The Birmingham age-herald., 1920-02-04

 mostly in western mining camp towns. After time he went east There he was something of a mark for the shifty boys there. Jack went west again, got some hard whippings all along the line, evens though he eventually won with a knockout.
 At last he decided to quit the game and he did
 LOOKS HIM OVER
 One night l noticed him in my gym rasium in Oakland Cal, and began talking to him. liked him instantly is boyish ways, his modesty. his sin cerity and his whole hearted personal ity made a hit with me. Finally, l said to him:
 Why do you always sit with the crowd. Why don't you box with some of the boys?"
 Then he. told me his name. said he had been in the ring and decided that he wasn't any good
 Stand up and let me look you over, I said.
 Dempsey stood up He was nearly as tall then as he is now, but more than 25 pounds lighter. l looked at his hands, his forearm and his shoulders.
 You've got the makings of a fight CT. l told him. You ought to be a good one. Let's get pair of gloves and see what's wrong with you?
 Everything was wrong-except the terrible power in his fists and his fight ing heart The kid didn't know how to place his feet, so l spent few nights teaching him that and nothing more. He proved mighty clever pupil and l knew that it wouldn't take me long to teach him the tricks of the ring.
 Jack. in those days. didn't know how to hit. I doubt if he knew the real difference between haymaker anl q right hook All his Fundamental knowledge had come in rough and tum- ble fighting. So for weeks I did noth- ing but teach him thet rick of hitting how to get the maximum power in his blows.
 Now I saw. whenever you are in fight it's a great idea to get your self in position to hit. but it's great CT one to jockey the other fellow around so you can plant him on the jaw So the trick of wheeling his Toe around so that one side or the other of the jaw was the inviting target made up then ext lesson. And I'll say it didn't take Jack long to learn that
 Then I showed him body punching. how to conduct himself in clinches and some other details concerning in-fght- ing. At last I took up the lesson of defense
 JACKS DEFENSE
 Jack had no defense whatsoever. ex- cept the head bobbng stunt. I tried to teach him the old stereotyned method of body and head defense But I quickly quit that when I discovered that Jacks natural defense. if slightly improved upon. was the freakiest in ring history but one of the most effective
 The way he has of wagging his head from side to side in ceaseless fash ion. with arms bent at elbows and fists sticking in the air on a line with his temples, so far has baked every attack launched at him. Some folks have criticized that style of defense-but who, of all the men that fought Jack from his ring comeback late in 1917. ever broke through it?
 For long time I boxed with Jack and each new day brought an improve ment. Almost overnight. it seemed he had changed from a dub to prospec- tive champion. I worked him out with slightweights and welters--to increase his speed and sent the huskiest fellows I could find to tackle him in gym bouts to give him a chance to generate punch ing power
 IMPROVEMENT
 But 1t wasn't long before all of the Fig boys passed him up. A few of Jacks siedge hammer drives cured them of their desire to mix 1t with him. So trotted out the old 200 pound sand bag and let Jack bang away at that until he began to bust it with every sixth punch
 At last decided that Jack was