The Rock Island Argus and daily union. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1920-1923, 1921-07-02
BATTLE SEEN
BY SOME over
BLOCK AWAY.
Stadium Bnilt By Richard for Ope
Occasion Takes Rank as Larv.
est in the World,
BY T. II. THIFRRY-


Jersey City, July 2.-The hurIe
wooden saucer in which Jad& T.
Dempsey and Georges Carpept,sI
battled today is the worlds larvas,.
stadium.
The arena had seats for s1s1a
persons.
The diameter of the arena. which.
is octagonal in shape. is 500 feet
The first row OF seats is il fest
from the center of the ring-two
feet from the edge. The last rouv,
of seats is exactly 2SS feet from
the edge of the ring.
Standing up in the last row. "a
feet above the ground, you are
distance equal to one and a half
city blocks New York blocks) from
the ring. But it was possible IN
see the wallops all right-unless
you were nearsighted.
The totaul cost of the arena
reached $250.G00, although the or
iginal estimate was $4,000.
Grading on Boyle's Thirty Acres,
alone cost $4,000, for it was neces-
sary to fill in a great area Of
marshland Lumber cost $95.
Two million board feet Of lum-i
Der have been used in the arena
This is enough to fill 1873 freight
cars-enough to lay a board walk,
from New York almost to Pitts,
burgh.
Nearly Half-Mile Around.
The circumference of the arena
is 2,016 feet, each octagonaI sec.
ton being 252 feet wide at the outer
edge. It's nearly half a mile
around it.
"Ringside" seats and box seats
were folding chairs, with backs. All
other seats, including everything
costing $40 or less were of the cir
Gus seat type-planks two inches
thick and nine and One-half inches
across. The seating spaces are
marked by a thin painted linas
Each seating place is 16h inchest
wide
There were $500 ringside and
box seats. There were two rows of
boxes, each containing six chairs,
ESQ boxes in all The boxes were
at the outer edge of the ringsids
seats, just in front of the $40
seats. The rear railing Of the
boxes is 100 feet from the edge Of
the ring.
Safety Precautions.
Safety precautions were taken by
Richard and the municipal authori-
ties of Jersey City. A high pres
sure water main, including a mile
of pipe, was laid and there were IT
fire plugs inside the arena. Just
before the crowd was admitted the
flooring of the arena and the sup
porting posts underneath-which
have the APPEARANCE of a dense
jungle-was literally flushed with
water as an additional precaution
against FIRE.
There are IS entrances to the
arena and two additional emery
ency exits. Four of the entrances
were ringside ticket holders.
The arena is on sufficient incline Z
and gave everybody a view Of the s.
arena The first 100 feet from the a
arena the upward pitch is u inches
to every 100 feet; in the second
hundred feet 20 inches to every 70
feet and in the last hundred feet
the pitch is "a inches to every 10
feet.
Thirty-f1ve tons OF nails were
used in constructing the arena The
supporting posts cross braced.
Alan ]. O'Brien, engineer for Tex
Rickard, says the arena has a carry
ing capacity of 1000 pounds to the
square foot.
Governor Edwards brothers, C.
S. and ]. W. Edwards, built the
stadium. Grading began April n.
Actual carpentry work began Nay
IL and was finished June 25.
Barbed Wire Here, Too.
A 12-foot fence surrounds the
arena Several stands Of barbed
wire along the top prevented a
stampede for seats similar to that
which occurred at the recent Leon
ard-Rocky Kansas fight near New
ark.
The refreshment concessionnaHe
had eight booths under the arena
He had $4,000 bottles Of pop alone.
Near the arena a railroad yard
was set aside for parking Pullman
cars, SO special train parties did not
require hotel accommodations.