Arizona republican., 1921-01-15
NEW YORK ELITE CROWDS GARDEN
 ID WATCH FIRST
 BOXING CONTEST
rRepubIIcan A. 9. Leased wIrel

Republican A. p. Leased Wire1
 MADISON SQUARE GARDEN, NEW YORK, Jan. 14-Society women who suddenly have become patrons of art of flstcuffs tonight stepped from opera box to ringside to watch boxers pum- mel one another for the war stricken folk of France and their own emolu- ment
 To Madison Square Garden-where at National Horse shows for years un- numbered Fifth avenue has gathered to see thoroughbreds go through their paees and to observe the latest styles share of the city's men and women of fashion motored through the rain to witness a worlds lightweight champi- onship contest between Benny Leonard and Richie Mitchell, staged by the American committee for devastated France in a twentieth century drive for funds.
 Perhaps New York society has not made of boxing such an enthusiastic fad as the elect of London and Paris, | or perhaps it was the rain which kept many pretty frocks at home, but Mad ison Square Garden tonight was not so 1 aglitter with jewels and fine silks as the Circe Paris or Royal Albert hall was reputed to have been at recent inn portant bouts. Most of the women seated around the ringside were not in evening dress although their escorts wore their dinner coats.
 When the doors to the great arena were thrown open, men in business l suits, swept like a wave into the gar den. filling the four galleries and much of the level stretches around the ring.
 Then in the vast auditorium with its flag bedecked balconies. its bright lights flaring aloft and its dim haze of smoke, i appeared a flying squadron of women in evening dresses Of bright hues. TheX were fair program vendors selling their wares for war-torn France.
 And the gallery gods were on their side. There was no doubt of that.
 The rows of keen-eyed lads to whom no motion in the ring was lost were l equally quick to detect reluctant buy
 CTS. The rippling cheers that greeted appearance of the girls was followed
 by sharp injunctions to buy them programsl'' with misses for tho-s who disobeyed.
 Shortly after Miss Anne Morgan, leading figure in auetioning high priced
 ringside seats for charity had seated
 herself in her box, the Garden, filled to capacity, was plunged in darkness, un- til the great cluster of lights over the
 ring were flashed on.
 There were a few preliminary bouts i which women could be seen observing
 with varying emotions. but the thrills
 were reserved for the lightweight
 champion and challenger.
 When the first pair of boxers stepped
 into the ring there was a stir. All but the women folk were stern. Here and
 there could be observed one unused to
 the sound of blows hard struck who f gasped a bit and pressed her lips. For
 this was no parlor boxing bout that the women of New York watched to-
 night, but a struggle. fierce and sharp
 between men whose fists shot out like
 thunder bolts.
 AS the bouts progressed. more eve
 ming dresses were to be seen and it ' was evident that women, although far l outnumbered by men, had Hooked to a
 boxing bout in numbers never cc<Asre held in New York.
 And thus. hour after hour. the un- initiated set around the canvas-covered 2 square watching boxers drive home
 blows that pinked the flesh of their 2 bodies and listening for the first time to the roar of boxing fans.