The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1921-12-24
FLUkE WINS FIRST
BATTLE FOR NABLE,
kEWSANTkM WEIGHT
BY FRANK G. MENKE

Once upon a time the boss of a
branch telegraph office tipped a mes
sage across the room in the general
direction of a spindley youngster and
said:
Hey you, kid, hike it up to Billy
Grupp's Gymnasium"
The scene, as you may gather, was
laid in New York.
Having delivered the dispatch with
due despatch and all that, the young
ster forgot all about business cares,
because a couple of battlers were
working out in the ring in lusty fash
ion, causing our hero thenceforth to
devote himself to sight-seeing-in
Ce'upp's gym.
Steps on Fighters Toes
During some furious milling, the
youngster crowded forward as far as
lie could, and, in so doing, trod upon
the toes of another sightseer, some
what taller and heavier-and terribly
savage by nature. Without asking the
reason why, the gent aforementioned
turned around and punched the pusher
full and hard upon his shifting organ.
The effect of that fist singing essay
seemed to please the party of the
stepped-upon tootsies so much that he
decided to take another sock or so
at the messenger.
But even as he prepared to do so,
the messenger, remembering the first
law of nature, lifted one small paw
from the hip section, closed his eyes
and swung with everything he had.
By one those freaks of Fate, the
punch instead of whizzing through the
breeze in meaningless fashion, PUNK
ed full and crashingly upon the So
called button" of the stepped-upon-
tootsies fellow-and down he went.
WE'LL Spots New Fighter
"Oh. boy, didja see that?" exclaimed
Al WE'LL, fistic impresario. manager of
fisticuffers and things Of the sort. who
happened to be sight seer; 'Didja
see that?" Then turning to the mes
senger who was rubbing his swollen
nose, he grabbed him by the shoulder
and exclaimed:
Say. kid. d'ya know what you've
done-d'ya know?"
Up to that moment, our hero didn't
think he had done anything except
what was perfectly proper. At that
moment he decided he'd done some
thing heinous. He made a wild leap
eXitward-but WE'LL pulled him back
The frightened kid squirmed. wrig,
gled, fought wildly. He was frenzied
Maybe he had killed the other boy
Iron bars, solemn iailers, electric
chairs, began to dance before his eyes
'Lemmo go-lemmo CO." recried, in
boyish terror
May Be Next Champion
Nix, Nix" soothed WE'LL. 1T ain't
l. 4 HI
You haven't done anything wrong
see? 1t was great stuff-that's what
I've been trying to tell you. That kid
you knocked cuckoo is one of the best
preliminary boys in the state-and
YOU amt nothing but a paper-weight
messenger Good boy, good boy. And
say, what's your name?
Sammy--Sam-my Nable," was the
answer.
Yep, it's the same Sammy Nable
who is touted by many fistic judges as
the next bantam king of the universe
They base their predictions upon many
incidents. not the least of which is
Nable's overwhelming victory the 9th
Ger night over Phil O'Dowd, who but {
few weeks earlier had punched Joe
Lynch, former bantam king, into dizzi
ness.
Started Training at Once
The day that Nable dropped tina
prelim boy in the gymnasium, l fig
ured he had the makings of a rea
fighter within him." related WE'LL "SC
l got him a membership in a gymna
SUM, got him a teacher and let hin
mix il with the amateurs for nearl!
two years. After he won the A A. L
bantamweight championship | turned
him loose in the professional ranks
That was IS months ago. Nabl'
whipped his first pro" foeman-tht
Corona kid-and has had an almos
unbroken string of victories since tina
time. He has fought the toughest ant
the best.
And the next thing that's going t,
happen is a crack at Johnny Buff" in
sists WE'LL. when he gets that therel
be a new bantamweight champion o
the world-a one-time messenger bo
who got his start by stepping upon tn
hoofs of a fighter"
Copyright 1871 BY King Features
Syndicate, IncD