The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1929-01-07


of novel, but Tex Richard Is dead
today, and, somehow, the fact seems
not quite credible. He was an insti-
| tuition, and, in our minds, institu.
| tons last forever.
There Is no doubt, however, that,
in leaving this life, Richard has
tasted to the full of its sweets and
of its bitters. He crowded several
centuries of experience into the 81
years he knew on earth.
Cow puncher, town marshal in the
tough days of the Vests bad men,
Alaskan prospector. driver of a COW
cred wagon pioneering its way across
the plans into the great unknown
these were some of Richards early
experiences. He ran a gambling
house in Dawson, where gold and
the lure of the Yukon alike held
men in a vivid, icy grip, and he ran
it into the ground. Broke. It
wasn't new experience.
Wood chopper for the river
steamers, odd job nlan-just do
Ing the best he could. Sixty
thousand dollars, his all, blown
In that Dawson gaming VEN
ture. At this juncture, it
looked like life of unremitting
toll and Obscurity for Rickard.
HOW different the actually!
Came other years and other gold
rushes. One Of them took Richard
to Goldfield. New, where he opened
another palace of Chance and
began to prosper. Old timers re-
ferred to Richards Palace" as
being On the level always and, if
the man eked out a comfortable in
come thereby. he undoubtedly de-
served it.
Then the inspiration! He would
bring the Gans.Nelson lightweight
championship to Goldfield. Just a
bunch, but it was to- alter the tide
of a life time beyond all recogni-
ton and carry Rickard into the
world Of men and big things as
the greatest boxing promoter of the
ages. And this was only the start.
And the finish? Nine million
dollars in gate receipts on heavy
weight championships alone within
the last eight years. A. million
dollars in his own right, a chateau
in Miami, Fla; a private yacht,
the proprietor of gilded palace Of
sports, the association Of men
famous in the arts, in the profess
sions and in finance. A man ad-
mired, respected, sought after, his
favors regarded as the largess Of
royalty. OF a certainty, fiction is
defied!
TEX" Richard was born 81
Kansas City, Mo. Barely out
young Richard, one of five chill.
City to the great Texas plains,
and there, with his family, set.
tied in Sherman, Tex.
The elder Richard, a millwright
by trade, found it hard to support
his family in Sherman, and when he
heard of glowing prospects further
west, huddled his family into a
covered wagon and pushed on to
Henrietta, Tex.
In 1880, when Tex was years
old, his father was stricken and 1t
was necessary for the boy to ma
terially contribute to the support of
his family.
When Tex was Is he was engaged
to go with a herd of cattle all the
way up to Montana and several
years later he was elected town
marshall Of Henrietta, Tex, the
scene OF his boyhood.
The year 1895 saw Richard in
Alaska, He struck gold. and when
he sold out his interest in the
lead" he had some $50. 1000 in gold
dust. Then he got the gambling
fever, and opened gambling house
at Dawson where he also acted as
banker for the miners.
This venture In Alaskan
gambling cost Tex every niclxIe
he owned. and and he left
Dawson fiat broke, and. not
having the wherewithal for