San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1923-09-14
Ry ROWLAND WOOD.

New York, Sept. 14.-"Here zoe!
q weeks pay"
The anaemic, 1 'rkish-looking youn,
speaker pushed two crumpled tens
a greasy five, two dog-eared ones and
a slick four-bit piece through tn,
iron barred wicket, and Tex Richards
receipts for the Dempsey irpo fight
leaped past the S1,200,O00 mark.
Followed a sweet young thing with
blonde hair and a motor coat.
"Four ringsides. Make them good
ones, please"
Extracting two crisp gold notes
from her pin money bag. she pushed
them in after the weeks pay" and
the Richard adding machines clicked
merrily away toward the thirteenth
hundred thousand.
Bankers, brokers, doctors, lawyers,
business men, race track men, men
in the street-with an occasional
sprinkling of a women-shuffed along
in their wake and pushed their hard
or easy money through the wicket.
Time Extensively Spent.
Nearly million and a half to
ute and a half That is the story of
lOW view 1uIh. anu iut hOsl VI
transients that is ever drifting through
the city, is responding to Friday
nights call of the squared circle.
When the gong sends the wildcat
Dempsey after the Will Bull of the
Pampas, every available inch of the
great Polo Grounds should be packed.
Next 10 the great mountains of
money piled up for the Carpenter
Dempsey fight, the outpouring of
shekels for this supposedly one-sided
match is the greatest rings history.
1t is the outside chance that lures
the crowds. All the experts agree
that Dempsey should put the big
Argentinean away early in the con-
flict-but-there is the outside that
the demon Angels big right ham
may connect lethally with the cham
pion's chin. And if that happens,
man. oh man, the populace does not
want to miss it.
The keeness Of the interest that
the fight has stirred is exemplified
in the crowds that crawl, without
break, before the iron wicket at Mad
ison Square Garden. Almost uni
versally the fight enthusiasts are do
ing their own ticket shopping. An
OCCASIONAL chauffeur or stenographer
appears in the line but for the most
part the eyes that peer anxiously
through the wicket are the eyes that
will focus from all parts of the huge
Polo Grounds on the calcium glare
of the ring Friday night.
Spectators Reap Profit.
Further evidence of the interest in
the Dempsey-Firpo affair has aroused
IS found in the golden harvest the
specs are reaping. Pasteboards
that left Richards office bearing the
figure $3.50 are selling all the way
up to $3.50 each. That price, the top
TO date, was paid Wednesday for two
seats in the first row. The prices, of
course, are graded according to the
1iearnoIs of the seats to the ring,
ranging from 500 for the first four
rows down to $40 for seats in section
~, $50 for Section S, $50 for Sec
ton 2, and $45 for Section IA. These
are the so-called ~ringside Seats"
The only ringsiders available at
the box office Thursday were 40 and
% rows from the arena. The only
other seats available at all at the
box office were S16.50 seats in the
grandstands. The $11 and SIS sec
lions were long since sold out. These
were being offered by the spectators
at advances of SO to 81 each-in
some cases more if the traffic looked
like it would stand the strain.
The spectators are everywhere,
The writer was approached by five
IN half hour spent knocking around
before the doors of Madison Square
Garden. A small army of them are
working the Wall Street district, but
1onhollng pedestrians with offers of
very choice" seats.
Trick Catches COunterfeiters.
The spectators are not the only
ones who sought a cut of Richards
Iat profits. Six men were arrested
Tor counterfeiting fight tickets. A
printing plant and dyes from which
the precious billets were being made
were captured. Tickets with a face
value OF $4,000 were found done up
IN suit cases ready for distribution.
1t is believed the plot was nipped
before many of the spurious tickets
got into circulation.
ironically, the counterfeits hear on
their backs in half-inch letters the
word counterfeit" so that they are
easy. to detect. A bit of trick en-
craving did it. The original dyes were
so made that they printed an invisible
counterfeit on the tickets. But the
word shows up like a sore thumb on
the limitations, made by the photo
graph engraving process. Just how
the trick was turned, Richard is not
disclosing: He is saving it to catch
counterfeiters when the next big
fight rolls arounJ Oie