The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-06-05
A Tale of TWO Fists
THE LIFE STORY OF JACK DEMPSEY
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS BY DAMON RuNYoN NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.


So, then, when the glory of the white
race was restored by Jess Willard
knocking Johnson for n goal down Ha-
Vana way, 1t was the ukase of Cau-
casian Fisticana that white folks should
no longer mingle, fistically, with the
blacks. because Jack had permanently
discolored the escutcheon of the latter
face,
Not all our champs nave been pri-
Vateiy, or rapidly, as pure as the driven
snow, but | never heard of the rest
OF their race or class, being banned
on account of their actions. So | re-
peat that the prohibition of the mixed
bouts was mainly bunk" Although,
at that, 1t was well thought of by a
bother of drawing the color line"
Poor Tommy Burns was bedeviled
until he gave Johnson the match that
cost Burns his claim to the champion
ship, Then Jim J~effries, who was
probably really sincere in the retire.
ment that passed the claim to Burns,
was dragged out Of private life to take
a licking from Jack,
Jess Willard was hailed as the savior
Of the white folks for a little while
after he beat Johnson, only to be furi-
ously ''panned" later on. and to hear
the suggestion offered that he couldn't
| lick the negro fighters, Sam Langford
. VI ildIlS "llS. SItH 10 CONSISTENTLY
In this sporting life,
Anyway, after a long argument, the
ban on mixed bouts" was lifted by the
New York state boxing BOARD, although
by that time the race of black boxers
had sadly deteriorated, largely through
lack of financial nourishment and en-
oouragement, The great ole -timers-
Walcott, Cans, Dixon and the rest were
but a memory. Sam Langford, Sam
McFeah and Joe Jeanette were grow
Ing very much passe.
Only q very few colored glovemen,
especially big chaps, were left, and of
these Harry Wills was, and still is. far
and away the best. Then comes Kid
Norfolk, and well below Norfolk, and
farther than that below Wills, comes
John Lester Johnson, of Harlem,
American boxing history will scarce,
ly ever rate John Lester with the frs
flight of the good big blacks, and vel
John is rather q tough bird in the ring
He Is particularly tough for a novice
He is a shifty. plunging, holding typ,
OF miller; a fellow who doesn't do mucl
to the other fellow. perhaps, but wht
doesn't let the other fellow do muci
to him.
In the days when Dempsey first hi
New York, John Lester johnson wa,
4 quite q card with the fight lovin,
\ folks Of his own race, especially vi
around his favortte haunt. Harlem
4 Prior to the lifting of the mike,
bout ban he used to appear with othe
black men very frequently at the Har
lem Sporting club on One Hundred an,
T~hirty-fifth street, in the heart of tina
portion of Harlem so heavy populated
by negro people, and John Lester coult
nearly always draw a good house,
The Harlem sporting club was con
Quoted by John Reisler, more familiar
~ known as John the Barber" job,
being by trade a tonsorial artist, AM
one of rather superior skill He ownet
one of the best paying shops on tn,
great white way, and by strict adhe
sion to his strop John could probabl,
have amassed a great fortune In tn
course of years.
But John the Barber" though
chin scraner by profession. was at hear
a sport, He dearly loved to promot
pugilistic muses..
John was quite a character in tn
pugilistic game on Manhattan island
q busy, conversational soul who was al
ways trying anyway, And they can
rule YOU off for trying. He figured 70
some time as a sort of Banuuo's ghos
at every fistic feast that was sprea'
for John Dempsey, and he isn't YER,
popular with Jack. Yet John the Bar
her'' isn't the worst fellow in tn
world, and he was at least general.
good for a laugh,
He Is now down In Tulsa, Okla, run
HllE u llEHt CluD NneTe, ana Uoing WEI
at last accounts, but It is doubtful 1
he finds life as eventful and exciting a
in the days when he ran the Harlem
sporting club up in the dark distric
Y OF Manhattan,
The moment the han on mike,
bouts" was lifted. old "Iohn the Barb
was bustllng around arranging a shoy
for his club He already had the ser
4 vices Of John Lester johnson or tar
4 hut there were not many white. fight
ers around who wanted any of Johi
Testers game. II was a happy mo
mcnt for all hands, then, when tn