The Bridgeport evening farmer. [volume] (Bridgeport, Conn.) 1866-1917, 1916-01-29
IRELAND's HOPE.
b. for another Dan ponne11x!

Oh for another Dan DonneI1y!
That wish was on the lips and In
che hearts Of all true sons of the EN-
eraId Isle in those dreary days in the
second Quarter of the nineteenth CEN
tury which followed the passing of
Ireland's greatest gladiator of the
ring.
Irish hope had risen high when the
dashing. debonair Jack Langan. who
had won honors as a soldier of fortune
in the South American wars for inde-
pendence, had in 1924 thrown down
the gauntlet to Tom Spring. England's
pride. Jack had fought like true
Hibernian, but his best was not good
enough, and Irish sportsrnen had seen
their hopes dashed to the ground by
the failing fists of the Englishman-
Thousands. tens Of thousands-aye,
hundreds Of thousands, perhaps
were transferred from Irish pockets to
English purses after that historic
battle.
So Ireland bided its time. and. like
the F'renchmen of a later generation,
brooded of 'frevanche." Dozens of
young Irishmen, inspired by the noble
ambition to wipe out the stain of the
Langan defeat and revive the glorious
era of Dan Donne1ly. took up the
fighting game, and some of them made
great progress. but among them all
the was not a man considered good
enough to fight Jena Ward, THE
Black Diamond who had succeeded
to the pugilistic throne Of England.
Not one? WE'LL there were not
few Irishmen who believed that Simon
Byrne was good enough to lower the
proud colors of England. A giant was
Simon, towering above six feet, game
to the Irish core of him, and with. a
tremendous twalIop, although no mar
vel as to science.
Simon Byrne received his baptism
of blood in the ring on a June day in
countryrnan, at Brassington Course,
Ireland for 5000 a side. For 1913
rounds the tide of battle surged back
and forth. and in the end Larkins was
awarded the victory. It was Simon
who gained the glory, however, for he
was novice, and his opponent a vet
eraa.. After a few more contests on
the ould sod. in which he was the vic
tor Simon set out for pastures new
and landed in Scotlanad. In 1927 he
fought Alexander Mckay. the cham
pion of Scotland. near Glasgow, and
defeated him In At minutes. A few
months later he Fought Avery at the
same place. winning in one hour and
IS minutes.
with scotia's Iaure1s upon him.
Simon Byrne journeyed to London.
bent on winning for Ireland the cham
rived in the metropolis, Simon issued
a challenge to Jem Ward The cham
pion was nothing Ioath, and in the
March of 1928 the ring was pitched
for the great battle on cricket field
at Leicester. The journey from Ire
land to England was no easy task in
those days, but hundreds Of sport
loving sons of the sod made the trip,
and joined the thousands who. gath
cred at the ringside on the day
chosen.
AS the hour for the battle approach
ed the mob suddenly went wild with
wrath. The announcement was made
that Jem Ward was seriously i'll and
could not appear.
''Coward!'' "A dom English trickl''
These and other exclamation of rage
came from the Irish contingent, and
the En- gHshmen were scarcely less
angry with their champion. 'sThe
Black Diamond could have found
that day. he would have had q, hundred
fights on his hands. put he had wisely
made himself scarce. The suspicion
of the Irishnnen as to Wards sudden
Illness proved to have been well
founded but it was not cowardice
that kept Jem away. He had entered
into an agreement with a bunch of
BLACKBOARD gamblers to throw the
fight. but at the last minute his nerve
had failed him, and he had solved the
difficulty by running out of the affair.
The Great Leicester Hoax" as it
was called so soured the public
against Ward that for a time he was
black1isted by all decent sportsmen.
In the meantime, Simon Byrne claim
ed the championship by default, and,
with Ward barred from fighting, it
was generally conceded that the big
Irishman was entitled to the honors
That was naturally unsatisfa Glory to
the Hbernian sports, however, for
they wanted their champion to win by Z
fighting. Ward, protesting his sorrow
for the hoax, begged Byrne to fight
him, but Simon declared that he
wouldn't meet such a man for money
but that he would take pleasure in
thrashing him flor love" Ward was
broke, and refused to fight except for
money, so there the matter stood for