The Washington times., 1923-12-24
By BILLY AMES.


Of the art as demonstrated by tn
Carpenter.
The story Of that most important
episode in boxing's literary has
never been written, for the occasion
was a private function to which nc
members of the press were admitted,
but have been advised that a
publication of the details cannot
possibly give any offense, and can
only operate. in the manner that
would prove beneficial to the sport,
% as one who played a leading part
In the organization Of the event,
hope that my account Of the pro-
ceedings may prove Of interest.
Early in the month of February,
1921, while completing the arrange
ments for Georges Carpenter to
tour the Midlands and North Of
England in a series of exhibition
bouts, / CHANGED to learn that the
Earl of Derby was to entertain
their majesties the King and Queen.
the French Premier, M. BRAND and
q very distinguished house party at
Knowesley Hall: Liverpool, on r..-.
occasion of the Grand National
gteeplechase, March IS, and IT
struck me as a ssingularlv happy
thought that I should offer the
services of Carpenter as a small con-
tribution to the entertainment of the
Royal guests.
Accordingly I wrote to Lord
Derby and . few days later .
communication reached me to the
effect that his lOrdship had suit
United my offer to the King, and
that His Majesty had graciOusly
expressed the pleasure 1t would
give him to watch an exhibition
Of the French champions Prov
ess. 1 at once notified Carpenter
and his manager, Francois Des-
CAMPS, and naturally we were all
highly delighted at thus being the
selected mediums through which
the sport would receive such =
signal honor rs royal recognition.
In early March our tour of the
North commenced, and while /
travelled with Carpenter, showing
him I'm a different town each night,
my partner, Norman Hurst, went
over to Knowesley to superintend
preparations for the show, and
presently I'll tell you how we built
the strongest ring on earth. A Jay
before the royal show we were due
at the Midland town of Leicester,
and upon our arrival there I found
q telegram awaiting me from Lord
Derby's comptroller, as follows:
'sHaye placed car at your disposal
for day. Come races If possible.
Please wire arrival"
Carpenter had never seen any
English racing, and when he read
the invitation he was all eagerness
70 accept, so we arranged an early
start from Leicester the following
morning, and wired Liverpool &C
cordingly.
incidentally, this early start
landed up into a most embarrass.
ing position, the story Of which !
think il well worth the telling. We
arose at 6 and on account OF the
early hour nobody except the al
ways correct and immaculate
Georges bothered to make an elab-
crate toilet.
Descamps missed a badly.needed
shave, so did I, and moreover, my
hair, which IL Of the wiry variety
that needs careful coaxing with q
bucket Of grease before 1t will be-
received it's usual treatment, and
In order to keep it within bounds !
had damned upon my head a huge
cap that would certainly have done
credit to "Bill Sykes" himself. But
we did not worry about our hard.
case" appearance, a shave, wash.
and general cleanup at Liverpool
was the arranged program.
As lt 30 happened, our train
aid into Liverpool only q few
minutes before the first race was
due, and being anxious not to miss
any of the racing, our plans for
personal adOrnment were tenn
pOrarily postponed and staying
only long enough to snatch a bite
Of food away, we went to the race
course. In fairness to ourselves,
/ should mention that we had
only anticipated watching the rae.
Ing from the back of one of the
stands, not one of us had the
faintest glimmering of what actu-
ally was to happen.
Arriving at the course, our chauf-
3eur drove US into the private sec.
ton where Lord Derby's cars were
parked, and here we were asked to
wait a minute as the Earl wished
TO be informed of our arrival. In
q few moments that grand sports.
man came busting along and after
shaking hands all round. he said,
"Well, come along, follow me"
We though that the Earl was
going to tuck us away into a quiet
corner from where we should get
an especially good view Of the
races, and we followed quite hap
PLY, although once or twice