South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-06-03
Owner Smith Favors The Women FansDucs Here for Three
"Knockouts"
BY Ed. W. smith.


Think Of young boxer winning II
straight battles in the ring. every one
Of them knockout punch. and then
retiring.
It doesn't seem the least bit rea-
sOnable, does it?
Well. it's absolutely true. This fell
low never lost "A battle
Further, his first nine fights went
less than round each,
But the strangest part OF il comes
now. He quit because ne was so
badly beaten up in his brief career
that his friends feared permanent in
jury II he continued Their argu-
ments prevailed and he left the game
for good.
For a fighter OF no particular prom
inence and who long since has been
forgotten by the rank and file OF the
old time fans, mis- record doubtless is
the most remarkable ever hung up.
His name was Billy Thome but they
called him Lefty and he was a real
feather weight who could scale in any
time at 122 pounds
History does not tell who "discov-
cred Billy ThOme. He must have
just happened. Anyway. during the
old days OF boxing around Chicago it
got TO be whispered around the west
side that little Irish boy was knock
I
emily the fans got to following him
and fiocked TO Apollo hall in huge
drOves whenever they hung "Lefty's"
name out on the bills
Nine straight he won, every one of
them in the very first round, Billy
would nail them and down they
would go, usually for the count But
often, before he could get in the set
Ting punch he would get nailed him
ha in t4-fI 10
as the saloons were in that day, which
was some wide.
All Of these nine fights were held
at Apollo hall
The 10th contest found Thome
wandering in strange fields They got
him to battle over at the Chicago
Athletic association because the arts
tocratic members of that organiza-
| ton had heard of him and wanted to
see him in action Mike Munger was
the opponent that evening Mike
could battle some himself and gave
Thome tremendous drubbing while
he was getting some himself Mike
| broke Thomes nose in the second
round but was unfortunate enough to
break his own arm in the fourth
round, bringing the battle to a sudden
end.
Then came Themes eleventh bat
tie. 1t was decided at the old Pyra-
mid club in a hall on Archey road
just back of the Alhambra theater
on State ST, where many a corking
good bout was staged with Billy
TascOe as manager
Teddy Evans furnished the opposi-
ton this night when Themes career
closed with a bang and the place was
packed. The fans expected a sensa-
| tiOnal contest and they got even more
than that From the call of time in
the very first round these terrific
punchers started knocking each other
down.
1t was a mighty difficult task to
| keep tab on the times that the men
were on the floor First one and then
the other was stretched out but as
game fighting chickens, they came
back for more
The fight lasted into the fourth
round and during that time there
were at least 80 times when the
referee started a count on one or the
other They were fairly EVENLY di-
vided until the latter part of the fourth
round when Evans began to get a
big lead He toppled ThOme over four
or five times and was just going i'm
TO finish his game foe when ThOme
landed a swing in Evans solar pleXus
that sent the latter down.
Just at that interesting period the
bell sounded and Evans was carried
to his corner ThOme just managed
to totter TO his chair and his seconds
worked over him desperately Evans
appeared to be all right in a few sec
onds but just as the bell sounded for
the fifth round the towel was thrown
into the ring.
Meantime ThOme had arisen from
his chair. barely able TO stand and
supported by the Outstretched arm of
a second. 1t didn't seem possible
that he could have taken two steps
towards the center of the ring to con-
tinUe the battle without falling on
his face. so completely spent was he
But he was awarded the decision. just
| the same.
Thome now is a member of the Chi
CagO fire department and doesn't do
| any more boxing. He had 10 years
OF strenuous fighting crowded into a
brief career of less than 10 months
Is it any wonder he quit?