The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-10-19
Give UP!
Bob FitzSimmOnS Is Fighting
Grim Battle With Death.
Old Pluck That Won Him Fame
His Big Asset.

Chicago. Ill. oct ia nation
watched today while the greatest IF
modern gladiators fought game bat
tie with the champion of all time
death
Weakened and suffering, with all
hope abandoned by friends and physi-
CLANS, Fighting Bob" Fitzsimmons
called into play the wonderful sta
mania and courage that carried him
TO the pinnacle of puGlistic fame, and
refused to quit"
I'm not going to give UP until I'm
counted out" he painted 1 never
have quit-and l never will"
About the white-sheeted arena
in Michael Reese hospital, were gath
cred his advisers and SECONDS
numbering among them the greatest
medical talent in the country.
Fitz. his hitherto impregnable body
vrra cked by the suffocating pain OF
pneumonia wore a grim smile and
tried to instill into the heart OF ms
wife and other watchers the farm
that he felt.
Hundreds of kilograms of encour-
agement were received from all parts
of the country.
Were with you, Bob was the
burden of their text.
And the ancient warrior. whose
physical prowess made him an inter-
national figure. knows that he has
the crowd with him"
Ihey expect game Lls9iAt' -
won't disappOint them.
"Pn win out-tf they'll let me
alone" painted Fitz weakly.
F'itz who at one time held three IT,
tles-heavyweight, light-heavyweisht
and middleweight champlon-con-
tracted cold several days ago, while
appearing in a vaudeville act at
South side theater.
Gamely he stuck at his work until
he collapsed Wednesday morning
Then his wife, Mrs. Tina Fitzsimmons
forced him to go to the hospital She
has been at his bedside constantly
since then.
Physicians at the hospital declared
today that both of the old mans lungs
and his heart are affected and that he
has but a few hours to live. His chill
dren. Robert Jr., Martin and Resale,
have been summoned from Glen Ellyn.
n. j.
Jeffries Pulls for Bob"
Burbank Cal. Oct 19-Big jim
Jeffries, the man who rose to the
worlds heavyweight championship
when Bob Fitzsimmous fell before his
mighty fists, today is in "Bobs cor
ner." pulling for him in his biggest
fight.
Jeffries plainly was affected when a
correspondent told him his old friend
and one time opponent lay dying in
Chicago He had not heard. en-
agricultural bit" fop Uncle Sam.
Tough" Jeff exclaimed Poor
old Bob. Say something nice to him
for me. will you?" he asked eagerly.
Tell Bob Jeff's in his corner and
that he'll never throw up the sponge.
He was one Of the gamest men I ever
met and he'll not take the Knockout
now. Tell him I'm for him to win
Poor old Bob"
COr5ett Praises Gameness.
New York oct. 19-"Bob can put
up mighty battle and even death will
find him a hard man to handle" said
Jim Corbett when informed of Robert
tttzsimmons' illness today.
You can't call it knockout until
the last count and it's when things
look the blacklist and his opponent is
smashing sthe hardest that Fits cum
ming comes to his rescue.
If his friends have given him up l
shall not.
IF death conquers in this battle the
ring will have lost one of its most con-
spicuous figures.
y can remember how he fought.
Even if he did win the championship
from me he did it fairly and squarely.
Il fought most of the heavyweights
in the last twenty-five years and con-
slider F'itz one of the cleanest and
greatest fighters I bax-a a1,a,- mot