Evening journal., 1915-12-13
freaks FREQUENT
IN RING HISTORY
oldest deaf 'un" Always
Talked in the Plural
Form
DUNKHORST IS
THE REAL HEAVY"

While the great majority Of the pro-
fessional boxers Of today are well
built athletic normal young men
who have taken up the game because
OF It's financial possibilities. there are
left few mental and physical freaks
who are reminiscent Of the good old
days when the game seemed to at
tract all sorts OF absormal and "nutty"
ginks.
One OF the oldest of these odd fell
lows of the ring was Jom Burke.
known TO fame as "The Deaf I'm" 4"
who fought his way to the champion
ship of England, and afterward visited
America. and whipped Sam o Rourke.
the cnampioR cf ireland. at New Or
leans IN 1886. and Tom O'Connell at
New York later the same year. We'd
nesday was the 106th anniversary of
Deaf Burke's birth. He was born
on December s, 1909. He was deaf
from infancy, and this probably
helped 90 develop those queer mental
nuirks which were SO amusing to
those who knew him-although they
were always careful TO restrain their
laughter until he was out of sight.
A book might be written about the
Deaf 't1n's peculiarities Of speech and
action One of his comical habits was
always 10 put everything In the plural,
adding an IS" TO every word that
would permit such a locution. An
amusing, though pathetic example OF
this was afforded by his famous reply
TO man who sought TO induce him TO
throw battle. Nos" said Jem,
there's Gods aboves us's which sees
MSS, and I wOn'ts haves it's
OF the physical freaks of the ring
there have been scores, but perhaps
tho most illustrious was Bob Fitzsim
mons. His extraordinary physical
development- a heavyweight above the
waist and a lightweight below is too
we'll known to need comment Joe
Grimm. the italian bootblack, who
turned pugilist and dehed the best
men of the ring, regardless OF size or
weight, TO knock him out rs another
classic example of the boxing freak
Ed Dunkhorst. "the Human Freight
Car" who died recently in Chicago
was a regular side show freak. When
Ed was fighting in the ring the chief
fear OF his opponents was that their
hands might become buried In the
folds of the lesh and that they would
be unable TO eXtricate en- Dunk
horst was six feet seven inches in
height. and weighed "A 2 pounds when
he died. OF course. be didn't weigh
that much in lighting trim, but he
looked like a small mountain Of fat.
Young Critic. the Australian light
weight. was another freak. He fought
at l2S pounds. yet he had chest ox
panslon OF ~ inches, which was
greater than that OF Fitzsimmons
when the latter was heavyweight
champion He dissipatcd constantly,
and seldom trained for a bout vet he
was the fastest man who ever wore a
glove. he was probably the prize
nut of the ring and il is said that
when he first came 10 America he
would accept nothing bigger than dol
lar bills. because he had never seen
any bills OF larger denomination, and
Vas suspicious of them
Kid Mccoy was about as bright and
alert as they make 'em. but In his
Younger days he had the marrying
"bug" and he was probably married
end divorced oftcncr than any other
man n thc world He married one
woman three timos. and as Go others
Wei. il is likely that The Kid him
self can't remember them all