The New York herald., 1922-07-28


July 27.-The tale begins at sunset.
At seventeen minutes after seven, sky
lowering and dull air saturated. there
are, at a guess, seven or eight thou
iand in Mr.. Richards mighty saucer.
A poor showing at such an hour for
a great American financial combat. A
year and twenty-five days ago. when
our Mr.. Dempsey knocked Frances
lys. there were. at the same relative
hour. four times as many sports and
sportesscs. But that was interna-
tional finance and an absorbing prob
lem in exchange.
Fight fans are neither sugar nor salt
but they finch from wet like cat.
The weather man promised showers
and thereby threatened Mr.. Richards 8
prospective half million in receipts.
Sunset, with merry. white electrics
cleaning all along the high rim of the
outer bowl; mosquitoes sounding their
savage warning; confused mutter and
babble Of talk shot through with high
pitched appeals of program boys and
soft drink vendors; entrance runways
pouring like spigots as they decant
sweating humans into this sprawlng
arena; a pleasant breeze whisking low
lying smoke.
What a swiftly transient thing is
time! Has it been a year and more
since Georges of the beautiful legs
went to sleep not six feet from where
the writer pecks out these words? Not
a thing has changed in the sweep Of
w I'M
plateaus of benches, from the SIS hab-
itat of the newspaper men and other
plutocrats under the caves of the ring
to the distant perch Of the 81 lads, the
bone and sinew of our country &c;
the ring. with its frame support raised
five feet from the pit and painted a
Robins egg blue, it's neat Tight
stretched ropess three Of them. a foot
and a half apart-all Is precisely the
same.
Presently an interesting difference
will make itself felt. the weirdness of
spectacles under a night sky. which, let
us entreat the gods. will not open 10
wet us down.
Thirty-five Lamps Light Ring.
over the ring itself is suspended
battery of lights. powerful electric
lamps hooded all with blue glass and
equipped with reflectors. There are
thirty-five of these burners. and a very
few hours from now they will be pour
ing fierce heat as well as light upon
young Mr.. Leonard and young Mr..
Tender. They will make the ring bril-
liant as day. and in the subdued light
Of the vast arena the flashing forms of
the fighting men will stand out vividly.
The floor of the ring is carpeted with
"a hal nd
this is spread sailcloth. This is neces-
sary to save cracked skulls when dizzy
heads hit the floor. Around the ring
are benches three deep which are the
writing tables of the newspaper men
who are already beginning to tell the
world about the preliminary sights and
sounds.
There are not so many of these writ
ers by far as when Carpenter failed
in his brave attack, not third of them,
but enough to cover the civilized world
with accurate. picturesque stories of the
fight. Telegraph instruments are stead
lily clicking the written word into the
very heart of newspaper offices or
shooting 1t hundreds of miles TO other
cities. There Is radio of course and
when the fighting begins a young man
now experimenting will talk the progress
of the combat into the mysterious ether.
Typewriters, over which young men in
an almost perilous state of mental con-
centration are bending, are smoking in
tune to the telegraph keys. All this is
interesting. 1t reflects the demand Of
millions of people for all the news Of
boxing match, which will last hardly
half an hour. This sporting event is
being reported as national conventions
are reported.
10000 Arrive I'm Half Hour.
Twenty minutes to o'clock and
steadily rising tide Of humanity. In the
past half hour 1000 people have flowed
into the dirty yellow saucer. There is
no confusion, no disorder, no brawling.
Spectators find their way into Mr.
Richards arena and to their seats as
sedately and as well hammered as II
they were going to church. They are
perfectly good natured and rather polite
New York crowds-for this Is n New
York crowd, as the Jersey swamp eagles
are beginning to note joyously as they
50 mple fresh meat-know how TO handle
themselves. All about are policemen,
curiously sad policemen. They suggest
In their melancholy aspect as II each
rae known suffering and was nobly up,
bearing. Why are Jersey cops so sad?
Hundreds of them stand outside the
arena. Hundreds of them are planted
inside like blue sign posts. All sad.
They nave no work to do. Maybe some
thing will happen later that will employ
their talents--a riot or something Let
is hope so. This is dull.
Not so dull as 1t was an hour ago. for
two phenomena of note impinge upon
eye and ear-the ladies and Mr..
Humphreys. The girls have come TO
the show in glittering numbers. old girls.
young girls, middle aged girls. You
might think they would be submerged
IN this sea of straw hats and somber
garments. Not so. The brightness of
their raiment and the magnetism of their
femininity make up for disparity in
rumbers. Hundreds of them are in
sight. their eyes shining with antlcipa-
ton Of combat.
Obviously women are growing fercer
The sex Is acquiring a taste for red
meat. These are significant times for
the unfortunate male. Our Mr.. C. +.
boxing expert. says that the
growls OF the ladies are clearly heard In
Madison Square Garden when the mob
be gins to utter that deep. throaty roar
IL demand for the ultimate violence.
AS for the Hon. Joe B'gee Humphreys
Ills entrance Is that OF a celebrity. Dat
Ing back to John l.. Sullivan and the
I'D days of the ring. NJ. Humphreys's
below has dominated every
ring contest in New York for years. His
voice is as the voice OF the Bashan bulls.
though sweeter, with a touch of the bull
bulls harmony. In little while he will
throw wide his arms In a gesture superb
md will quake the distant hills with
tie thunder of his summons for our
ears. No such master of ceremonies has
sver appeared upon a field of combat, so