The Washington herald., 1919-07-05

about to lapse into unconsciousness,
when his seconds ended the battle by
tossing a towel into the ring.
wiIlard's showing PitifuL
And by that token Dempsey rose
to the sublime heights in his chosen
profession
wilard's showing was the most
pitiful of any champion of all time;
Dempsey's the most remarkable and
most amazing in pugilistic annals
Throughout the nine minutes of
fighting willard never landed a
really solid blow upon Dempsey. And
through those nine minutes Dempsey
hit willard with such crushing, ter
rible force that long before the sec
ond round was over the crowd began
to shrek to the referee:
stop it, Stop itr'
The echo of the first gong hardly
had died away before Dempsey
launched a terrible attack that
quickly closed wilIard's right eye.
smashed his nose. gashed his lips in
many places. transformed his whole
face into q bleeding mass and made
his body one splotch of red
It wasn't q nght-it was slalIgh-
ter. N
First Blows Enough
The frst two punches that Demp-
sey landed meant the end for Will
lard The challenger. lodging sew
eraI tabs of the giant, rushed in
suddenly. whipped a mighty left to
the stomach and followed with a
flashing right to the body.
Taps began to bugle then over
the pugilistic greatness of Jess Will
lard. As that first blow landed upon
the one-time concrete" stomach of
the Kansan. he sagged under the
impact And when that right-hand-
er landed on the jaw. that Willard
had termed so proudly "a concrete
then followed the most sensational
incident ever witnessed in the first
round of any championship strug-
gle in all history.
willard. hurt. and realizing it.
tried to rush into a clinch, but
Dempsey, with the agility of a
panther. swept him away and then
rushed against willard. A left to
the stomach, another. then a right.
and then a right to the head, sent
willard reeling backward. Dempsey
hurled another right-hander at the
giant and Jess willard dropped to
the canvas for the first time in his
long ring career.
The referee stood over him and
began to toll OF the count. willard
took six and then stumbled to his
feet. Dempsey charged-and Will
lard attempted to clinch. But
Dempsey was not to be denied. An
other ripping left went into will
lard's stomach-aItl down he went
again He came up to be met with
a yolley Of blows that sent him
back-helpless-onto the ropes.
Referee Fails to Count.
Pecord did not begin a count-and
therein, according to many ring crit
rules say that when man is help
less and hanging on the ropes, with
his heels on the fat of the ground
he can be considered a knockdown
victim
Dempsey stood on, waiting-and no
one knew for what But at last Will
lard. his face smear of blood, drag
ged himself from the ropes and tried
to fall into another clinch. But Demp-
sey stood away and sent a rixht
crashing to the head. Willard drop
ped again, but dazedly climbed to his
feet and staggered across the ring.
Dempsey followed. and dropped him
a nth time.
Once more willard got UP. only to
be dropped by two lefts to the BODY
and a right to the head
And then came the most peculiar
incident that ever took place at a
championship battle.
Crowd I'm DeIirium.
whiIs-the, big crowd shrieked in
delirium. and while Willard grow
elIed at his feet. Ollie .Pecord. tn.
referee. began to toll OF the count.
He seemed to have reached the IA
tai ten" for. he stopped counting
and pushed back Dempsey into his
corner.
At once pandemonium broke
loose.
The crowd. assuming that Demp-
sey had won with q knockout, went
insane in its action It surged to-
ward the ring and some In the ring
side division tried to climb through
the ropes and embrace Dempsey.
who was standing In his corner.
All the while willard's seconds were
assisting the giant back to his cor
ner and trying with every means to
bring him back to q semblance of
his old self.
Dempsey wins-Dempsey winsr'
,shrfeked the mob.
But Dempsey hadn't won-not
then
For Pecord and some of the other
folks ordered back ths crowd that