The Birmingham age-herald., 1924-12-17
|. FRP0 OFF ON
 EUROPEAN TRIP
Once A Hero, Now 4 Ham, Argentine Pulls
 Out
{ Special Leased Wire to Age-Heraldl
 By WESTBROOK PEGLER


 NEW YORK, Dec. 16.-Once hero, now ham, Luis Angel Firpo left New York for Europe Tuesday with the stealth of a stowaway, to relieve the unhappy state of his mind by making merry amid the merrymaking facilities of Paris, London, Berlin and Barce- Iona. He dodged about the big steam ship La France for an hour or so, but was finally cornered and then faced about to say that he would be back in five weeks, although his roar ing runabout with the wild bulls head snorting flame on the coat of arms had been slowed in the cargo hold and he had made clean cut of all ties that bound him to New York.
 Luis Angel was fellow passenger of fellow pretender to the purple and the ermine, the Grand Duchess Vic toria Fedorovna, Czarina, as she insists, of one and all the numerous Russias, but, unlike the grand duchess, Luis Angel realized that New York had crowned him with something more like an ingot of pig-iron than a diadem of jewels. As the ship slid out into the stream the grand duchess stood at the stern rail, gaily waving a handker- chief, still a Czarina in her own mine at least, but Firpo was a solem, pen sive object in the bow, convinced that he wasn't the best heavyweight fighter in the world or even the next best.
 Wild Scene
 Up at Madison Square Garden where Luis Angel was known as Jess Willard's s only rival in the matter of retiring frnr asu ,1nk scene that had all the characteristics of panic when a courier rushed in wild eyed from the doc, yelled: "Firpo gave away a grand. Firpo gave away a thou sand dollars" and then collapsed. Messrs. Nfontieth, Ike Dorgan and Leo P. Flynn, distinguished fight managers who tried to hire out to Firpo to take charge of his money when he first came to America, ran around and around emitting piercing screams.
 Demanding the terrible details of the episode, they were told that Luis Angel, just before sailing, called aside Fred Bunk, the New York correspondent of Buenos Airs newspaper, and gave him a $1 ,O00 bill for Christmas, saying This Is a present because you were the only one who stood by me when I was
 
 Luis Angel refused to tell anyone why he had taken such pains to sail without being observed or named in the pashenger list. His Argentine friends wouldn't say, either, but if they were truthful about it, few, if any of them, had any idea that he was going.
 Must Believe It
 His lawyer, Hyam Hyman Bushel, who saw him through his troubles with the Rev. Canon William Sheafe Chase last fall, airly laughed off the sugges- tion that Luis Angel would go away without giving him a farewell salute and he probably won't believe Luis Angel has gone until he sees it in cleo tric lights on Broadway, notwithstand- ing which doubts, Luis Angel Firpo is on his way to France.
 Firpo has been melancholy ever since Canon Chase tried to have him deported for fibbing about the length of time he had been acquainted with Senorita Blanca Lourdes. The swatting that Harry Wills gave him soon after that was not entirely soothed by the purse that Luis Angel collected, and the sub- sequent clubbing that Charles Weinert gestowed on Luis was most humilating to one who had knocked Jack Demsey out of the ring. Then, as though these troublese were not enough to fill his cup, the South American boxing federation brmmed it over last week by revoking his championship of the lower continent and bestowing it on Quintin Romero, a Chilean.
 Luis Tngel said that when he came back he would give himself over to his old trainer, Jimmy De Forrest, to see if there is any fight left in his frame. If he can ever get into fighting con- dition again, he will announce desire o fight Romero, Weinert, Wills and DempseA