New Britain herald., 1929-01-12
THOUGHT RICHARD
 WAS JUST \ NUT
he .Hlnphis AsV9 Alsuaad
 k Ihs kIest h6h
CHAPTER w BY GEORGE KIRKSEY


 CHAPTER w
 BY GEORGE KlRKSEY
 United Press sts1 CesresDsndent Copyright ls3s by thA United Prsss
 "Just . nvt who's gene crazy sssrcAia9 fer seld." Jee HumDAStea remarked when hs received Tex RickarA's telegram sAerins tlS,eoo fer [ return match bstweeR Terry Nc0evern and Jimmy Britt at Geld Aeld. New. Labor Day. 1s0s.
 Humphrsss not only had never heard of Rickard; but when he went to leek mp Geldheid he could n't hnd the boom town on the map He never teek tho trouble to an- swer tho wire.
 It waa . great joke to -iumphries and he spread the story alsns Broadway of the ''crazy miner who is offering eiS.000 for . McGovern- Britt match in the Nevada desert ''
 UnAaunted by Humphries' failure to answer, Rickard began making preparations for bringing another biz hsht to Goldheld.
 Before Tex could make another move. luck played right into his hands. Billy Nolan. manager of Battling Nelson. the famous light weight. picked up . copy of tn. 0eldheld Sun in the lobby of a Salt Lake City hotel and read an "ad'' placed in that paper by Jack Cliff fsrd. . fair lightweight of that time who wanted an opponent for Labor Day.
 Nolan wired the Goldheld paper for more details and the wire found its way into Richards hands. |.
 Rickard wired Nolan asking him how much he wanted for Nelson to meet Clifford.
 "A guarantee Of s5.oo0 and a side bet Of ts.0o0 for a finish fight" No Ian wired back.
 That showed me that Nelson was open for prepoGition." Rickard said in recalling the negotiations 'so I wired back thet the Clifford bout was out. hut that we'd give s15,ooo for Nelson to meet Joe Cans"
 "Post ss0.o0o in escrow and N.l- son will fight" Nolan answered.
 Meanwhile. Cans, who was viii. f,,~ "a v,naaf Na1aAs, Ar Annu.. had agreed to . S1n.o00 purse Rickard now had both fighters in line for the match but had not rats- ed the money for their guarantees.
 Gnt the NArktng
 Tex, however. quickly enlisted th' aid of the 'big business men oi Goldheid who wanted to put their town on the map and the xuaran. tees were raised by subscription with Al Meyess. tho disceverer ei 0eidheld. contributing e1o. 900. Rick. ard risksl eniy $500 of his swr money.
 1uspicieus of Richards tactics Nolan and Nelson hurried to Gold field. When they arrived they found e3o.ooo iA so geld pieces stacksd Ia tho window of . wooden shack
 The purss of e3o,oeo was an un' heard Of sum in the boring world ir these days and waS msrs than any heavyweight had ever received up te that time. including Sullivan. Cor bett and F'itxsimmons.
 Beth fighters started training in 0sldAsld and the bout began to at' tract considerable attention to tho little dsssrt mining town.
 Then Rickard began building hia Arst fight arena, . crude afkatr half . milo from the main street. De- spite the fact that voluntary labor was largely recruited to build the arena. it est in the neighborhood of eio,80o.
 FaAs Pourod in
 Fight fans from all over the ceun. try poured into 0oldheld long be- fsrs the day of the light. A San Francisco newspaper sent two stan men. Rube Goldberg and W. o. Nc. Gsehan, to cover tho fight. and Rickard made his hrst contact with the organ with which he was later ts enlist in bAllyhoe for his million dollar gates.
 It was quite . surprise to Rick ard when Mcclellan and Goldberg showed their crsdcntials to him. as hs had never dreamed that the light would attract half 70 much at- tention.
 Mc0eehan asked him to pose fer his first newspaper photograph and Goldberg did the first sketch of him. Embarrassed. Rickard posed for the photograph behind q livery stable beeauss he didn't want any. eAs to sss him before the camera.
 The e3o,ooo in gold in the win- dow was left unsuardsd night and day, but was never melestsd. Me- 0eehan and Goldberg made much of this tale of the unguarded gold and 1t gave Rickard an idea he was later to use in promoting his sec- ond bout. One of the principal req sons no enc ever attempted to steal the gold was that tt was too heavy to carry across the barren desert.
 The fight was held September s. lSos. and the receipts Of ess,7lS established . new wovl1's record. Nslsen received S31.Soo and Cans el1.oo0. When all expenses were paid. the profit was around tii.eoo. Rickard lid not receive oil Of thia
 GaAs Ni0a tAo U0AG
 Cans won the light on . foul In tho S3A round when George oslsr, the referee. disqualified Nslsen fer hitting lev.
 Tho troubles and drawbacks which attenlsd the promotion Of every big bout Rickard put sn made their appearance in his very first eRsrt. Even the day before the fight. thers was some doubt as te where It would be held. Billy Nolan caused Rickard meet of the trouble.
 Nolan enuaAd no mArA vnrrw