Evening star., 1926-10-13
y$ Culture Not Pess Agent S Wills Well Beaten Before Fouhng
you don't mean to say that the rain

you don't mean to say that the rain
didn't slow you up?"
Certainly 1t slowed me up said
Tunney. And my feet were slipping
so that 1 couldn't get set. Further, it
made the gloves slide off the surface
of the skin. But it did the same thing
to Jack-seeo"
Then his Celtic mind snapped back
to the sentimental aspect of the story.
There he was at the end, punch
blind. And he heard them yelling out
the verdict. What was the first thing
he said to Gene Normile? Remember
he's just lost the championship of the
world"
Gene. can't see. Take me to
Tunney, will YOU? And there he
came, cropping for my shoulders.
;ouldn't put him out, but I'd been
hurting him cruelty. / can tell you l
felt sorry that I had to do it,
Was he just a shell of himself,
Gene?" asked one of the sporting re-
porters. This brought a laugh, both
from the retinue and the monarch.
Whenever a champion falls, of late,
lose who have picked him to win
hey always are in the majority-al-
rays excuse themselves by that
)hrase "a shell of his former self"
It's a household joke in the Tunney
mp Tunney Joined in the laugh.
"a smiles constantly, but I should
~ from a days observation that ne
the kind of man who laughs sell
m It is a low, agreeable rumble.
Il wish" said Tunney that some
the malicious detractors who said
lat could have been in the ring with
lc and taken some of the wallops
.om the shell of Jack Dempsey. This
,ne"-he put his hand on his throat
all but tore out my Adams apple.
md that one in the body"-he poked
himself just below the left-hand edge
+ his waistcoat and gave little
-rimace-'right here-see. Ten days
since the fight, isn't 1t? Well, it
catches me still every time / make an
unexpected movement.
What Tunney Told Jack.
That one doubled me up until l
thought my forehead was going to
touch my toes. 1t wasn't the hurt of
it. Curiously, it didn't really jar me
or slow me up at all. 1t should have, in
that spot There's a great deal we
don't know yet, l suspect, about the
powers of resistance In the human
anatomy 1t was just the force Of the
thing-like making connection with
the end Of a pile driver. If Dempsey's
put these remarks-quoted liter
ally-onto white paper; it may seem
that the champion was convicting him.
self of conceit. If Dempsey was a
hollow shell on the night of Septem-
ber g. then. of course, Tunney was
not so much himself. But no one who
heard him say 1t carried away that
thought. Tunney was merely defend
ing the honor or an honorable ad-
versary.
Tell me what you told Jack when
you called on him next day." said one
of his seconds.
Tunney dropped his long eyes; and
his ruddy-tanned skin turned for an
instant little redder.
Il guess I won't" he said.
But I heard the anecdote later. Tun-
ney, setting a precedent of the ring,
made a call of coincidence on his
esteemed and defeated adversary.
Dempsey, of course, was in the dumps.
Annoying legal troubles had piled up
during his training period. Champion
though he was, he was made to feel
that all his kind stood arrayed against
him. He had gone into the ring fully
confident that he would turn the ia
bles on the world. And he had taken
a dreadful mauling.
He sat on his bed, virtually blind.
"And at first" said my informant.
"he took no interest at all-not at all.
Finally Gene began talking-as well
as he could talk with his Adams ap-
pie hurting so--about the blows he'd
taken, and especially that right hook |
into the short ribs.
1T was the hardest wallop l ever |
stood up to- he said. And Jacks |
eyes filled with tears. He said: did |
really hurt you. Gene?"
And Gene said, Worse than any |
other man ever hurt me-
After that, Jack began to chirk up"
CONTINUED tomorrow |