The Washington herald., 1914-02-10
Stage Set IN Gotham Box
ers Of Old School Did Not
Come from Slums.
OTHER SPORT COMMENT
ny WILLIAM pEEr.

For the first time in history. the leaders
of three big baseball leagues will come
together In q conference. New York Is
the place. and Wednesday the time.
The 6nrpose. of course. is TO fight on
the Fcderal League invasion. and lot
of mshogxny viii be polished at the
half-mile track in the Waldorf Hotter
buffet, ere the moguls depart.
Not since the early sos have the three
big leagues put their heads together, and
1t is expected that before the order to
adjourn is issued, many momentous
Questions will have been settled.
Those Federal Leaguists have got to
be stopped even at the expense Of some
OF the dignity supposed to have crept In
when Gov. Tener took the reins. -
The first of the annual games and
pastimes, next to the All-American ma
hogany polishing contest, will be the
squelching of Charles Webb Murphy,
which carries with it. as first prize trophy,
the scalp of the Feds. In other words,
the big moguls believe that IL Charley
Weeghman is allowed to buy the Toledo
franchise and move the club to Chicago
the restaurant king will run right out ON
the Feds and take the doughbag with him.
Charley Murphy is riotous in his pro-
tests against such a procedure as it will
cut heavily into the receipts Of the Cubs
He claims that a club cannot be put In
Chicago without the unanimous consent
of both leagues, and feeling that way
has grabbed two votes in addition to his
own TO prevent Mr.. weeghman from
being set in by reclamation.
While Gov. Tener is inclined to join
Ban johnson and the other anti-Mur-
rhyites in choosing this line of least re-
sistance, he is also strongly in favor
Of taking the reserve clause into the
courts and having the question of the
title of ball players settled for once and
for ALL ..r-
What the International League will do
is problematicaL Fearing the invasion
Of the Federals, the Barrow's circuit
wants to place club in Washington.
but Clark Griffith is opposed, and intends
10 hght the proposition to a finish
In writing of the boxing conditions
IN England now, as compared to the old
days, Mr.. T. A Andrews would have US |
believe that fighters of the old school |
originated in the slums, and that their |
patrons had similar origin. He saws. |
The properly organized club altered all !
that, and incidentally introduced a bet
ter, more educated and more brainy |
class Of boxers to the British public"
: The facts are, after prize fighting had |
been legally prohibited in England, the
Marquis of Queensberry framed q set of /
rules which bear his name: amateur con-
tests were conducted under them. which
brought before the public many finely
bred youngsters whose pedigrees were
duly recorded in the Almanach de Gotha,
and these gentlemen were sneeringly re-
ferred to by ''the coves wot loved a
mill' as ''parlor boxers" for be il known
that the old heroes of the magic circle
looked upon boxing gloves as being use
ful only for training purposes.
Charley Mitchell was the first great
exponent Of the padded mitt in England,
and. by the way, England has never
since produced his equal The fighter
of today in England. regardless of the
alleged improvements in the sport, are
far below the fighters of 100 years ago
in point of intelligence. John jackson
was deservedly known as Gentleman
the word means more in
England than 1t does here. Jem Belcher
had as a patron the Prince Of Wales.
Dan Mendoza, "the fighting Jew" was a
fighter OF exceptional ability. He could
speak six languages, and knew how to
keep his mouth closed In all of them.
John Gulley had an entree to the
best homes in England, and his grand
son, John Court Gulley, became the
Speaker of the House of Commons.
The list of old-time English champions
who were noted Tor their mental, anu
social as well as physical, attainments,
is a long one, while the British ring
cannot today claim a fighter who is :
looked upon as anything but person
to furnish gladiatorial entertainment
for the elite of the greatest sporting
nation on earth. III
If men are judged by past perform
ances," the same condition as regards
brains obtains in America. What fight
er today has such sterling qualities as
the great American-Irishman, John
Aiorrisey, who served a term in Con-
gress at a time when an election TO
that body meant more than II does
now?
Morrisey had as a hacker Commodore {
and through him the great ]
pugilist-statesman accumulated more
than a million dollars: but, like all the
great athletes of his time. he died i
without solitary dollar to glisten be- /.
fore the expiring light of his eyes. and I
his widow smilingly stepped down
from her high social position to al1
bench in a collar factory at Troy, N. :
T.. and often told friends who came a
10 console her in her misfortune. Il am
as happy as any woman can be who has .
lost the noblest truest, kindest hus- b
band in all the world"
say, it's worth dying for woman /,
ike that.