The Alaska citizen., 1915-08-09
tBy Jess Willard. in the Los An geles ENaminer)
The poor sucker dropped i2,00O on the fake prizefieht. He tried to cheat and got cheated

cheat and got cheated
 Every state in the Union ough, to have boxing commission. You cant kill the sport, so why not kill the ugly and degrading parts of 1t. and let the good stay?
 That's what New York did Some of the best men in the state went before the legislature and said Boxing is all right itself IL teach. es boys to love skill and strength and health. It's great temper ance sermon. Pull up the weeds and let the plant grow"
 The law passed provided for re- sronsible clubs. medical eXamina' ton of fighters, age limits. and said that all bouts must be ten rounds only. and without decisions, so as to kill betting,
 think the New York Boxing Commission didn't treat me fairly when it barred me for year. but il didn't change my opinion that ii was good thing Good for the fighters and good for the public as we'll
 Betting Kills Boxing Game.
 Betting was what gave boxing it's bad name. Tin-horn gamblers, look ing for suckers. have been the curse of my business. In order to win money, they bribed fighters and bought referees. Before they had commission, more than half the biz fights in New York were rotten fakes arranged beforehand.
 don't bet and I think the man that does bet is a fool. You are trying 10 get something for nothing. and that's dishonest to begin with. The people that win at gambling are people who make it business.
 IL is a business in which you've got to stack the cards, load the dice, set traps in the stock market and cut electric wires in the roulette wheel, or arrange for the jockeys to let a certain horse win. This is plain stealing. The man who does it is the lowest serot of thief. Yet if you don't act the thief, you lose.
 When I was a youngster out West. there was gang of crooks in Carthage, Mo, who made a busi- ness of trimming suckers with fake fights and fake races, This Boat wright gang would sometimes spend a year framing up for fall guy because they picked only wealthy men.
 LAYING WIRES FOR SUCKER.
 A wealthy cattleman from my neighborhood lost $12,0oO at crack It was told everywhere as a great joke, but reckon his wife and children didn't see anything funny in it. The gang laid for him in St. Louis. and got him acquainted with a fighter that we'll call Spike.
 Every time he'd visit St. Louis they'd wine him and dine him. and tell him how they'd just cleaned up $25.OOO on Spike. On one visit Spike got alone with him, and put up a great story about being sore on his rich packers.
 "I've won half a million for them he said, "and they don't give me anything but small change. Now I like you. l think you're a square guy. So I'm going to make little proposition to you, old sport, I'm matched to fight Kid Doyle. see. I can whip him with one hand tied, and my bunch knows it. Now lis ten. You bet on Doyle, and I'll lay down. See?'
 The old cattleman fell for it. He drew $10,O00 in cash and went out side St Louis to where a ring had been pitched in barn. He bet the $1O,O00 Then Spike came to him, and said he wouldn't go through with the deal unless he got his share in advance. So he made the sucker pay him S2,000
 LOSES IN FIRST ROUND.
 The fight began. In the very first round Spike hit Doyle on the side of the head and knocked him down. Doyle rolled over and made out like he couldn't get up. The referee counted ten and gave the fight to Spike.
 Of course the old sucker howled, but what could he do? He was trying to pull off swindle himself, and he got swindled. That's all. He was just an amateur thief going up against professional thieves
 Baseball is the great national game because they've never allowed betting at the games. Also it's al most impossible to bribe enough players to get the game thrown, and your gambler won't bet unless he's sure of winning.
 Probably the most disgraceful fake in the history of the American ring was when Sharkey won over FitZ- simmons on a foul. The bout took