Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-07-29
JACK JOHNSON SAYS
HE'LL WRITE A BOOK
Former Heavyweight Champion, Joliet JAIL Has T,Uo
Hobbies, Stars and Mmderers-Asserts Earth Is
OUal-Thinks He Can Beat Dempsey

of Shakespeare's time couldn't under
stand that book the Bard wrote.
Don't you believe it. It wouldn Z
be natural" With pedagogic fervor he
fiicked the ash from his fifty cent cigar.
English Is English wherever you're at,
and they couldn't understand It any
more than we can"
johnson had adopted the Latin man :
ner of emphasis. He continually helps
along his flowing words with a cork
screw motion of the left hand, his fin-
gers daintily arranged that the index
digit touches the tip of the thumb and
the little finger spreads out like that
Of fat lady holding teacup. He has
very thick fingers.
Is Star Gazer
"What I'm interested in most at the
present time is astronomy" he con-
fessed. I've studied astronomy lot.
m specially interested in q star called
Asteria-it's 400 years away. That's
light years. But what want to find
out is. how fast electricity travels. Light
travels $4,000 miles a second. Elec-
tricity goes about three or four times
faster. l don't know for sure yet. I
want to study into that"
mo, l haven't done much research
In astronomy,-excepting at sea through
UeleSCOpe.
All this excellent material will go into
Jacks book.
''Take Jupiter. That planets mil
lions and millions of miles away from
here. And It's little hot yet. You
Know the earth was hot once. The
moon, On the other hand, is ice cold
and people can't livsson 1t, and s'forth.
Jupiter's getting colder and colder and
smaller and smaller.
''The earth amt roundv'Z
His eyes rolled white again as he
drove home this fact.
The earth amt round. It's oval !!
Oval. But most folks don't know It. If
you study science you find out things
like that.
when you put your mind down
to these studies you get to wondering
about Something that's all around you.
But even If there was Something-call
it God, maybe-sould he stand there
and see children murdered?"
The thought drove him to the story
OF murderer he met just before he
crossed the border and gave himself IN
He wasn't the kind of fellow / tboueht
| ought to associate WITH" he com.
mented.
That's another thing I'm Interested
in; ! study murders of all kinds
And so it went on. He said he was
in Moscow in 1914. when war was de-
clared; he Travelled through Germany
and France, sparring a bit. In Spain
he did some bull fighting. He was
'Oh: fair. he said. modestly. ut hull
fighting. Nothing YOU could brao
about. though. think its delight.
full sport"
Wants to Meet Dempsey
lie said it with the air of man
VINO Is making pronounccmcnt upon
the quality of a certain cheese.
were fighting to get my release on
bonds now. If get a temporary re-
lease. I'm going right INTO training.
never was filter in my life. and I can
ltck Dempsey any day. And | will lick
nm JUST as soon as we sign him up
to n bout"
And he looks as if there were still
some fight in him.
Drop IN to see me tomorrow. And
well talk some more about these mat
ters, was his parting word. embel-
lished by golden smile, as other visi-
tors were admitted to the room.
Johnson Is hero in Joliet The in
habltants of this town of 10000 talk
johnson about two thirds of the day
and they wait outside the Jail TO catch
glimpses of him. The sheriff had him
out automobiling the other night and
they dropped into an ice cream parIor
and ate couple of strawberry sundacS.
1t was an item of news that eclipscd tho
Soviet Polish armistice or the Illinois
coal crisis, so far as Joliet was con.
cCrned.