The Greeneville daily sun. (Greeneville, Tenn.) 1918-1920, 1919-07-03
Old Timers
Tell of Historic
Ring Battles
By H. C. HAMILTON.


| UNITED Press Staff Correspondent
TOLEDO, o., July 3.-Shades of
withered past swept over Toledo
today.
Riding on the shoulders of old
fighters they gathered in the hotel
lobbies and other meeting places,
where they whispered "reminiscences
of old battles that were eagerly lis
tened to by younger generation.
There was Jack Dillon-old Bear Cat
Jack-who has whipped in his time
many a heavyweight who aspired to
the throne held by Jess Willard. He's
like an old man as he wanders the
streets of Toledo, shaking hands with
old acquaintances. Jacks legs have
gone back on him and never again
will he be able to perform the feats
that made him the greatest fighter Of
the age, even though his weight us
ually was far less than that of the
men he battled. But none will ever
forget the masterful licking he ad-
ministered to Frank Moran-a man
considered equal to the task of whip
ping champions.
There was Jack McAuliffe-a 200
pound Jack now. Dressed faultless-
ly, with the inevitable buttoniere, a
stick in his hand, Jack appeared to
be a man about town instead Of
famous old lightweight, who never
knew a defeat and who retired when
he was still lightweight champion of
the world. McAuliffe recalled many
an old battle as he talked of what he
referred to as "the good old days"
when men fought with bare knuckles
to a finish, and the winner took all
the purse.
And there was Billy Mccartney, a
young Billy in spite of the years that
have passed over his head. Never
a great fight in the last fifteen years
that Billy hasn't seen and had some
thing to do with. A picture of the
July 4th battle at Reno nine years
ago when Jack johnson took his
place at the head of the list of heavy
weights hangs in the window of the
building Tex Ricard and Frank
Flournoy have rented as headquar-
ters and one of the plainest figures
in the photograph is the head of Billy
Mccartney. Remember that day
when the wires flashed the news that
Luther McCarty had been killed from
blow by Arthur Pelkey in Calgary?
Billy was McCarty's manager.
Battling Nelson slipped about the
city in half apologetic fashion. Bats
poor old battered head, once the tar
get for so many punchers, is a famil-
lar sight to the men who have been
here since preparations for the bout
started. He brought tent with him
and pitched it inside the marks made
to enclose the arena. The tent stay
ed there until few days ago, when
it was removed to- prepare for the
crowds. He lived through all the
preliminary weeks right there. He
carried about with him a notebook
in which he jotted down his impress
sions of the fight and sold them to
newspapers. He also pleaded for
chance to referee the mill, but was
given little consideration.
Of course everyone remembers
how Joe Mulvihill tried to get Col
James Miller to stage his proposed
Fulton Willard fight in Connecticut.
Well, Joe is here. He's a newspa-
per man now, he says, Joe never
had lot of money, but he certainly
tried hard to convince Col. Miller
that he could get backing for the
big bout, and almost succeeded, too.
He's been a watchman at the arena
some of the time. But he will not
miss seeing the fight anyway.