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Show I CHAMPIONS IN I STREET FIGHT I Don't Shine When They I Meet Novices, Our Old Friend John L. Is a Fine Case to the H Point. There Are Others, Among Them Ruby Robert, He of Freckles, nud Mitchell. BUFFALO, N. Y., April 1. The story relating- how the late Dan Mills put Bob Fitzslmmons out in the barroom of Green's hotel in Philadelphia, has ro-called ro-called other stories of occasions where novices have knocked out champion pu-gilists. pu-gilists. Charley Mitchell was lor a season the star attraction in the Thatcher. Prlm-rose Prlm-rose and West minstrel show. He went on after the first part and did AJax de-lying- the lightning, the Greek faun pitching quoits, theuBoman gladiator facing the Hons. Among the minstrels HJ of minor Importance was a clog dancer H named Branscombe, a Lancashire boy, Hj who always wanted to put the gloves on with Charley. But Charley treated his countryman with the serene con-tempt con-tempt that a star displays toward a smaller actor, until one day, here In Buffalo, he told the ambitious youth to stick to his milk bottle, that he had no time to fool with him. The Insult rankled. The succeeding week at Detroit, on the opening night, Branscombe boldly walked on the stage when Mitchell was posing as the prize fighter and smashed HJ him in the face. There was an uproar all over the house. Mitchell was sur-prised, sur-prised, even dumfounded. and the clog dancer put it to him half a dozen times before he collected himself. Audi-tors, Audi-tors, minstrel men and stage hands strove to separate the combatants. Finally they got the men apart, 13 ran 8-combe 8-combe yelling: "What, ye edekney stuff1 Tell me to stick to my.jpllk bot. e.' -JflVcTreTrR'ad both eyes blackened and the Lancashire lad's injuries con-slsted con-slsted of a bloody nose. However, they thought It well to convey Branscombe to Canada, where the next morning he lost his life in an accident on the Great Western railway. Habit With John L. B John L. Sullivan has been whipped, when dnunk a number of times, once' H very effectively In Boston by a waiter -who threw off his apron and said: "You Hj can lick a woman, but you can't lick a 1 man. Come on." John rushed in blind Hl rage at his sober and clear-headed an-j an-j tagonist, who side-stepped and hit him j under the car, and each time the cham- pion arose dropped him again. 1 John was partner In a minstrel show 1 about the time Mitchell was with Thatcher, Primrose and "West doing the. same stunts as Mitchell, that is, when he was sober enough. Usually both of these men were ardently sought out by the saloonkeepers of the cities they vls-lted vls-lted to form an attraction which never failed to draw custom to their houses. The SDortlly Inclined men regarded it as a distinction and then there were the 1 gamblers who always preyed upon the "nigger minstrels." So John L. had llt-H llt-H tie chance of escaping from the temp- tatlon of his besetting sin. One of 1 John's duties was to be interviewed, and the press agent's business was to sec that John was sober and dignified at such times. It is needless to say j that the press agent's job was not a sinecure, and the free-handed writers j of the West, especially, did not hesitate H to tell that they occasionally found John speechless. In Chicago thlshap-pened, thlshap-pened, and a writer on the Herald made a scathing attack on Inebriety as Hj illustrated by John's particular case. Slapped His Pace. H Then John went looking for the au-j au-j thor. He ran him down in Chapin & j Gore's in Monroe street. The reporter Hj was a clean-limbed boy from Ann Ar-Hl Ar-Hl bor and Sullivan began by slapping his B face. The young man coolly laid off his coat and vest and set about the cham-H cham-H pion In the mo.Ht astonishing way. He B did not himself escape unscathed, for B the prize fighter hit him once so hard H that he fell nearly twenty feet away, but he got up, stood to his work and j finally Sullivan was knocked against a table, which, striking his head, stunned 1 him and the victory of the newspaper H man was complete. H Irr the tradltlona of St. Louis there is Hl the story of Mike McCool, the hcavy-1 hcavy-1 weight, who kept. a saloon in Fifth 1 street, being beaten unconscious by a H man with a wooden leg-. Jack Dempsey j was done up by an undergraduate from H Yale in a railroad car. Kllrain was H whipped to a standstill by James Bus-scy, Bus-scy, o. political heeler in Baltimore, in H a fair, stand-up fight, when both men were sober. Barney Aaron, In his sere and yellow leaf, drifted Into the "House of Lords in Mulberry street and remarked re-marked that ho was a fighter. In two minutes he changed his mind. One of the surest ways to get a licking lick-ing Is to go into a belligerent neighborhood neighbor-hood and simply say you can light a little. The neighborhood will take care of the rest. Julo Keen, treasurer "of the Wild West show, tells of an experience ex-perience which Illustrates this. Fought a Bear. In his early life Koen was an actor and played a piece In which he overcame over-came a bear. The bear was no "property" "prop-erty" creature, but a big. burly cinnamon cinna-mon whose toes had to be clipped and his Jaws muzzled beforo going on for the act. 'Even then the bear was a serious antagonist, and they kept a group of stage hands in the wings to make it break away when It took Keen In his arms. Keen was playing to big audiences down at the Windsor theater, and one night after the show, feeling tuned up after a lively scrap with bruin he started out to "set them up for the boys." He found a group of them In a saloon, and as they drank he became boastful about his prowess with the bear and also with reference to the others. "It was a good thing for me as it turned out," says Iveen in telling the story. "When I left the hospital I was unable to act, and never have acted since. I had to seek other employment, and I have been with Buffalo Bill for a number of years. I have no stage aspirations as-pirations nor do I ever mention in ' mixed company that I used to light the bear." Edwards Got His. Once Billy Edwards, who was for a long time the polite and even-tempered "chucker out" at the Hoffman house, was whipped by a tramp. The fellow, whose appearance Indicated that he had no errand In the hotel, sided up to the cheese and cracker dishes, which, at that hour of the day, formed the only free lunch provided at this bar, and began the task of eating their contents con-tents with an avidity which promised empty platters at an early moment. The barkeeper observed the ragged patron pa-tron with disfavor, but, following the rule of the house, said nothing. Just then Edwards strayed Into the bar. With a significant nod of the head the barkeeper Indicated the stranger, and Billy diplomatically approached him and suggested that if ho had finished his meal It would be as well to pass on. as they were going - to hold a prayer meeting. "Why, Billy, you wouldn't throw mo out. would you?" asked the tramp. "No, but you'll have to go," replied Edwards. "Well, yes. I will, but not until I have done you up," replied the vagabond, and with the quickness of a flash he landed on Billy's jaw, knocking him down and out. ii ' |