Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-07-06

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lard seemed to have no sense of TO-
cation whatever as he tried to stave
o ffthe first rush of the challenger
which he had been told to expect
and which had come just as pre-
dicted.
Dempsey's fists fairly thudded
against Jess stomach, then sudden
ly brown sinewy arm with a glove
at the end shot upward to Wizards
jaw and the champion seemed to
crumple, up in the very middle. His
gigantic, body plunged to the floor.
Crowd Goes Stark Mad.
The crowd went stark mad. Hats
flew into the air and the, pine crater
on the banks of Maumee bay, where.
the men were fighting, erupted with
"a terrific volume of human voices.
But Willard was not down for good
He was on one knee, listening in
tently to Ollie Pecprd, as the referee
counted. Willard knew what he was
doing then, all right. He asked the
referee what the count was and got
OH his feet before nine, as Record
raised his voice to impart the infor-
nation.
And now the wildcat was loose.
Dempsey swarmed up the gigantic
form of the Kansan. Now Willard
was on the ropes, his great weight
causing them to sag deeply Now
he was half under them. A haze
had settled in his eyes. He had the
look of man gazing through a
mist. Now you could not see the
right eye at all. Now the blood
began yelling from the cuts on his
face and slowly trickled down his
cheeks.
Seven times the champion was
down on the floor for the count in
the first round. After that round
he was not legally down again, &C
cording to Queensberry lights.
He brought UP i'll the first round
sitting ii. that neurtal corner, smil-
ing that simple smile, as | have re-
lated, which was the moment the,
crowd thought the thing was all
over.
Philadelphia Jack O'Brien, the old
dancing master of the firstic game,
hoped briskly into the ring at the
head of a big crowd of on-comlng
wild-eyed Dempsey enthusiasts and
was shaking Jacks hands and con-
graduating him when they pushed
him aside so that the fight might go
OIL.
Some have suggested that Demp-
sey's leaving the ring might have
constituted a technical infringement
of the rules, but no one would have
the nerve to advance such a tech
nicality after that first round. 1t
was obvious then thar Willard was
whipped.
Totters Out for More.
The big man tottered out for the
second rohnd., That is the only
word that describes his coming. He
tottered. Dempsey began tearing at
him again as eagerly as wolf tear
ing at a wounded prey. Poor Jess
fought back feebly. He could not
keep the lighter man from smuggling
him to the ropes and then smuggling
him off the ropes~again. He was
battered all around the ring, but
even so. someone suggested that
Dempsey might be resting,
Willard seemed stronger after
that round It probably looked that
way in comparison to the first. He
came out for the third round, ap-
.parently desperate as he met Demp-
sey's attack with both big hands
failing wildly. A right uppercut
which Jack delivered with a hop up
ward brought the blood pouring
from Wizards mouth to swell the
stream which was leaking from his
nose and from the cuts on his face.
Dempsey wore a pair of white silk
running trunks. They were dyed
crimson by the gore from Wizards
wounds. Around the waist of the
challenger was an American flag.
The blue and white soon melted into
the red. His brown body was splat-
tered with Wizards blood and Will
lard himself was red from his blue
silk trunks to the top of the head.
1t couldn't last that way long!
81 have no alibis to Offer" said
Willard after the fight. 81 am
through with the ring forever.
Dempsey is certainly great boy.
| have no excuses on the way I
trained. / think it was the best
way"
In that many of this people who
saw the fight today will differ from
Willard. He was in good health,
as William Muldoon has put it, but
he was not in good condition for
fight. However, condition did not
cut much figure in the>fght July 4.
1t is the law of the old game that
man cannot give away stretch of
years to young opponent. They
have all tried it and they have all
failed.