Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-11-21

hammers. They smashed every
thing in La Fontaine's place
fancy mirrors, the bar, fine furni'
ture-leaving the place virtually
wrecked.
Then they marched on to the
other places, chopping them ur
with equal vigor.
La Fontaine was aroused. He
sued for damages in the United
States District Court of Airing.
ton, claiming that his property
was on District land and the Vir-
ginia commonwealth attorney was
without jurisdiction. &
II argued that if such was the
case, then why wasn't the suit
filed in the District?" Mr.. Mackey
said. 1.-THE case was dismissed
Warmly Greeted by Jimmy.
But sometime later, when he met
La Fontaine in a barber shop, Mr.
Mackey was greeted warmly as
"the only honest public official
ever knew"
La Fontaine was referring tc
the fact that we wrecked all the
gambling houses, not just his"
Mr.. Mackey recalled going with
La Fontaine once to q little store
in Washington.
"The store had just been opened
by the wife of gambler who had
beaten her up and left her" Mr.
Mackey said. La Fontaine peeled
off four $100 bills from a roll and
gave them to her to stock he1
store. And this gambler had per-
secuted La Fontaine."
On another occasion La Fon-
tame gave $4,000 to a woman who
unjustly attempted to blackmail
him. His charities to poor families
in Prince Georges County made
folklore.
Learning of the death Of Nelson
the man who threatened his life
and burned his gambling house
La Fontaine sent a 6-by-12-foot
blanket of roses for the grave
costing 5000.
Bet IL Cents q Hole.
La Fontaine's interest in cock
fighting was widely known. When
he shut down his Bladensbure
roadhouse. he set up cages there
for about 100 cocks.
He carefully abstained from
playing the other mans game and
gambled on nothing but his fight
ing cocks, which he took to the
legal pits in the South. When he
took up golf, he never bet more
than 10 cents q hole.
For more than 80 years he went
to Hot Springs. Ark. each winter
for the baths. Every Thanksgiving
or Christmas. he additionally
sent big turkeys to his friends.
One of La Fontaine's first abid-
ing loves was boxing. He man
aged a title contender. operated a
boxing club and boosted of seeing
every heavyweight title fight from
the time of Sullivan and Corbett.
Customers who made or lost
small fortunes at his gambling
house, without ever getting a
glimpse of La Fontaine, had the
trim little man pointed out to
them at ringside, where he was
in constant attendance.
La Fontaine managed Patsy
Raedy. brother of the late Capt.
Michael Raedy Of the Police De-
partment and an uncle OF District
Judge Ellen K. Raedy. On St.
Patrick's Day, 1897 and again on
May "a of that year, Raedy boxed
Tommy Ryan in Rochester. N. Y.
for the world middleweight title.
Police stepped into the first
fight, which ended as q recorded
seventh-round knockout for Ryan.
The champion took the repeat
bout by q knockout in the sixth.
Planned Dempsey Fight Here.
from 1941 until an arsonist
burned the place in 1921 La Fon-
tame operated the Ardmore Club.
His matchmaker, Frank A. Mann,
3942 Ames street NE, recalled
that La Fontaine met with the
late Tex Richard and himself in
1925, intent on staging the Demp-
sey-Carpentier fight here. How
ever, the land adjoining Jimmy's
gambling house was considered
too limited for an arena. and the
plan was dropped.
la Fontaine's last promotion
was between Andy Bowen and
Goldie Ahearn," Mr.. Mann said.
After the show I took the profits
to him and asked him what he
wanted done with them.
Jimmy asked me how many
children I had-there were four
at that time. Then he said:
Frank, you take that money home
and divide it up among the kids i"
His facile mind sometimes
turned to making money in other
legitimate channels. Once he asked
a friend who was making real es-
tate loans If he would not let him
finance some of the business. For
16 years the friend handled La
Fontaine's business.
One day the friend asked La
Fontaine If he knew what was
owed him.
ooh, about $42, 1000, guess" La
Fontaine answered.
you're a bit off in your ngur-
ing; you've got $126,000 coming.
the friend said.
In Is years. La Fontaine had
never asked for an accounting OF
the business.
Helium is the only element that
does not solidifly when subjected
to near-zero temperatures
"