The news scimitar. (Memphis, Tenn.) 1907-1926, 1919-05-06
A Tale of TWO Fists
THE LIFE STORY OF JACK DEMPSEY
Observation-Disclosures Observation-Disclosures DAMON RUNYoN NnNNHNNNWNMNMMRHHHT

Having knocked Andy out and then
helped revive him, Jack assisted in
rolling up the canvas floor covering,
getting the ring out Of the way ana
seeing that the dance was properly
launched. He lost money, but no one
could say he was not a good host.
Andy was greatly worked up about
Dempsey, He believed that the young
ster had great pugilistic possibilities.
He saw five years beyond that day,
He was the first and about the only
man who ever really tried to teach
Dempsey to box, and he wanted to
manage Jack. In fact, he did manage
him for n time.
Malloy came from the region OF a
town named Olathe, not far from Mont
rose, and he matched Dempsey to box
a chan there. The fellows name was
Ben Parrish, but when Dempsey ar
rived on the scene Parrish said he did
not care to box. He would wrestle,
however.
Dempsey said that suited him, Any
thing TO pick up a little change. He
had wrestled a lot with his brothers
and knew n few catch -as- catch-can
holds. SO they wrestled, and Dempsey
lost. Parrish put him down for the
first fall In about IS minutes, and the
second fall did not take so long. Demp-
ivy hlll NIblltg 6pN h'illtNtillib Wv
for their end and decided that wrestling
was no business for a fighter.
Manager Malloy got to feeling his
oats again and allowed that he wouldn't
mind taking another crack at Dempsey
himself II they could find q place where
people might pay to see the cracking.
They talked the matter over and agreed
that Montrose was not by any stretch
of the Imagination such a place. Nor
Ala IlaVf1 nnAO nffAR In nPnn1nfA IA uEnnn1
fight with Malloy. He had been cured
in two experiences,
Buck Weaver, in the town Of Duran
GO, a busting mining and smelling
community away over In the south
western part of ~Colorado--in the "sil !
very San Juan"-heard about the pair
and made a bid on the match, His bid
was promptly accepted by Jack and
Andy even before they knew exactly
what II was.
Weaver was a sporting man in Du-
range, once one OF the liveliest little
towns in the land. 1t was the home Of
the most remarkable Western jour
n~alistIc character OF his time-Dave
Day, editor Of the Durango Democrat.
Years & Day ran q paper called The
Solid Muldoon, which gained more than
local fame. He was a brilliantly caus-
tic writer, gifted with a sense Of humor
thai generally had the state OF Colorado
roaring with laughter at every Issue or
the Democrat.
| bring Dave Day in only in passing.
He had nothing to do with the Demp-
sey-Malloy meeting save that they met
In his town, and no one who knows the
West can think OF Durango without
thinking Of Dave Day. He was a noun
tain Mirabeau.
Weaver booked Dempsey and Malloy
for n 20-round engagement, but the an
nouncement of the affair stirred up
quite a row in Durango. Boxing il
legalized In Colorado now, but 1t ap-
pears there was some objection TO It
then, ever In a town where once upon
a halcyou time anything went"
The Durango police force was at the
ringside when Andy and Jack started
swinging their fists at each other. The
Durango police force is not a large
force, but It is ample, At the end OF
the tenth round the chief Of police said
Sufficient" and the fight ended. How
Andy came to arrive at the end Of the
tenth round with Jack is something
which our hero may have to account for
on the day Of all reckonings.
Buck Weaver paid Jack SS5 for his
part In the affair. II was big money
then for the man who gets $27 500 for
meeting Jess Willard.
Copyright, 1919, by Damon Runyon.)