Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-01-06
There's Nothing New.
~ HERE is nothing new under the
s,in-which quotation itself is
far from new. Reading William

TN t1ErSEi 10 1lObkLAi8 AcW u1AoCk VIC
sln-which quotation itself Is
far from new. Reading William
Hazlitt's essay, 1.-THE Fight.
once more, because this time 1t comes
to me with an introduction by Mr..
Robert H. Davis, the Boswell and a
constant admirer of Ruby Robert Fitz-
simmons, I note that the experts Of
Hazlitt's time-particularly the fight
experts-were quite as prejudiced as
the experts Of the latter day and quite
as prone to go wrong. On the bout
between Bill Neate and the Gasman,
Hazlitt writes:
Truly the Fancy are not men OF
imagination. They judge of what has
been and cannot conceive Of anything
that is to be. The Gasman had won
hitherto, therefore, he must beat q
man half as big again as himself
and that to q certainty. Besides there
are as many feuds, factions, prejudices,
pedantic notions in the Fancy as In
the State or in the schools"
This certainly applied to the ex-
porting in advance of the first bout
Dempsey. The modern gentlemen
Of the Fancy who expressed opinions
in advance Of the Battle of the Ses-
quicentennial certainly were divided
into warning camps, and at times
the truculent partisanS all but came
to blows.
There were first the pro-Dempsey
men, who could see nothing but an
uncomfortable here in the Manassa man
Mauler. Then there were the pro-
Tunney men, who saw In Tunney an
other Galahad, a Lindbergh, q radiant
son Of destiny. There were the anti
Dempsey men. who did not under
estimate Dempsey's fighting ability. but
disliked him because he tossed aside
Kearns. There were the anti-Tunney
men, who hated Tunney because he
confessed to reading book, or because
they felt that he was high hat" and
felt himself superior to "the boys"
It was hard to get anything remote
~ resembling logic out of the expert
ing in advance Of that first Tunney-
Dempsey fight. The gentlemen Of the
Fancy were divided into warning camps.
Those who may have picked Dempsey
without absolute prejudice saw the
Willard at Toledo, in 1919, when he
was at his peak.
I recall listening to two violent pro-
Dempsey men just before the bout.
One Of them screamed: $50 you think
Tunney will win! Why, don't think
they'll be able to get him into the ring
with Jack. Remember, he can't take
any golf clubs into the ring with him.
Remember, he can't read any books in
there"
This was in resentment Of the
hot ya1n arAIf-rHnt
well, but frequently. Also it was
an indication of the resentment of
Tunney's alleged ''highbrow" pro-
clivities. The other pro-DempSey
expert was hysterical to the point
of incoherence. 1T will be MURDER"
he managed to gasp.
I know the private opinion Of Mr..
Tex Rickard, whose word counted with
the modern gentlemen OF the Fancy.
Pressed for an opinion by MIR. Grant
land Rice and myself, Rickard said:
"Confldentially, ! hope that Jack lets
the bout go few rounds. because there
will be so many nice people there, and
nice people do not like to see a
slaughter"
All in all, the exporting in advance
Of the first Tunney- Dempsey fight was
entirely partisan, consequently, as 1t
turned out afterward, did not amount
to much. The vast majority of those
at the Battle Of the Sesquicentennial
were utterly bewildered by what hap
pened. The gentlemen of the Fancy
had been so positive that it took a
return match to really convince them
that Tunney could beat Dempsey any
time they met. Dempsey himself was
fairly well convinced at the FIRST
The Latter Day Experts.
THE exporting In advance Of the
L Johnson effries fight at Reno,
New, was another testimonial to the
fact that Hazlitt was o prophet In re-
gard to exporting. It was q living Illus
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