Evening star., 1928-12-18
Details of Famous Seventh
Round Are Recounted by
Third Man in Ring.
THE TRUTH ABOUT
THAT IA COUNTY,.
BY DAVE BARRY.
Copyright, 1928. by Chicago Trihune.)

The ex-champion's fail first caught
| Tunney In a left SWeep-a crash o.
Jacks right fiat on the side of Gene.
| Jaw, an inch too high for knockout
| 1t was the beginning Of as murderou'
all attack as ever saw in ring.
Tunney, the master boxer, had low
cred his guard or miscalculated by &
| fraction of an inch, Some say ne hae
grown careless. I don't think so.
really think that dodging one OF Jack:
swings Genes back came in contact
with the taut rope and the rebounc
carried him into the punch.
Jacks punches came with the force
of a piledriver and the rapidity OF Q
| triphammer For the moment Dempsey
was the Dempsey of the Willard fight.
A Moment of Thrills.
This was the mountain top, the enc
of the long comeback trail 1 wish
could write the drama of this thrill
packed moment.
Since then have wished I might
have been one of those $4,000 outside
the ring, watching and feeling and
cheering. ! remember yet the terrific
impact of the sound wave that hit Inc
in the 20-fcot ring. Did you ever have
145 900 face you and yell at you?
Others, more learned than I, may
tell you that there really was a force,
physical force. that swept down on
us three from the far reaches Of Sol
dier Field. ! only know that actu-
ally felt as though something had hit
me. Maybe it was vibration. know
not Just what to call 1t. But some day
IL a great torrent of water should sud-
denly strike me, I think the effect OF
that torrent might approximate the
force of that mysterious blow.
Outside the ring have been told
there was pandemonium. Men were
standing on chairs, waving their arms
and shouting at the top OF their voices
Women were screaming. Folks were
pounding one another on the shoulders
tossing their hats in the air.
Hes down, he's down, he's down."
I've been told all this. I didn't hear
the shouting. I didn't see the hats
flying.
Felt No Excitement.
AS Tunney's quivering knees strucl
the canvas, perforce Of habit I ap
preached with right hand appraised u
| begin the count. 1t sounds Strang
now to me to say that felt no excite
ment, neither exhaltation or panic. IL
| fact as far as am able to reconstruc
nv feelings think they we're purel.
| mechanical reactions to situation tha'
I had seen many, many times before.
| Here were two fighters, one OF then
apparently on the verge of Knockout
And here was ], the referee, to count
him out or see him arise to continu
the battle.
NY right hand sank, with my lef
| hand extended in front Of Dempsey.
uttered no count.
still acting mechanically I shouted
Jack, TO neutral corner"
| Vividly I recall seeing Tunney sim
| to the floor with his left hand graspinI
the middle of the three ropes on tn
west side Of the ring.
Jack Stood Over Gene.
Dempsey was standing directly il
| front of his PROSTATE foe, with his right
| foot between Tunneys outstretched feet
| can still see hirn--the mauler. He wa
a quivering tower of muscle and nerves
| His body was slightly bent toward th
| fallen champion. His bands wer
clenched His facial muscles were taut
| his teeth bare and Jaws clenched.
The thought flashed through N.
mind, Hes going to strike the man ol
the floor"
I thruat my left arm in front o
| Dempsey and shouted those inStruc
tions: Jack, to q neutral corner"
For an instant he hesitated and thei
| he circled around my left arm ant
stepped into his own corner, directly be
hind Tunney and about three feet away
| He could have reached over and hi
Tunney with right hand swing.
| My right hand had fallen, but neve
1 al r n Hi@
tinctly heard the timekeeper beginning
the toll.
Points to Neutral Corner.
7 followed Dempsey into his own
corner and with my right hand graspes
him and with my left pointed to th'
neutral corner.
For another instant he hesitated. ant
then, realizing that he must obey, n
seemed to stink along the rope, his eye
| never leaving the numhled champion.
| AS Dempsey started for the neutra
| corner ! turned to Beeler, the time
keeper, and raising the index finger o.
my right hand shouted "One."
During the time consumed in my
effort to get Dempsey in a neutral
corner (the southwest corner of the
ring) had plainly heard the time.
keeper counting "One," Two" Three,
-Four" In the excitement of the mo-
ment, it was evident, that the time,
keeper. his eyes fixed on his watch
had failed to note that In accordance
with the knoekdown rule, had not
started the count because OF Dempsey's
failure to take neutral corner. You
will recall that I have previously ex-
planned that the boxing commissioners
unanimously had ruled that should q
boxer on his feet fail to stay in q neu-
tral corner when his opponent was
down, the referee and timekeeper should
cease counting until the standing boxer
| had gone to the neutral spot.
! The Difference In the Count.
When sprang back in front of Tun-
ney and shouted "Onel" the time
! keepers count had passed -Four" when
in strict accordance with the commits
missions ruling, 1t never should have
been started.
Understand, I attach no blame tc
Timeksekep Beeler on this score. I am
convinced that in his effort to do his
part he was so intent on watching the
hands Of his Stopwatch that he had not
noticed Dempsey's disobedielce Of q
| clear-cut rule, rule that had beer
| called to the attention of the principals
before the bout started.
TunneyS face had q dazed, fixed eX-
preston. But before I had said "two,
| that expression changed as though a
| mask had been lifted. He nodded to
his seconds In his corner.
They were nlotioning him to stay
| down for the full count OF nine.