. was mentioned, and
the story runneth thus: Before Corbett
and Fitzsimmons stripped for action for
their memorable battle. ! was more than
$4,000 to the bad. The governors Of
| Texas and Arkansas had called special
sessions of the legislatures in their re-
spective States for the purpose of enact
ing a law which would prohibit the fight
Then the Nevada legislature in some way
~ enacted a law permitting finish fights
and preparations were Immediately COM
menced 10 bring the men together.
The attendance was a disappointment:
the receipts were far below the purse
which I guaranteed and II the moving
pictures proved to be a failure. there
was absolutely no chance to get my
money out Of the ffeht; so I called Cor
belt and Fitzsimmons together for a
consultation: laid the matter before
them, and both men agreed that. in or
der to make the pictures worth looking
at. not to end the contest until after the
tenth round l felt that this arrange
men would leave me with a clear con-
science. and the fight being on the level.
hut really commencing in the eleventh
instead of the first round. Corbetts
hatred OF Fitzsimmons came near end
ing the battle in the fifth and again in
the sixth round. In ali of my expert
ence as a follower OF boxing. I had
never seen a man receive such an I'M
merciful beating as Corbett gave Fitz-
simmons. and, but for the promise which
Corbett made me, FitZsimmons would
not have lasted through the sixth round
From that to the tenth, Corbett let up
on the Australian ami when he started
after Fitz, he had suddenly weakened,
though not from any punishment re-
ceived from Fitz, and the rest of the
story is prize-fight history"
While California has turned out sew
eral of the greatest fighters known TO the
modern world. she has also turned out a
number of false alarms, which Is truly
surprising, in view of the fact that Cali
fornians. who see so much boxing, should
be such poor judges OF ability.
A few years ago. as time is reckoned.
there doomed upon the pugilistic horizon
one Joe .McAuliffe. for whom the follow
ing eulogy was kept standing in sporting
columns: Joe McAuliffe. the mission
giant. who is the finest specimen Of ply
steal manhood that the world has ever
produced" McAuliffe couldn't knock
sitting hen on her st, and after he had
met real fighter the Californians won
dered how they had. ever been deceived
in him. Since then the newspapers have
.'tabooed" that physical manhood
phrase, and for months afterwards the
sporting writers were hard pressed for
words which would properly describe
their fighting men, but they have all
finally decided that the o. word won
der" takes its place. which accounts for
tn, grand army Of wonders which the
boobs put up their good coin to see In
action?
But we have some real wonders In the
fighting game. just as good as ever
cleared the decks for action. Among
them may be mentioned Gunboat smith.
Frank Moran. Sam Lanford. Jimmy
Clabby Jack Dillon. Mike Gibbons. Packy
Mcfarland, Johnny Kilbane, Kid Will
Jams, and others, but for some reason
the real fighters are constantly being
..panned :" roasted, :" and "broiled, by
sporting writer's until they are like Kill
bane, who wrote me few days ago and
said: 81 havetb roasted so much that
pastry gives me indigestion"