New-York tribune., 1919-02-12
Akron, Ohio, Puts in q Bid
For Willard-Den1psey Mil

up the necessary army Of "iron men"
under similar conditions
But there are other enterprisinQ
communities that would be perfectly
willing to have Jess and Jack muss UP
things IN ring, now that they are
convinced the bout would attract trade
commerce, dollars, doughnuts and all
the other things that are healthy for
communities.
Akron, Ohio, the town that produced
Gus Ruhlln, established communication
with klckard yesterday and made him
a handsome offer" for the bout. Tex
would quote no figures in referring to
this offer, but Judging from the man
ner in which the promoter bandies
Sl27,5OO purses about, handsome"
means something that must look at
least like u twin brother of 100000.
me ONO city can stage twenty-round
nights, which should be long enough to
prove whether Willard has gone so far
PACK PACK pugllistlcally that it would cost
S'oo TO send him postcard, or whether
he is just around the corner. Dempsey
has always been a quick fighter in the
ring, so that the chances are that If he
cant DO the trick in twenty rounds he
can't do it at all.
Building Big Stadium
Rickard was informed, in connection
with Akron's bid, that certain business
men of that city are erecting a huge
stadium already in process of construc-
tlon, that would be an ideal place in
which to hold the Willard Dempsey
mill. This stadium, it was pointed out,
is not being erected for the express
purpose of staging the big fight, but is
to be used for general athletic pur-
poses and is to be Of permanent
character. With an arena already built
a considerable amount would be Topped
OIL the Rickard expense bill.
1t is probable that from this time on
Rickard will be embarrassed by CON
tlnuous stream of offers. We all know
that Senor Dick Curley, the New Haven
hypnotist, would like to see the big
boys battle within the boundary lines
of the fair and not bone dry State Of
Connecticut, and Dick is going to take
a lot of punishment before he will ad-
NIT himself defeated. If the Curley
person can get some charitably inclined
capitalists to guarantee Rickard
SS3oo,o00 gate for the mill, we may all
hop aboard New Haven trains on the
morning Of July 4.
The talk at the Biltmore yesterday
drifted around to the referee question,
and Rlckard announced that he had not
yet given serious thought to the mat
ter Jim Jeffres, the "abysmal brute"
who lost his title to Jack johnson in
the other big fight that Rickard con-
Quoted, had been in Tex's mind, evil
IDENTIFY, as a possible arbiter in the
ring when Jess and Jack start to cuff
one another.
lex mentioned his name as a possi-
blllty yesterday, but several carping
critics among the newspaper men pres
ent declared that Jim was too long out
of the game, and besides was not tenn
peramentally suited for such job, and
the promoter apparently abandoned the
Jefries idea.
Jim Corbett's name also came up as
a candidate for the position, and there
is chance that "Gentleman Jim" NAV
be persuaded to forsake his Thespian
duties long enough to preside when
Wiilard and Dempsey maui each other.
Blll Brown. known in this city for
many years as a 100 per cent referee,
is also being considered. so Bill may
be posing in there when the movie
men begin to grind out the Scenes in
the ring just before the battle" film.
Rickard has decided not to leave this
city until Sunday. instead of on Friday.
as he originally planned. Tex will 20
direct to Chicago, where he will hold
another conference with Willard, then
go to Kansas City and on to Texas
where he will look over some oil prop
erty.
After that Tex will become wan
derer over the face of the earth. or
that portion of it that lies between the
Atlantic and Pacific, south Of Canada
and north of Mexico and Central Amer
ica, and in the course of his travels
he expects to discover the spot where
the big bout will be fought.
Just as we finished writing about
100000 "gates," and were trying to
figure out how many aeons we would
have to keep our journalistic nose to
the grindstone to amass that amount
of do-ray-mi, Silvey Burns dropped a
]itney in the slot and our phone bell
tinkled.
"Say, feller. don't forget to put in
line about the big ball and entertain
ment Of the Siivey Burns Mike Wag-
ner-Frank Morgan Association on
Wednesday night, at Tammany Hall.
Just send copy boy out for volumes
of the Blue Book the Social Register,
burkc's Peerage, Bradstreet's, Lloyds'
and Who's Who on the Stage, and get
p out your paste pot. They'c all gonna
Oh, very we'll Silvey, have it your
L