Show JACK JOHNSONS JOHNSON'S I CONFESSION WILl BRING HUNDREDS S OF I TOLD YOU SOS SO'S Things That Happened Before Be Be- r fore and After Havana Fight Will Cause Critics to Believe His Statement r 1 w I By W. W DB i t OT 01 down another black eye J for the ahead already too much abused manly art of self 11 d defense r r. r Jack Johnsons Johnson's long expected 1 5 confession a detailed account of ofiS iS which appears on the first page r. r o 0 f this tl lIS issue Issue that tl la t I he lC deliberately d e. e lb I era t e 1 Y lay la down to Jess Willard VIllard at sS Havana April 5 5 1915 for financial consideration and in the r. r hope that lie he would be let r S alone is going to bring no S. S good for the boxing game Unlike Fred tons ton's joke contes 1 i to be taken slon sion this one is going seriously by the real fight critics because there are so many angles to bear out the big blacks black's statements Found guilty of white sla ery anda and a fugitive from justice Jack Johnson was vas hounded from pillar to post and t f unable to return to the United States s he he was apparently forced to fight Jess Willard at Havana Cuba because he heS S was broke and because a clique cUque of promoters who w ware xe wiser than he talked him Into hito a. a lot of things r I have n never ever seen Jack 1 Johnson In Ina a ring but enough great fighters J promoters promoter's and critics have told me that h he was the greatest piece of fighting machinery that ever stepped Into the ring r bar no one white or black Jess Willard before and after he defeated Johnson at Havana never appealed to me as anything but a big ham to borrow from the k vernacular He did no noi put on one real fight before he met Johnson and no he most surely has been an unsatisfactory factory factor to say nothing of an unpopular un- un 1 popular champion ever since HAD THE LOW DOWN A month or two after the fight I chanced to meet one of the men who attended the fight at Havana and probablY one of the biggest men In Inthe the game at the time a colored man by the way at San Francisco I cannot quote the words he used but Continued on page 5 JACK JOHNSONS JOHNSON'S Continued from page pago 1 1 as nearly as I can remember he said Some day that big shine will spill what ho he knows and then there will be the biggest scandal ever everI mown known in the history of the tho ring I When he does you can just think I of little me and amid what I told you here today I never forgot that remar remark in view of later events and I 1 am fUlly convinced con con- vinced that thie colored man had the I dope for he told me many of the same things which the Associated Press now credits to Johnson After reading Johnsons Johnson's confession today I was prompted to scan through some of my old scrap books and I Iam Iam am reprinting a few extracts from Damon Runyon's story of the Havana fight STORY OF THE FIGHT Runyon said Jt It was a battle of one lone Jone black man against the whole world so 50 to speak Ill III conditioned and andI harassed by anathemas as from the people peo- peo I pIe in the crowd Jack Jacle Johnson looked a pitiful sight Johnson did not talk talle much to Willard Villard as used to be his his' I custom with his opponents lIe He had little to say to anyone and whenever he spoke to Jess It was y He frequently nodded to an acquaintance in the audience but his whole attitude Indicated that lie he was worried After the fight Johnson told Tom Flannagan that he was glad he lost and that he was going back to Paris to live In peace Now all my trouble will lie Ie over he said They will let me arone JOHNSON KNEW THAT HE WAS GONE SOONER THAN ANYONE ANYONE ANY ANY- ONE ELSE IN THE HOUSE IN THE REST BETWEEN THE TWENTY TWENTY- I FIRST AND TWENTY SECOND ROUNDS HE SENT FOR HARRY RAZEE r-RAZEE AND ASKED HIM TO FIND JACK CURLEY SOON AFTERWARD HE TOLD FLANNIGAN FLANNIGAN GAN HE WAS GETTING WEAR WEAK AND COULD NOT LAST MUCH LONGER I WANT YOU TO GET MY WIFE OUT OF HERE HE SAID FLANNIGAN TOLD HIM TO GO GOA GOA A FEW ROUNDS MORE TO SEE HOW HE FELT BETWEEN THE TWENTY TWENTY- FIFTH AND TWENTY SIXTH ROUNDS CURLEY WAS FOUND AND JOHNSON REPEATED HIS REQUEST CURLEY FOUND MRS MR JOHNSON AND ESCORTED HER FROM THE HOUSE AFTER THE TENTH ROUND WILLARD WAS A STRONG FA- FA ONE MAN BET 8 TO 1 THAT WILLARD WOULD WIN INSIDE OF TWENTY FIVE ROUNDS Johnson returned to his rooms almost immediately after the fight I Aside from a slight cut on his lip he was unmarred lie He denied himself to all interviewers an and 1 a few hours later left lert hurriedly in an automobile Up to a late hour tonight the searchers search search- ers era were unable to fIn find 1 the former ch |