New Britain herald., 1915-05-22
V V1akes f
 

ing ore on the cars, and this stren-
 magnificent development of his mus
 cles.
 He landed in Butte early in 1903, and, having soon spent his savings, got job as a waiter in cheap restau-
 rant. His nights he spent in the dance hall where his prowess as a battler was first publicly demonstrated.
 Stanley Ketchel, as he soon came to
 call himself, was highly successful as dance hall bouncer. Frequently
 the entertainment at the hall was
 varied by ring bouts on the dance hall
 floor between Ketche1 and other can
 didates for pugilistic glory. AL
 though the sixteen-year-old lad often
 fought full-grown men, he was uni- formly victorious. He had never had
 a boxing lesson, but he had a natural
 style of fighting all his own that early
 earned for him the nickname of The
 Human Buzz-saw." His reputation
 was greatly increased by his defeat
 of two professionals, Kid Tracy and
 Nose La Fontise. The latter was q clever boxer of long experience, whose stunt was to travel about the west, working at odd jobs and pretending to be a rank novice at the fighting game, until he could get match with some local favorite. Nose would then bet his bankroIl on himself, and clean up. In Butte the 'ringer'' was offered a match with Young Ketchel, and on that occasion Nose got the surprise party of his life. For a time his superior skill baffled Ketchel, but the latter absorbed all the pun rrfx, knocked him out in the twenty fourth round.
 Even after this victory Ketchel had no intention of taking up fighting as a profession and he soon returned 1 mained on the range until the lure Miles City. There he fought stall wart miner, Rudolph Hing, who l about fifty pounds more than l the youngster. The result was a | twenty draw. Ketchel then l returned to Butte where he worked | as bouncer, waiter, miner, and at other jobs, fighting frequently for | purses of few dollars in the dance halls.
 By 1907, when he was in his twen- Lieth year, Young Ketchel had clean ed up all possible opponents in Mon tana, and decided to visit the coast, where the fighting game was going | strong. Ketchel's arrival in Sacra- me ento created something of a sensa- | tion He was attired in broad som- l brero. flannel shirt, high boots, cart l ridge belt, and the other habilirnents ] of a puncher. At first the Cowboy l Fighter was considered as some [ thing of a joke by the newspaper 1 scribes of Sacramento, San Francisco and Los Angeles, but he soon demon strated that he had the goods. After knocking out George Brown at Sac- ramento, Ketchel was matched to fight Joe Thomas at Marysville, Cal. Thomas had 9 great reputation and was then claiming the welterweight championship of the world. In the | Marysville contest they went twenty rounds to draw, but when they fought in the Colna arena little 1 later Ketchel won with a solar plexus knockout in the thirty-second round. Ketchel then knocked out Mike and Jack, the famous Sullivan twins, at Colma, and then went to Milwaukee, where he defeated Billy Papke. The Illinois Thunderbolt turned the tables at Los AngeIeS later that year, Dul in third bout Ketchel won with knockout in the eleventh round, and
 became the recognized middleweight
 champion of the world. He held that
 honor against all corners, although
 defeated by Jack Johnson in a battle
 for the heavyweight title, until his
 tragic death in 1910. Ketchel was
 assassinated by Walter Dipley at Con
 way Mo October 15 1910