Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-01-23

ueSCuSSeu NUN butger pans JOT DuO-
Hcdtion of these memoirs in book
form. FOLLOWING is the fourteenth
fnstdllment OF the dutobtogrdphyH
ters.)
BY TEX RICHARD.
Tin Collaboration With Bozeman Bulger)
Ky efforts to have the Jeffries-
MI Johnson fight at Salt Lake
WI City proved futile. I am still
i of the opinion that it should
have gone there. AS I have
said, my Judgment was based on the
fact that Salt Lake City is nearer the
center of population and would get the
people from other sections.
The California crowd argued and ar
gued. They brought every possible in
f1uence to bear for holding the big fight
in San Francisco The newspaper men
of the coast took up the fight for San
Francisco.
One of my objections was that the
governor might not permit it. There
upon the newspaper writer's saw Gov.
Gillett. He told them that the laws of
California permitted boxing and he saw
no reason why the fight should not be
held in San Francisco.
With this they finally wore me down
and gave in. The people of Salt
Lake City were disappointed, but had
done my best.
Then our troubles started anew. To
begin with they made me buy a license
which cost $4,000. Under the law
promoter had to have license for a
fight on certain day. Another man
had that date and / had to buy his
license.
Builds an Arena.
Next had to arrange for building an
arena. That in itself was a big lob.
After many negotiations I finally got a
lot at Market and Eighth streets. We
buut an arena at cost of $4,000,
which, by the way, was a total loss.
Ihen, right in the midst of other
0ltnculties, a dispute arose over the
referee. Bergen and Jeffries would not
agree to any man who suited Johnson
and johnson would mot agree to anv
man selected by them. Everybody soon
took hand in the argument. Jack
welsh, Ed Smith and Eddie Graney
were all suggested. / couldn't get the
principals to agree on any one of them
Inere were still others, but these were
the main ones.
What's the matter with you being
Teieree?" johnson finally suggested to
me in desperation.
The idea of being referee had never
occurred to me. had had no expert
ence.
You don't need any," johnson said
"as long as you are square" 0''-N'
This got to Jeffries in a few hours
Jeffries aSSented.
a., others came to me, and to settle
tne matter decided to be the referee
l oio not take it as a joke because I
realized the responsibility of the lob.
IN the meantime we had started
Se!lng tickets, all of which had been
printed at big cost. Much jealousy had
arisen over one thing and another
everybody seemed confused and ir-
We had out tickets for 100000 and
the money In the bank. am sure that
Ine night would have drawn 100000.
II looked as II we were to see the
record attendance of all times.
Bombshel Is Exploded.
Then came the bombshell. Gov. Gil
lett forbade the fight.
You can Imagine what CONSERVATION
this caused. And this on top of all the
troubles and expenses and arguments.
1t was enough to make a man throw
up his hands. But We didn't.
l have never been able to discover
why Gov. Gillett changed his mind
after giving us the assurance on which
We spent so much money. He CURLY
declared that he would not permit the
hight and that ended it. He gave no
explanation.
Mind you. was now out the $4,000
Tor the arena, not cent of which
ever got back. I was out the $4,000
Tor the license, not cent of which
was ever returned to me. I was out
all the incidental expense of promotion,
such as the tickets and innumerable
details-more than $4,000.
JEFF Proves Good Sport"
In that troublesome time will never
forget Jim Jeffries.
Tex" he said to me, eff we don't
make a success of it now you can forget
about the guarantee. Even if the fight
is not held at all will go anywhere
and tight for you, or will go on the
road with a show to see that you don't
come out loser"
A man who will do that is a real
man. AS long as I live I can never
forget Jeffries for that.
Never mind, We'll hold it," assured
him.
1t was too late now to go back to the
Salt Lake City people. I didn't have
the nerve, even if had had the in
cIination. There was nothing left but
TO go to my own State-Nevada. I got
in touch with Reno. They agreed to
build an arena at no cost to me if We
would bring the fight there. That was
finally decided upon.
Then came the big move to Nevada.
Those were exciting days. Training
camps had to be moved, headquarters
closed and everything. The newspaper
colony moved out in body.
Some ugly rumors arose about the
stake money. They were quickly
silenced. Big Tim Sullivan of New
York was there as stakeholder and
he had the money, mostly in $1,000
bills. I was ready to go through with
my end of it and take a chance.
Now arose the biggest problem of all.
The money had to be returned to those
who had bought seats in San Fran
cisco if they wanted it. Those who
wanted to keep their seats could get
them transferred to the Reno stand.
Imagine it isn't difficult for you to
see what that meant. A jigsaw puzzle
was tame alongside that.
put a notice in the San Francisco
papers that anybody who desired to have
his tickets redeemed could do so by
applying at the bank. The other diff
ficulty of seats we had to settle at
Reno.
I have a notion that you are now
beginning to see the troubles of pro-
moter-especially green one.
(Next-In the Training Camps)
Copyright, 1929, by North American News