South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1915-06-14
"KnockOuts''
By I'd. ". Smith.


Two mighty peculiar things hap
pened one night at Italia hall Blue
Island av. and 18th ST, back in the
old days" when boxing was tolerated
/ by the city authorities. II was during
the time that Lawrence Strnger was
! running for governor and they were
having a mass meeting at this hall.
AS a means of getting the young
/ voters Of the district into the place
! an athletic entertainment was given
| on the side and some cOrking good
bouts were staged. Several of these
were imprOmptu, as was necessary In
| those days. but as they enlisted the
services of young sCrappers who were
/ we'll known the bouts went even bet
ter than the other kind.
One of the bouts pat on was be-
tween MOsey Feinberg and Harry
Plant. two we'll known characters of
the ward. Plant wasn't a regular
boxer but he was known as bad
man in a quarrel. He looked upon
! Feinberg as something easy and they
when to it i'm easy fashion.
Just as Mr.. Stringer. who was a
| dignifed man, walked on the stage
with a half dozen companions, Fem
! berg hit Plant with a right swing on
the jaw and knocked him exactly into
] Mr. Stringer's arms. The candidate
| gasted at the turn his entrance took
but helped the boxer up. Plant, how
| ever, was completely out and after
! the show he talked vOlubly about the
/ fine speech Mr.. Stringer made but
! forgot entirely about what happened
TO him. His mind was blank on
! that subject.
We was like the man in KenOsha
recently who forgot all about his
marriage.
! At the same show Jack Roberts. a
| local featherweight. was matched 10
meet some fellow he never had seen.
! Jack was stripped and ready to go
on when he got a flash at his Oppon-
! ent. hmm ediately there was a roar,
Jacks brother roared too about the
/ size of the prospective foe and strong
| ly advised him not TO go.
Tommy Thomas, another west slider
| and one of the gamest feathers that
ever drew on a glove, was managing
! Roberts at the time. Jack was TO
get $50 for his services and Thomas
was sore to think he wouldn't go on.
Say. Jack, you're bigger than [ am
and / know l can lick this fellow,
| Thomas told Roberts. You're not
going to let that coin get away, are
you. when we're all broker"
This didn't help matters any and
| Roberts still demurred. Finally
| Thomas temper flew up.
Take off those tights and shoes
and give them to me-" Thomas roared.
So Roberts took off his ring toys
and Thomas donned them. He hop
ped into the ring at exactly four min
utes' notice, hit the big fellow a clip
on the chin in the first minute of
fighting and was declared the winner
in a hurry.
To my knowledge and belief this
was the quickest ring match ever
made and decided. The whole thing
didn't take 10 minutes.
Tommy Thomas was a quaint little
kid in his fighting days. He got a
most peculiar start in the game and
it's worth a story. Nate Lewis and
other west side promoters used to use
him for a trial horse. Whenever they
had a boxer they didn't know much
about they "sicked" Tommy on TO him
and before many minutes they found
out exactly his status.
But Tommy up to that time had
never seen the inside of a ring as a
regular fighter.
one night they wanted somebody 10
battle Johnny Daice. a young fellow
who had been slamming them with
] pleasing regularity. JOhnny's OppO-
nent had failed to show. They sug-
gested TO Tommy that he go on. He
admits now he was frightened half
stiff but he started TO strip. An offer
of $50 settled the matter
To the bowling surprise of every
body Tommy licked Daice and did the
Job up beautifully. He licked him
with n straight left that ne stuck into
the rushing Daice's face like a piston
rod
When the battle was over Tommy
enthusiastic friends gathered around
to congratulate him.
Where did YOU get that great
/ Left" they asked him. You never
used il in the gymnasium"
Never knew / had II before" he
admitted frankly. You see I was
( scared 10 death when he rushed al
me and | just naturally did what |
could 10 protect myself
When they introduced Tommy that
night in the ring they called him the
West Side Trial Horse" He had n
/ Jewish name and there was no fight
ing ring 70 il. The next day he asked
me to give him a real fighting name
and I suggested Tommy Thomas"
Tommy is a prosperous proprietor
I on the west side today and is still
using the phOney name