The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1919-08-19

willard was studying the general art
of self destruction. Maybe then he
dreamed of the ring supremacy of the
world. Those were the days when
Wizards one and only squared ring
was a box stall in the rear of the EN-
NETT livery barn. His fame was en-
tirely local, altho his mighty punch
was a matter not soon to be forgotten.
Somehow 1t was just accepted that
when the rooters for the two rival
towns should finally clash, Rufe King
was to organize the party by taking
charge of Willard. King himself had
studied ring tactics while in the army
and the mighty battle which seemed
sure to follow the ball game attracted
more attention than the game itself
For some reason, tho! the two local
champions never clashed. Maybe IT
was because Maple Hill walked away
with the game by a one-sided score
and the humiliation was too much
for the team from Emmett. Maybe
after all it was Emmett that tri-
umphed and King and his followers
were too thoro in their craftsmanship
to fight for a game that had been
honestly and honorably lost. No one
recalls just the reason the fight was
not staged. Maybe clash that day
would have brought earlier laurels to
the Kansan who assembled to worlds
championship. Such results might
also have Jared King from his SUI
preme power and restored to Maple
Hill residents some of the courage and
antagonism which seemingly disap-
peared entirely when King ruled.
Yet with the hundreds of stories OF
Kings furious battles, there are few
which indicate that he sought to abuse
the weak or defenseleSs. But the. man
who, came to Maple Hill with a cargo
of bad liquor aboard and desired raw
meat, always found King an accom-
49, fNA raT1
eral fear of King, there are no stories
even in the oft repeated yarns OF
local gossips-which indicate King
fought with knives or guns.
Kings first Introduction IN Maple
Hill as a bully was more than twenty
years ago when he was player on the
Eskridge football team. The day the
team went to Maple Hill King was
ruled out of the game for smuggling. So
brutal was King, according to reports
that he was ordered to leave town. He
defied the town and offered to tight
the townspeople individually or col
lectively. Some eight or ten years
later Maple Hill became Kings home.
Only Licked Once.
Only once. so far as local records
run, was King beaten in fight That
! was the day he fought Jeff Stanley, a
negro giant from one of the COW
ranches. Both men fought until they
were compelled to quit from sheer
exhaustion. Dope gave Stanley the
better of the battle because in the end
he forced King against wall by sheer
supreme weight. Never before or
since has Maple Hill seen such a bare
fist encounter as the negro giant and
daredevil liveryman staged that day on
the man street A month after the
fight Stanley died. tuberculosis is re-
ported to have caused his death.
A brakeman on a local freight train
made a discourteous remark to Mrs.
King one day.. King went to the depot
and found the brakeman, who was
much larger and apparently stronger
than the liveryman. But at the end
| of l 5 exciting minutes the freight train
| conductor hurried his train out of
town. The brakeman was lying in a
way-car and a doctor at Paxico was
urged by wire to meet the train with
an emergency kit.
| 1t was Kings iron rule. his willing
ness to meet any emergency and his
failure to register fear under any cir
cumstances that made him a man to
be respected and feared in the COM
munity. And today if King were to
return to Maple Hill even for a pleas