The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-06-07
/ ALKING
1T OVER
By JOE WILLIAMS

NEW YORK, June 7.-Sitting
IN there with my feet upon the
birdseye maple OF my handsomely
appointed suite of Offices. 1 was
gently stewing in my own lather
through the humid afternoon and
had let my fancy fit somewhere
of into the ether where castles grow
and the never-never land becomes
finite and very real. had just
reached the scene where cool, leafy
bowers beckoned and there were
tinkltrg glasses and beautiful wom-
en- at my elbow, when Alexander
Graham Bells favorite nuisance
went of without warning and
there l was gentle stewing in my
own lather again.
Hello" said the voice, ARE you
there?"
II was James Jaw Johnston, the boy
grandfather and he wanted to ask
whether was there because he knew
very wen that. strictly speaking. I'm not
there. I'm not the man l used to be and.
admittedly. never was. Anyhow, Johnston
s.as being less personal than cautious. He
Is man of few words, and if you said
you weren't there, he would promptly hang
up and save himself lot of time.
n
However this was a very unusual occa-
sion II turned out that both OF US we're
there Did you know" said he. without
waiting for further avowals. that Sharkey
Is too rich to be a heavyweight cham
IL hot
did a heavyweight champion, presumed-to-
be or otherwise. mean by having too much
money? Wasn't Dempsey down to his
final million and didn't Tunney make
clean breast Of the situation when he
was reduced TO buying one Of those novels
they have down on lower Fifth avenue?
7 WAS beginning to feel very badly
Il about Mr.. Johnston. Maybe he
had been left out in the sun too
long and was commencing to spoil.
I hoped his knee jerks were all right.
Were there dark spots dancing be-
fore his eyes? Perhaps a careless
nurse maid had dropped him upon
his head at an early age.
n
mo" said he firmly. i was reassured.
This was no weak. temporizing Mr.. John
ston. prattling idly in his dotage. This
was Mr. Johnston in full command oil
himself. "Sha-key." he went on. has too
much money to be the successful chal-
IenFer. Did Sullivan have any money
when he won the title: No. Did Corbett
have nickel? No again. What did FItz-
simmons and Jeffries have?"
did Johnson have anv money before ne
licked Jehries?" the man persisted. DID
willard own the shoe he stood in at
Havana2 Was Dempsey Just a punk. VINO
had come in of the open road or wasn't
he? And what about Tunney at Philadel-
phia? Didn't he need money two DAYS
before the fight or was that Just greet
ing card he sent to Hoff?"
Il y
Thy this time I had sensed the
ID purpose of the harangue. 1t
was leading up to the declaration:
that only from the clutches OF
pressing, urgent poverty has our
dynasty Of heavyweight champions
come forth to claim the title. Theirs
was the ambition that needed no
goad. They had to win or they
didn't eat.
Tunney of course, was reduced TO THESE
circumstances H had made reasonable
living but, like many another before nim'
he hadn't much dinerO to show for 1t or
he couldn't have been borrowing money
on promisory notes. written on the back
Of an envelope or something. Dempsey
WIS rich only in prospects before Toledo.
He went for something like $4,000 there
and this wouldn't have kept him in 1rav1ts
in the golden days that followed.
Fitz as Mr. Johnston was at some pains
TO point out. had so little of the So
called ready. il not the immediate. at the
Carson CITY Fight that he had to put
I'D his forfeit on the basis Of install
ments. johnson had nothing before Reno
willard would have had to walk nome
from Havana. if he had failed to win the
johnson fight. and Corbett. being bank
teller. rerforce had nothing.
n
In fact IL a bank clerk ever finds him
self with anything. the law says that the
next think he is required to get is rail-
read ticket. Otherwise. he is liable to be
filed away in some cool. dry place.