Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-22

prepared in collaboration NTH Booze
man Bulger for publication erclu-
Silelu bv The Star and the North
American Newspaper Alliance. Short
IN before Richards death he dis
cusSed NTH Bulger plans for pubh-
cation OF these memoirs in book
form. FOLLOWING is the thirteenth
instdlIment OF the autobiography,
tuhich is appearing in daily chap
terS.
BY TEX RICHARD.
(In collaboration with Bozeman Bulger)
- VEN after the Gans-Nelson fight
at Goldfeld / had no idea OF
ever getting into the game as a
IL promoter That. naturally, gave
me lot of publicity-unexpected
publicity, as have eXplained-ard, to
tell the truth, was sort of nagged into
the game.
There had been much talk in the
newspapers about the many offers for
the Jeffries-J johnson fight and about the
location. All the promoters, 1t seemed,
were in a deadlock.
Finally. an artist on San Francisco
paper turned out cartoon showing a
big jackass braying and saying, Where
is Tex Rickard?"
The intimation to me was plain. l
got the idea that they thought me sort
of an ASA f1y-by-night fellow. 1t
sort of nettled me. In fact, took 1t as
a challenge. think I can safely say
that but for that cartoon 1 never would
have gone into fight promoting as a
business. had to go to Duluth, Mimi,
to see Thomas F. Cole, a copper mag
nate, for whom had been buying prop
critics in Nevada He is a prominent
man in business affairs.
TEX" he said to me, why don't
you go after this Jeffries-Johnson
fight?"
I was amazed at his interest. The
fact of a man of his standing suggest
ing such a thing got me to thinking
On the way back / went to Mime
Apolis to meet Mr.. Piper, another prom
same question.
Starts on the Trail.
With these two suggestions on top of
that tackaSS cartoon I got my neck
bowed and started on the trail. Invent
back to Nevada, though, and kept quiet.
A little later I packed up and started
East without saying a word to anybody.
1t occurred to me that the only way
to be sure of fight was to nail one Of
the fighters first. That would be an ace
Jeffries had been tied up in San Fran
cisco by omebody-probably Sam
Berger, his manager. That later proved
to be correct.
Anyway, headed for Chicago, look
ing for Jack Johnson. I found that he
was showing In Pittsburgh. went on
there and found him. We talked for
quite a while and I learned that john
son. as usual. was pretty nearly broke.
Mister Tex" he said to me. I'm
eoin' to tell you sump'n-they almost
none of EN- helpin' me, though. I'm
telling the world I needs help"
"fIow much you need, Jack?"
Boss, If could git hold of twenty
five hundred dollars 1t would help a
whole armful. I'd like to fight for
Il think can Ak that" I told him,
and took the money out of my pocket.
had taken care to go loaded with
plenty Of New York exchange checks.
told him that IL he would agree 10
fight for me would be glad to help
him.
"Yassuh. will, an I'm goin' to tell
you sump'n. They're going to bid
100000 for the fight. Now, you put in
a bid for SOLO and you'll git 1t,
xho."
Eyes, if you'll agree to fight for me
md me only" I reminded him.
Repayed the Loan, Too.
I then handed him the loan of
$2,500, which he agreed to pay back
and he did, too.
We started for New York on the
same train and figured out an agree
ment which Johnson signed without
hesitation. I now had my ace In the
hole. Whatever they did about JET
fries had johnson all Sewed up. No
body had any idea of such a con-
tingency as this.
said nothing. though. and made
Dohnson promise to keep quiet until the
right time.
I slipped into New York quiet like
and thought nobody in the world knew
I was there. At the Waldorf Astoria
Hotel ran slap into Vincent Treanor,
sporting writer.
what are you doing here?" he asked,
Surprised.
ION, nothing-just looking around to
pee what's going on"
He darted out of the place and
telephoned. That night the sporting
pages carried big headline announc-
ing that was in New York TO get me
fight. It was like a bombshen to the
other promoters and Jeffries. Though
I had not said so, the story was right
in almost every detail.
The next day I went around to get
the lay of the land. I found that a
scheme had been framed up by which
Sam Berger, Jack Gleason and another
man were to get in on the fight some
way In fact it had all been set. They
were to bid 100000 and would get the
fight, no matter what other offers
came in.
I always liked Jeffries and went to
see him. They all treated me little
coldly, acting as if they didn't want
me around. They didn't know I had
johnson sewed up and 1 didn't tell
them-for while.
In the meantime all kinds OF offers
were coming in. Finally / tipped my
hand They saw / had the ace.
agreed to bid $l0l 900 and was to take
Jack Gleason in as compromise. Also
! agreed to allow Jeffries a bonus oil
$4,000 II he would sign. incidentally
to play fair, told Johnson of this and
agreed also to give him bounS oil
$4,000. That fixed everything
It. was all set and dried. We went
to New Jersey to open the bids as q
matter of form, but l was to get the
fight anyway.
A. big crowd of sporting writers were
there to see the bids opened. Most o.
the bidders inclosed certified checks
with ifs and lands" on the back
Those checks didn't mean anything
Still thinking in Klondike terms. ant
using Klondike methods, had in
closed with my bid the whole required
deposit of $4,000 in 81 1000 bills.
Real Money Has Effect.
You should have seen the GROVE
cheer the sight of actual money-an'
also Jack Johnson'S eyes. They almoS
popped out of his head.
There was a long reading of tn
NNi6Is offers-fifteen of them.