The Bridgeport times and evening farmer., 1919-03-10
TODAY MARKS ANNIVERSARY
 OF BIC BOUT
Thirty-One Years Ago John l. Fought Memorable Go
 With Mitchell.

T HIRTY ONE years ago today.
 March 10, 1888, the eyes Of
 the sporting world were fixed on the little city of Chantilly. France, for 1t was on that date that Charley Mitchell, the English boxer, fought his immortal battle with the old Ro- man of the prize rink-John l.. SulIi- van. Chantilly may have other claims to fame, but in the minds of boxing enthusiasts 1t Is forever associated with the Mitchell and John L. battle. Mitchell and Sullivan first met in the ring over 31 years ago, and the American wonder made off with the verdict in three rounds.
 During the next five years, the Englishman vastly improved in ring genera1ship and won over many fans on both sides of the Atlantic who be- heved that he could hold his own against the big champion. Their faith was particularly Justified, for after 39 rounds of fighting. lasting three hours and II minutes. the bout ended in a draw. Considering the great differ ence in weight, Mitchell made the far better showing. 1t was his fast footwork that puzzled John l. and made the veteran appear like q novice.
 If Mitchell had had a little more meat on his bones, he might have be- come worlds champion Mitchell came of a good family. His father had charge of a medical school in Birmingham, England. and in his youth, Mitchell was his assistant. Naturally, he picked up a lot of in formation on medical topics, and had quite a knowledge of surgery. This led to the report that he was a medf- cal student, which was not so. For many years Charley had a wealthy angel in Squire Abingdon Baird, an Englishman of old family who was a famous patron of pugilism, racing and other sports, and always backed Mitchell with big sums
 But Mitchell didn't know when he had good thing. He took his pitch CT to the well once too often when he challenged Jim Corbett, who was much bigger than he and fully as clever. The Britisher was knocked out in the third round of the bout, which was staged at Jacksonville, Fla.
 T ODAY BRINGS to mind also that l it was on March 10, 1899 that Jem Ward refused to meet Simon Bryn, the Irish prize fighter. with whom he had been matched to scrap at Leicester, England. Ward - The Black Diamond" as he was then known-had agreed to sell the fight for paltry sum, but at the last moment he got cold feet and double crossed both the crowd, which had gathered at the ring, and the gamb- lers who had bribed him to lay down.
 7o1a but he later confessed that he had developed a streak and was expelled from the Fairplay Club and ostra- cized by the entire sporting fratern- ity. A sort of Fred Fulton, as one might say, in Decollecting Fred's confession that he laid down to Jack Dempsey in Harrison-a "con- fession'' that he has since retracted. but not to the satisfaction of tho public, which has wiped his hands of him.
 This famous double-cross, the frat one recorded in ring history is known as "The Leicester Hoax" It came near ruining Wards interesting career as pugilist, but eventually he was forgiven and in 1851 he defeated Simon Bryn and became champiofs In 1853 Bryn [ied from injuries he received in a battle with famous and good old Jem Burke. TN THE DEATH of Martin Julian, the old time sport and manager of . string of some of the best bat tiers that this country has known, the sporting world loses a real friend and a fighter. Martin great lover of any outdoor sport. He al= ways labored in the best interests Of whatever he undertook whether it was boxing or wrestling or conduct ing athletic meets. He always did his best. and usually succeeded. .
 Of late years, however, Martin was conf1ning his efforts mostly to the show business He was exceedingly popular on Broadway and many times took out shows that looked like flyers only to bring them back to the big town big money makers Which bears out our statement that he made a success of everything he tackled. Martin will be buried In Brooklyn today and many of his old pals will be there to pay their fare well tribute to a prince Of good fel-