Evening star., 1923-09-14

For tonights battle really began
far from the Polo Grounds. 1t begun
in the downtown subway and L sta
tioDS. where thousands fought for q
ulace in the trains racing uptown to
Broadway. where more fans. with
nudge and wallop. took their seats.
Most of the lights in the stadium
We're twinkliug their prettiest as the
hour for the first preliminary ap-
preached.
the greatest activity. Two somber
workmen, quite unimpressed by the
seriousness of their task, dropped
some great chunks of resin into the
canvassed floor and then ground them
to powder with. their heels.
Cameras All Ready.
Telegraphers, flashing word of the
fight around the world, busily tuned
up their instruments. Movie opera
tors, posed on a platform set atop a
single pillar so as not to block the
view of spectators, adjusted their
lenses and heaped their ammunition
yards and yards of film-beside
them.
Celebreties began gathering at the
ringside as the hands of the great
clock behind left field whirled around
toward o'clock.
Right up against the ring was
Jimmy Deforest, deposed trainer of
the challenger, who sent him to vic
tory over Jess Willard in Jersey City
last July. Near Deforest was Jack
Skelley, former pugilist who trained
and seconded Jess willard in his last
combat.
A new constellation, appeared. in
this day of eciipses and earthquakes,
suddenly to have come into existence
when the great cluster of lights was
turned on at s o'clock and the first
fighters came into the ring.
Crowd Wants Blood.
The crowd became a community
chorus when the first preliminary
ended with dull thud in the first
round. Having tasted their first
blood the fans yelled for more.
Feminine voices joined in the bell
lows that came from all parts of the
stadium and jokesters began hurting
their quips.
Melbourne papers please copy
came one cry as Leo Brown of Aus
tralia dropped quietly off to dream
land under the strong anaesthetic
contained in the right fist of Dan
Bright of England.
Crowd Stimulated.
The preliminaries acted on the
crowd like cocktails. As knock
downs came in the second fight, hilar- =
ious cries came billowing down on
the ring from out of the darkness.
AS those at the ringside turned to
gaze upon the crowd, it seemed as If
a dark field, peopled by thousands of
cats, stretched back to the bleachers.
This Illusion was created by the
many pairs Of field glasses focused
on the ring. The rays from the great
cluster of lights over the battle
ground, flashing on the lenses, gem
Grated the feline flashes.
Newspapermen seated at the ring
side, their eyes fastened on their pads,
could tell the progress of the pre-
liminarieS by the groans emitted by
stout matron of no few summers
seated in the front row. She appar-
emily suffered much more than the
fighters, and filed in the intermis-
sions between rounds with pro-
longed lamentations.
Crowd Restless
The crowd grew restless waiting
for the start of the third preliminary.
Greenwich village, which con-
tributes more boxers and free verse
manufacturers than any other sec
tion of the city, was represented in
the third fight by Mike Burke. He
got a great hand from some bobbed-
haired women near the ring who
! looked as if they, too, might have
hailed from New York's Latin quar-
| ter.
Something new in sky advertising
was introduced during the evening
! when an aTplane few over OH
grounds with electric lights on IN