The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-12-04
LEES KNOCKS
 BEATING DOWN
 SAM LANGFORD
Critical Auto Injuries Is Fate's Latest Blow
 Against Tar Baby
BY BOB MUgEUL

janitor?"
 The caretaker of the Lenox Ath- letic club in Boston thought he had never seen so strange 8 crea- ture. And Joe Woodman, a fight figure of the time, agreed. The speaker was a sad-faced boy al- most lost in the folds of an over- coat which hung funerally from immense, incongruous shoulders.
 Looks like he's wearing @. bath. robe" said Woodman. But the boy was SO obviously hungry they told him to mop up around the club. Little by little he told them who he was, how he had run away from the house ''no bigger n dawg kennel he shared with six brothers and seven sisters in Nova Scotia.
 But why?" they asked.
 He's the Tar Baby
 And Sam Langford, the Boston Tar Baby" whose sledgehamrner fists were to crush some of the mightlest fighters of ring history said:
 Because my paw is always lick ing me"
 That was the first appearance of Langford on the f1stic scene. He weighed 120 pounds then, a pindly legged youth with the torso of 8 budding giant. Woodman used to watch him as he swept the club and when the negro remarked that he too would like to fight he helped Langford get some amateur bouts. Langford was a boxer then giving no hint Of the knockout dynamite hidden in his square fists.
 There were only 8 few of these amateur bouts then Langford told Woodman he wanted to fight pro- fessionals. Woodman became the boys manager and signed him to ba ? Kid Mcvickers. The date was 1902. McVickers went out under a terrific barrage.
 Outpointed Joe Cans Only one year later Langford was knocking at the door of the cham pionship but this was one distinc- tion ever to be denied to him. He outpointed Joe Cans in December of that year in 8 15.round bout listed for the championship of the world but because he had weighed in incorrectly-a matter of less than 8 pound-the title was not taken from Cans.
 In February, 1904, the Boston Tar Baby pulverized Willie Lewis in less than two rounds; six months later he belted out George McFadden in the second round and 36 days later he faced Joe Walcott, the welter- weight champion. It was a brutal, gruelling fight but Walcot retained the title.
 "Langford really outpointed him, " said the New York World.
 It was in this fight that Lang ford got what he called the hard est blow he had ever received. But two month slater he defeated Andy Watson at Webster, Mass, and in May( 1905, he outpointed Young Peter Jackson.
 Fought Johnson i'm 1906
 All these were merely preludes to the greatest fight of his career against Jackson Johnson in 1906. Johnson was 8 heavyweight, Lang ford weighed only 142 pounds. As Nat Fleischer, the boxing writer described it.:
 Johnson beat Langford in a 15- round bout but received 8 terrifiv lacing and was all but knocked out in the early part of the contest. Cleverness and refusal to mix 1t with Langford after stiff right crash to the jaw in the fifth round, which put Johnson on his back, was all that saved the day for Jack. Langrord :. proved Johnson's equal and Jack at the time was in the heydey of his career. The gong saved Johnson from 8 knock out"
 Whipped Jim Flynn
 From 1907 to 1914 Langford was virtually invincible. His bones had thickened and his weight reached 180 pounds. In 1907 he beat Young Peter Jackson, he whipped Jim Barry of Chicago three times; in 1908 he beat Joe Jeannette, a heavyweight, three times; John Willie of Chicago, Tony Ross and Jim Flynn, the Pueblo fireman who held 8 victory over Jack Dempsey. In 1910 Langford defeated Mor- ris Harris, Al Kubiak, the ':Michi- gan giant" and others. Then he went to London and knocked out Ian Hague, who was thrown into the ring to defend the English heavyweight championship. In 1911 Langford went to Lon- don again, this time to defeat Bill Lalsy, the heavyweight champion of Australia who fouled him. During this trip he fought Sam Mcvey six times, winning four and losing one on points, with one fight g draw.
 Knocked Out Harry Wills
 -Langford knocked out Harry Wills in 1914 and Gunboat Smith the same year. Three years later he fought Fred Fulton in the bout that started Langford on the downward trail. Fulton landed a hard smash on Langford's left eye, destroying the vision. The Boston Tar Baby never recovered his sight fully. When he knocked out Kid Savage in Mexico for the championship of Mexico in 1923 he could see only few feet in front of him. A cataract began to form on the right eye about this time and it was while groping his way across street on Nov. IS, that Langford was struck by an automobile he was unable to see. He received seri- ous injuries, but left tn ehospital Nov, 24,