Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1921-12-29
JACK JOHNSON|S
EAGER FOR BATTLE
Negro Heavyweight Pleads for
Chance to "Come Back
Ready to Meet Any One
PAYS FOR M'VEY FUNERAL

"Therc is so much that is good in
! the tCorSt of Us and so much thHt 10
! bad IN tho best Of us that il III bcboorr.
! any Of Us TO find f1uN icith the rest Of
US. Old Ariom.
The above quotation (misquotcd. PCT.
haps) drummcd through my cars all the
while I talked to Jack Johnson. the
giant Negro and former heavyweight
| champion of the world at tho Penn
| sylvania Station yesterday afternoon
Thithcr had ! gone to lend n gun to
Jesse James, Jr., and bid him aud The
| Egg, Damon Runyon, rs we'll as Colonel
Charles J. Crowley, godSpccd 10 Dover
| Hall, writes W. J. Macbeth in the New
York Tribune.
The grcat Senegambian bumped into
NC after the party had entrained. We
| had frst met in better days-bctter
| days for Johnson, at least. mean;
when be returned from Europe TO sign
papers Tor fight with Jim Jeffrics at
Reno. New. q 6ght that made him at
once and the same time the most no
torious and tue most despis"d pugiliSt
that ever wore a championship crown.
Gouc was the smile Of gold gone the
! flashing aura of ivory polished white.
| thrown into bolder relief by its ebony
border. Slightly shrinking of mien uuu
! turtive of eye. aS q child abashed
through correction, he stood the en-
counter.
Saved From PotterS' Field
II came to bury Sam, not to praise
/ him. he paraphrascd. and there was
suggestion of dewdrop in the challenging
eye Of stoical face.
Sam meant much to nc" he hast.
eped on. THE oil black guard is
waning. Athletic decay has set in III
the race that was once physically
great"
The giant Negro referred to Sam Nc
Eey, short time dead. and destined to
! be buried in Potters' Field IL Jack
johnson had not hurried East from Gin
ciunati to guarantee funeral expenses.
| For many ye1rs johnson knew MCNey,
his dusky rival. and appreciated him.
I'VE fought three times" said john
| son. He was the toughest man ever
fought. He hit me harder than ! was
I ever hit before or since. ] returned
| the compliment. Sam had the worst
left hand | ever encountered. It was
n short chop. loaded with INT. Sam
Langford had just such a hook IN
either hand, but Langford, great as be
was for his weight and inches, had
neither the weight nor leverage to drive
his socks home.
"T fought McVey three times. Twice
7 gained the decision over limited dis
tances. Once I knocked him out in the
twentieth round at Mechanics Pa
wilton, San Francisco. And | wish to
tell YOU IN that fight ! was hit the
hardest blow | ever ,uuH IN my life.
1t was one of those short. left chops
to the mouth that stove in my teeth
and left my head dizzy and body numb
for ten rounds or more. Finally. when
nailed McVey, I hit Sam on the jaw
harder than I ever hit any other man,
and at that the count scarcely beat him.
a good, game man, McNey. That's
why I'm here.
Pleads for Another Chance
"I want TO come back, he pleaded
want TO come back in indication of
race and decency. I've made good OBJ
lisations to society: atoned my errors in
sorrowfuI days in Lcavcnworth Prison:
Prison made o new man Of me.
mean morally as we'll rs physically,
came from the cage as physically mt
as I had been since the day l beat Jim
Jeffries in Reno. \ kind warden MADE
this possible. He gave me every ad'
vantage to improve my pnEsical we'll
being. :, -
has. hecn. " Jack johnson continued.
"Well, look here He unbuttoned his
leather automobile coat and under
light gray suit of tweed disclosed a
front as perpendicular as one might
oypeCt in one of his weight of lad
Of twenty. There was absolutely no
suggestion of front or bay VIM
II weigh less than 23O pounds, said
Johnson LESS than | weighed when l
went into training for tho big Reno
mill. | climbed into the rims; at IL
then; can make 215 now. I'll fight
ANYBODY. Id like TO fight Dempsey or
Willard or Fulton or Wills. Anybody :,
Say, YOU don't have to take my word
for it. You sporting writer's Of New
York can pick your man and bring him
10 n gym with me. 1'll stand ON YOUR
verdict. II you say I'm passc I'll hang
up the gloves forever. I'm coming back
to town for q theatrical engagement so
soon as go to Philadelphia for my car.
Yes. ] have a car, I've saved something
since got out of LeavenWorth,
And here is something | wish to cor.
rect no" duu lVl al tiLh'' I'N'l say
7 faxed that bout with Willard in
Havana. he beat me on his merits.
fought my best, as everybody ut the
ripgside must realize. ! held him
cheaply, III admit He was rough and
tough and took all I had. When I had
vorn myself out be stopped me,
Willing to Prove Case
But the Willard ! met was nothing
Ike the Teffres | encountered Nor do
7 think the Dempsey of today compared
with the Willard ] met. n may be
all an old mans fancy. We all die
hard. But I'm willing to prove my case
7 m willing to fight up TO a challenger S
chance through Wills and Fulton and
Tunney and Roper and Martin and Glib
bons and all the rest to Dempsey. If
be can take the old man I'll take my
medicine. McNey Is dead Langford is
the shell of his former self. I'm the
last of the sun tanned Mohicans."