El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1915-02-17

M championship with all its at
tendant Importance is about to
be fought and we come within the
radius of the sound Of the buoy-bel
Indicating our approach to the harOor
that shelters the battle ground, the
mind-prUbably the mysterious work
ings OF some unseen and invisible
aEency-becOmes retrospective and IN
a fashion Of retrOversiou our thoughts
20 back to the past and the environ
ments that held our attention which so
iudelibly impressed themselves upon
the intellect. ever after
It's not so great span OF years
from March II, 1897 to March 6, 1915,
and yet when Jack Johnson and Jess
Willard enter the ring at JUarez on the
latter date there viii be numbered
among those absent:
Harry Weldon, W. W Naughton,
Howard Hackett- p. j. Donahue; I'd
die Smith tOaklandl, Nelse lnnes'
Fred Mckay, Hugh keOugh, George
Siler, AL Smith, Billy O'Brien, Harry
Cor5ctt, Jack Halpin, Willis Britt
Billy Delaney, Macon Mccormick
Gus TuthiII, Dan Stuart Charlie Sey-
mour. zone Eyed" Jimmy Connolly
twho was ever among those PRESENT.
and probably many more we cannot
call to mind.
We see now a group of newspaper
men standing on the corner Of the
main street i'm Carson City, having
their photos taken. There were ten
of them and Of that whole bunch
only Lou Houseman and George AIDE
are stin numbered among those pres
emit Surely the grim reaper has
played havoc in the ranks Of the men
who report fights.
Both Clever Men.
Harry Weldon and Macon McCor-
mick at the time were the deans Of
American sport writer's. Weldon repre-
senting the Cincinnati Enquirer ana
Mccormick the New York Sun. Both
were ikable and clever men who
boosted Of legions of friends aud ad-
mirers Sandy GrisWOld of the Omaha
World-Herald is the only active sport
writer left who dates with the time
when they reigned.
Howard Hackett and J. p. Donahue
represented the New York World and
the latter had a following all over
America because of his clever descrip- /
lions of fights Much of DOminick
McCaffrey's reputation was due to the |
prolific pen that Donahue welded in
his behalf.
Nelse Innes came from the Boston |
Globe and was the first to issue an an !
nual record book Of fights of the year. /
Charley Seymour represented the /
Chicago Herald nj the time and Fred |
lonEed in Cleveland where he was con- !
nected with the press.
Hugh heOugh belonged to the Chica- /
go Tribune staff and was conceded to /
DC LllE ElEN CT est par a pAl1A III AAAG q
country right up to the day of his |
death. KeOUgh was also present at the !
! Ohnson-J effries bout in RenO-the
last big fight he attended. Eddie
Smith, who refereed the Wolgast-
Nelson bout, was sporting editor Of
the Oakland Tribune. a man well post
ed in sport. It's only a few years
since he passed away
NaUghtOu's Passing.
W. W NaughtOn, Uncle BILL came
HsnI in MI nfsr d
one Of the best writer's on sport in the
antipodes. Ny first acquaintance /
with NaughtOu was when he came
east as maneger Of Peter Jackson, but
he resigned the position to ParsOn
Davies i'm Chicago, went TO Europe with I
the combination, and then back to the
San Francisco Examiner, where he re-
NAMED until his death a year ago.
He surely knew boxing from A to Z.
The last time NaughtOn and the
writer sat at the rinEside together
was az Las Vegas when Johnson and
Flynn battled 1t was Uncle Bill that
allied attention of the country to the
'aCt that Johnson was slipping His
opinion was emphasized in Johnson's
bout with Moran i'm Paris last summer
md we are looking forward to further
violence that Naughton had correctly
sized up the black when Jack and Jess
meet at JUarez.
Three other notables who figured
prominently at Carson City. are
5eorEe Siler. who refereed the bout
Dan stuart. who promoted it, and Al
smith, the principal hacker Of of Jim
'orbett. Then there is Corbett's !
brother, Harry. You who We're pres
emit at the time will never forget the
sad sight when Jim Corbett left the
ring weeping like a child, being led 3
Town the street between his father /
and his brother, Harry. It was Jims l
first defeat and his nearest kin were {
ioing their best to console him, to !
ishten the blow. only Jim Of that I
rio is still among the living.
Delaney Goes Too.
Then there was Billy Delaney,
who trained Corbett for all his import
ant battles, walking in the wake of
he above mentioned. speeches. be-
.ause of the blow that had fallen on I
MS idol Only five years ago Delaney I
stood in the corner behind Johnson
when the latter defeated Jeffries. and 1
he man that Delaney had helped and l
GUIDED TO greatness. Such are the |
queer pranks that fate plays.
Recall just how previous to FitZ- /
simmons and COrbett entering the ring