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Show BIG ARENA IS NOW HEADY for the match, but nocesnlWIity was a point to be strongly considered, and Ulckard and 1ik associates finally came U the belief ciiut Huno was ihv proper ' selection, yo Reuo It v;a. and . everything was awl-clmd to thin town and the hurried construction of the arena begun. ' . - Tho Reno arena is located a mihi and a half from the center of I he city and stands where stood thv arena in which the Root-Han light took place J'Jst four years a no. The plan Is almost identical with that of the arena In San Francisco. which had to be abandoned when the state intervened and caused the shift to Nevada. It is about 300 feet square and seats 20,000 approximately and Its cost was expected to exceed $17,- r.oo. A forest of lumber has gone into the construction of the great octagonal octag-onal amphitheater. It is so designed that every one of the spectators is Insured In-sured a full view of tho ring in which the battle, will be fought. Looking lown from the bleachers, it Beems absurd to think that enough action could be compressed Into that 24-foot space to keep such a horde of people interested, fven for a minute. Measured within the ropes with their padded comers, the ring Is Just 21 feet square. From edge to edgo in each direction the raised platform is 27 feet, allowing 18 Inches beyond the ropes all around. Thlii space Is left for tho convenience of the seconds, sec-onds, who must spring into tho ring between the rounds to fan and wash and encourage their warring chieftains. chief-tains. Below tho edge of the platform runs a narrow bench upon which are located the .telegraph Instruments which will click the story of tho battle bat-tle around the world. Here also are the telephones, with metallic headdresses head-dresses attached, through whloh the thousands on the outside will hear of the progress of the fight via the bulletin bul-letin boards. Back of this bench are several others, providing in all for 100 newspaper men From this level around the ring the sections radiate outward and upward like spokes of a wagon wheel. There are eight of these wedge-shaped sections, sec-tions, and each row of seats Is five Inches higher than the one In. front, tLe last row rising thirty-five feet from the ground level. The seats do not run one behind the other, soldier fashion, but altercate, so that the man behind looks down on the ring between be-tween the heads of the two directly In front of him. By this arrangement the ring will be flanked by a sloping wall of faces and staring eyes, circling cir-cling the fighters on all sides to a height of thirty feet. There will be no spaces and lines between them, Just a solid wall of faces glaring down at the white square. Betweeu the press seats and the bleachers there Is a gentle slope upon which approximately 5,000 chairs are grouped. Here tho aristocrats will sit at their ease men to whom a $50 seat for an afternoon's port Is little out of the ordinary. The five thousand thou-sand will be on a lower level than the ring and will look upward at tho fighters. Through the bleacher section Vlre lences have been run, marking oc the zones of financial standing. First behind the chairs come rows of seats held at $20, 525 and $30 each. Then come the $15 seats, the $10 rows in great number, and finally the gallery gods, perched high above the ground at $5 per perch. Behind these highest seats a broad walk surrounds the arena. It leads to the exits, and these are eo placed that the flow of the crowd will be well distributed. There Is no central point of egress at which crowding thousands may aim, enhancing the were in training, plans for the arena were drawn, the agreed portions of the gigantic purse were deposited, and everything looked smooth. Right in the midst of this, however, the church opposition came. The people of the east bay shore, whore Emeryville is located, brought great pressure to bear upon the county officials. offi-cials. It was announced that the fight would be stopped at the first indication in-dication that it was anything more than the sparring contest It purported to be. This statement created alarm, and when It was followed by a request re-quest from Williams that the promoters, pro-moters, if possible, find some other place, sportdom suffered a decided blue spell. Williams said he would keep his bargain with Rlckard, but it was evident he did not desire to do so The promoters then began to gather their forces In San Fraaciseo again. A storm of objection and protest was raised by the church federations and like organizations, but the police committee com-mittee of the supervisors recommended recommend-ed thaat the forty-five round permit be granted. Attorneys were employed by the churchmen to fight the matter before the supervisors. Every one expected ex-pected a verbal battle at least, and when the recommendation came up for action, the board room was crowded. It 13 not every one, however who Is familiar with the routine of board meetings. Very quietly the committee's commit-tee's recommendation Tas advanced on the day's program of business, called up and the permit granted without a word having been said agalnbt it. The opposition did not realize what was going forward until It was too lato even to protest. I The pressure upon the governor had not been remitted for a moment.. He declared that he did not believe j the state law would justify intervention, interven-tion, however, and with this statement state-ment from a man known to be opposed op-posed to prize flsbting, the promoters were content. They did not fear that the authorities would step In, and carried car-ried their preparations forward without with-out further consideration of the oppo-I oppo-I ,6itlon. I Great was the consternation. there- RENO. Nev., June 30. With tho last plank in place, tho canvas covering cover-ing of the ring stretched until It cannot can-not slip or rumple beneath the feet of tho fighters, tho arena in which James J. Jeffries and John Arthur Johnson will settle the world's heavyweight heavy-weight championship on Monday is ready for the thronging thousands who will see the hlstorv-maklng bat-' bat-' tie fought out And the thousands are coming. They are pouring Into this little city by ever available means of conveyance. Some of them come from the other side of the At-hmtlo At-hmtlo ocean. ' Some have voyaged across the Pacific, traveling nearly 10,000 miles to witness tho fight, and probably there would have been many more from groat distances had it not been for the strong opposition to tho match and the widespread agitation to precent It, which finally resulted in thj transfer to tho far lc6s accessible Reno. Tho widespread opposition to the light in California, which finally re-rulted re-rulted in Governor Glllett's drastic action, barring the event from tho state, and the shifting of the scene to Reno, was headed by the churches of the country, and found a place In tbe resolutions adopted by several of the annual church conferences and conventions. The governor, the mayor and even tho president were appealed to, and the story of the governor's gov-ernor's final Interference is now history, his-tory, Tho first problem encountered by the promoters after the men had signed articles was that of selecting a site. Rlckard declared himself In favor of Slat Lake City, Utah, and it looked for a time as though the match would be staged there. Jack Gleason, Rlckard's associate, is a San Franciscan, Fran-ciscan, however, and he was equally determined that the fight should bo held In his home city. The difference between Rlckard and Gleason continued contin-ued until the governor of Utah plainly intimated that nls stand would be against the fight, and Rlckard yielded the point. When Rlckard and Gelason finally decided upon holding the fight on the coast, the question of the exact place j was still in doubt for several weeks. It was found that the board of supervisors super-visors of San Francisco, under the new administration which took office at the beginning of the year, was ' willing to grant a forty-flje round perml, ibroaklng the twentyAround limit, but still there wa6 friction at come points, and finally It was decided de-cided to take tho fight across the bay. Emeryville is th site of the New California Jockey club race track. It is convenient to all railroads, street cars and ferry boats, and when the sporting world heard that President Williams of the Jockey club has consented con-sented to the use of the grounds for the fight arena, they breathed a sigh of relief. It looked as though the way was cleared at last The men fore, when Governor Gillett, when the I actual erection of the arena had been j begun, and everything wa consid-i consid-i cred settled, announced that ho regarded re-garded the contest as a prize fight and not a boxing contest, and that he In accordance with the laws of California Califor-nia would not permit it to bo held. There was talk of a contest In the courts, but It was seen that this would be too long drawn out to admit of a j decision In time to etage the fight, and I the governor making It plain that he I meant what he said and would go to all legal lengths to stop the affair, the . promoters gave up, and picked the i state of Nevada as their one sure J stronghold. Goldfield at first made a strong bid danger common to all crowds of panic and stampede. ' Beneath the bleachers are the quarters quar-ters of the fighters, the dressing rooms in which they will don, or rather expose, their fighting togs. The , two camps are separated by the width of the arena, and a ehort aisle, kept clear of other traffic, will be reserved for each man and his followers when they make their progress to the battle bat-tle ground. Unusual precautions havo been taken to prevent disorder of any kind. There will be several platoons of guards scattered through tho aisles, and among the audience. Every entrance en-trance and exit will bo supervised to prevent crowding, and plain clothes men will be scattered everywhere, j |
