The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-03-27
Old Timer Who Saw 1t Tells
About Famous Barehanded
Mill.
az AL SPHINX

BY AL SPHINX.
| dreamt last night that I was back
at Richburg, Miss, reporting the Sulli-
van-Kilrain fight.
Perhaps the dream may prove inter-
esting to you old sports and then, again,
1t may not.
But it is daylight low and I and the
other fellow, who have come all the
way to Richburg to report this fight
for a certain newspaper, pick up two
good seats very close 10 the ring and
get ready to write up the details and
general progress Of the battle.
The sun, which shines so hot in Mis-
sissippi in July, has come up in all
Its glory and it sheds it's bright rays
over the queerest gathering ever seen
in one Enclosure.
There are lords, dukes and earls from
England; pickpockets from New York's
bowery; sports from Broadway and ac-
tors from the same place; Frisco sports,
Chicago sports, sports from everywhere;
cops and fly cops, who rave stolen
away from New Orleans, to see the
fight, and plain clothes men from the
detective departments of other great
cities, detailed here for good and suf-
ficient reasons; bartenders and their
saloon-keeper bosses, each wondering
how the other came; western cowboys
and western and eastern toughs; min
iio "iiN pIONCl dblu W oil olItt anu
all sorts Of millionalres touching ell
bows with their impecunious neigh
bors, all sitting on seats that are built
in a square and that are step stair to
the clouds.
These people have come from all cor
ners of the earth, for word had gone
out that this was to be the greatest
battle ever fought and the last fight
that would ever take place in this
country under the London prize ring
rules and with bare knuckles.
And now, just as I and the other
fellows get ready to jot down the pro-
ceedings, there is a loud commotion.
1t is brought on by the appearance
of John i, Sullivan, wno, looking big
and strong as an OK, ONE marching
into the ring. He is wearing the big
white blanket robe that Billy Muldoon
used to wear when he was the cham
| pion wrestler
! wonder why Sully is wearing such
a thing in Mississippi in July, and then
! discover that he is wearing it to hid
the fat paunch and the layers of fat
that make him look like a prize porker
rather thar a man who is here to fight
a battle for the championship Of the
world.
And when I made this discovery '
made up my mind that he would get
| llChCu anu l-hNu BVuus
Muldpon knew his business, however,
He had trained Sullivan as he would
train a wrestler, and though fat as a
prize pig, the Boston boy still had all
Of his old-time strength and vitality.
Soon following the appearance of Sui
Ivan there was more noise. 1t heralued
the coming Of Jake Kilrain and his
crowd. y
Bearing Jake company were Parson
Davies, Bat Masterson, Charley Mitch
ell, Mike Donovan and Pony Moore.
They had all had something to do with
Jake's training, n they were here to
second and help him along.
Jake looked fit as a fiddle, n little
too finely drawn, perhaps, but ready
to fight the battle of his life. When
Tom Allen saw him he smiled n said:
It's to be a fight between a fighter
and old washerwoman. l feel very
sorry for the old lady"
Presently, however, Allen changed his
tune.
And now there was more noise. The
time had come to select a referee.
Costello Of Cleveland" shouted sons
one.
"'En do" shouted "one-Eyed" Con-
molly, of Chicago.
"Old Tom Kelly or Tom Allen will
suit me- shouted Charley Davy, Of st.
Louis.
What's the matter with Billy Hard
ing or Parson Davies?" asked a Kill
rain follower, and a Sullivan man added,
or George Washington or the man
who hit Billy Patterson
Some one pointed to Bob Kennedy, a
famous attnrnaH. Uha had n0zaA all AAA