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Show r - r- "jjUflfhG HISTORIC LEGION l! BfcHl Professor Bill Clark, Last of the Famous IreBivEl Old Ring Gladiators, Reminisces of the Days I Ha ' iBl When Giants of Brain and Brawn Ruled Over I BflBSn 1 the Squared Arena UL.V-0 PHOTO 1 BY BITilA' MURPHV. I Professor Bill Clark, former ban- jj tamwelght champion of Encland, J is the only living link between the 1 fighters of the olden days and modern mod-ern times. Professor Bill, or as he I is also known, "The Belfast Chlek- I en." was born in Belfast, Ireland, I December 21, 1825. J "Had a letter from a friend of I mine down East, who had Just paid , a pleasant visit to John L. Sulll- d van on his farm outside f Bos- 3! ton," said the Professor to the I writer. 1 "You wouldn't know the old f gladiator now if you mot him," J wrote my friend "He is still galn-jf galn-jf ins flesh, In fact, crowding the three 1 hundred mark with a vengeance 1 and his hair Is snow white. "Remember that morning: in Jj Chicago when we all got back from 1 the Ryan fight at New Orleans? I Remember that husky, bullet-head-n cd athlete with eyes flashing and i hair as black a.s cbal? Well. let I that be one of the pictures hung In ft the recesses of your mind, where 'M dwells the past. Do ou recall his 9 exhibition at McCormick's hall that night and the squabble bell be-ll tween Billy Madden and Parson I Davies about the receipts' If you :w don't, just come down to John's 3 farm and it will all come back to J you come back in a Jiffy, for old :i Father Time, who waits for no 1 man, has hurried along, and the M gray-haired, venerable - looking 3 man that greets you now, no more vjj re3embles the youth you saw beat f: Ryan at Mississippi, than does a M black man resemble a white man." 3 BRINGS UP MEMORIES 1 OF AULD LANG SYNE. 1 "And as I was reading the let-m let-m ter." rambled on old Bill, "the dim 1 past did appear before me. It's m thirty-three years since Ryan and rSj Sullivan fought for the title, and H yet It all appears as only yester- m "Where are all the great sports M who stood about the ring side? 9 Even then I was an old man. I M can recall Billy Emmett, who made M th em al stop betting, because of SB the chunks and chunkB of money 9 he offered on Sullivan. Billy Harding was representing Richard 5 K. Fox, who backed Ryan. Hard- ufl lng refused to take any more of 9 Emmett'e money ftl "I can see In my mind's eye now. Hi Ryan entering the ring with old H Tom Kelly close behind, and along 9 comes Sullivan, throws his cap into the ring, leaps over the top M rope In a single bound, while Peto M M'Coy, Billy Madden and Bob Far- B rell follow at hid heels. H "Sullivan was the picture of con- H fldence that morning arid I will Rfl never forget the expression on poor 13 Ryan's face when John L. glared H at him from his corner. Poor Pad- Hi dy was beaten after that very first WK fierce look that came from Sulli- van's knitted eyebrows. "It is almost a year ago," con- B tinued the veteran, "since Sullivan and myself stood at the Marquette Hotel bar and talked over old times. H He appeared awfully changed. Sul- 8 Hvan has not taken a drink In about eight years, and it may be news to Hh Wi thousands of admirers to know HS that at this time ho has more money than he ever had in all his life and H all accumulated since he refused to M shake hands with John Barley- "What a bank roll he would have tiow, had he in the early days thought of saving his easily earned kopecks. It surely was "easy come, easy go," at that period I've seen hirn time and again order a round of drinks for his friends and just because he liked yjfe man who owned the place, throw a hundred dollar bill on the counter and growl in that deep bass voU e, "King it nil up." Then when change was offered of-fered he absolutely refused to take it, although the round may not have cost over one or two dollars. ' I think the one thing that stunned John 1; more than anything any-thing else was the fiiend or rather the supposed friend, who illustrated to hijn how fickle so-called friendship friend-ship really Is. How it general!) appears ap-pears only on the surface and when you attempt to put it to the proof, few will stand the acid test, JOLTS CONFIDENCE IN HUMAN XATl'RK. "It has been John's custom whenever when-ever ho won a fight, to go and spend a week with a friend In Chicago, who owned a saloon. During that week Sullivan would not only spend several sev-eral thousand dollars of his ovn money, but his friends who came to see him all contributed Everybody looked upon this friend as the closest clos-est human being upon earth to the champion Then camo the battle with Corbett and with It defeat Three years later Sullivan was in Chicago and his show wasn't doing any too well. In fact, he needed a few hundred dollars to get out of town with his troupe. He sent a note to his friend asking the loan, but the messenger camo back with word that said friend could not be found. "Then John L. nothing daunted, started out himself to look for hlg friend. Ho found him and when the refusal of a loan was made to him he staggered and nearly fainted faint-ed Of all the men in the world who owed a favor to John, this was the one man. "John L.'s confidence In human nature has neer been the same since that day," commented the old gladiator. "Those were the- days when Sullivan Sul-livan could sit at the round table all nijrht and watch the dead and wounded fall to the floor while the merry festival and wee early morning morn-ing session continued "Have another" an-other" were the two words that he used most. "They were like music to the ears of the motley crowd that followed fol-lowed in his wake every time he uttered them said times being quite frequent and with but few intermlslons. "Eight years ago the change took place. He hunted up the sweetheart sweet-heart of his youth, the only woman he ever loved, and married her. Clark esteemed Sullivan tho greatest of what he calls the "modern "mod-ern day heavyweights." 'Sullivan would have licked Jack Johnson In a punch," says the "Belfast Chicken." During our chat, the professor told me the history of the National Sporting Club, England s great home of boxing. "The Earl of Lonsdale, Marquis of Qucensborry, Sir John Astloy. Lord de Clifford and many others too numerous to mention, started the National Sporting Club." said Clark. "Before It was opened in 1S91 the house had seen many vicissitudes. Originally, it was the residence of that able, restless admiral of tho blue, Edward Russell. Americans who may ha'se visited the club may have noticed the splendid dark oak staircase. BUIIT OF TIMBER FROM BIG WARSHIF. "It is built from the timber which formed part of the admiral's flagship. flag-ship. Before the National had become be-come the WigWam of the noble art, however, It had been known under one or two names. One was Evans' and the other Green's. The ' National Na-tional fills a big space in the hearts of the lovers of boxing for Corinthians Corin-thians have gathered there for close onto twenty-throe years now and watched the champions of all lanks perform In addition to the ring for those who fancy the knights of the mittens, there Is a stage for sock and buskin devotees, and then again the doors are often thrown up for a big ball for sweet charity's sake." Clark tells many anecdotes of the old fighters. "When Sullivan was in England, says old Bill, "he had as manager Ned Holske. a genial American, Old "Chippy" Norton, a well known British bookmaker at that time resided re-sided at Windsor. "Chlpp's real name was Harry Bull, but he dressed so as to look the part of 'John Bull' when on the race course. He had his ups and downs and one could generally gauge the extent of his finances by a glance at his shirt-front, for Jn his days 'Chippy' was wont to wear enormous diamonds 'acid-drops' as Sullivan used to call them. Norton Nor-ton took Sullivan under his wing. "On the first night when the "Boston "Bos-ton Boy' and Holske went down to Windsor to start training for John L.'s fight with Charlie Mitchell, the trio wound up with a rlKht roynl drunk the farewpll to booze, so far as Sullivan was ccnerned until after the big fight. WILLIAM CLARK, in two poses. "Next morning 'Chippy' wa? up with the lark and after walling for his pals, who he;! promised to go for an early walk to see the sunrise sun-rise from Windsor Hill, 'Chippy' lost patience and knocked loudly at John L.'s door. Is it dead or alive you are, John?' he asked. 'Nayther.' said the "Boy", 'I'm slapin' " "It i generally supposed that boxers are not a long lived race," continued old Bill, ' but If one glances back at the Illustrious roll of the 'Historic Legion' of champions, cham-pions, It will bo seen that they at any rate hae generally enjoyed a pretty long lease of life. Of the twenty-four genuine champions of England from John Broughton down, only six have failed to reach the age of 50 Turn Johnson died at the age of 47. Ben Caunt at 46, Harry Broome 't 39, Tom Sayers at 3S, John Hcenan at the same age, and Jem Belcher at 30. In all these cases, however, death was hastened by either accident or by reckless dissipation. HEROES OF TI1E RING 14VE FOR MANY YEARS. "On the other hand, John Broughton reached his eighty-sixth year; Jem Ward his eighty-fourth; John Gully, his eighty-first; John Jackson, his seventy -seventh; Dan Mendoza, his seventy-fourth; Ben-digo, Ben-digo, his seventieth; Tom Crlbb, his sixty-eighth ; the Tipton Slasher his sixty-second, Tom Spring, his fifty-seventh and Tom King. I think passed away also in his fifty-seventh year. "Jem Mace, one of the finest looking athletes and the most finished fin-ished boxer I ever saw in the prize rlnsr, lived to be 78 In point of science." declare Clark. I do not think there ever was a better man than Mace It was his misfortune to appear in the ring when its fortunes were at low ebb when the patronage of pugilists pugi-lists had fallen from noblemen and gentlemen and admirers of courage and fair play, into the hands of Hash publicans, hell-keepers, night-house keepers and gangs of robbers, whose sole object was to fleece the fast and foolish gentry who frequented their den of debauchery de-bauchery and villainy. With such patrons how could you expect honest) hon-est) or manliness among professional profes-sional boxers? It is greatly to Join Mace's credit that he kept as straight as ho did. All things considered, con-sidered, I say that Jem Mace was worthy to rank with such champions cham-pions as Jem Belcher, Jem Ward, John L. Sullivan and Jim Jeffries, and when I say that, I mean very high praise, indeed "Bui how about Tom Savers"" li v :11 be asked. Well, I lo not consider Sayers to have rossersed anything like the science of Maco. Tom had great gifts and waH a grand ficrhter, but no one will pro-sumc pro-sumc to place him on the same pedestal pe-destal with Mace as an artist. Whether Mace could have licked Sayers in a 24-foot ring, is a question ques-tion I do not care to discuss. All I say is that Tom certainly never had to face any man the equal of Mace in science or a boxer of Sullivan's Sul-livan's terrific speed. "Old Tom Kelly used to say that Mace was the most punshing fighter fight-er ho ever knew, though oddly enough ho thought Tom King, the. better boxer, an opinion which no one else, I imagine, shared with him. I remember old Kelly, saying, not long before his death, apropos of Mace's second fight with Goss. "Whatever may havo been some persons' opinion of Mace, no grander bit of fighting was ever seen than in that sixteen-foot ring When Nat Langham's swells were on the beat, they all cried. 'Give the Gypsy no rest, Joe" But I know who had no rest that day, and It wasn't Mare." old Tom Kelly would say. When Goss and Mace faced each other for the fight that day," continued con-tinued Clark. ' Joe Goss stood with his arms well forward and his head back. MACE A MASTER OF SCIENTIFIC BOXING. "You would havo thought that no boxer could have reached him, but Jem Mace, with a iook to yourself. your-self. Joe,' ducked and hit him a heavy punch on the mouth Joe tried all he knew how to suck In the claret for heav wagering was on first blood, but another wallop on the cheek-bone but it to the chin Jem then rross-buttocked his man and out squirted the blood in a little fountain and In a quarter of an hour Joe Goss was licked. ' Doubts were thrown on Jem's courage after his remarkable collapse col-lapse In his first flc:ht with Bob Brett le. which lasted only three minutes and again when he holtcd ignominlously on the morning that lie should have fought Mike Mad-den Mad-den I cannot account for Efface B behavior on either occasion He licked Brettle with the greatest ease in their second battle, and who can doubt that he would have ihrashed Madden, seeing that he had decisively defeated Mike's con-queror, con-queror, Brb Travors? "That Jem was no coward was conclusively proen by his two bat-tics bat-tics with Tom King, though, perhaps, per-haps, he was not such a glutton rr punishment as some of his contemporaries. con-temporaries. "Tom Cribb and Tom Sayers were the only other pugilists in the history his-tory of the ring who enjoved such popularity RS John L. Sullivan," declared ciark. "Crlbb won his renown in the days when the prize ring Mas a recognized national institution, the most popular and highly patronized patron-ized of all British sports In those days the game was supported not only by the nobility and the gentry generally, but by royalty itself and by such eminent cabinet ministers rs the Right Honorable William indhani. His Majesty's Secretary of War: and the Right Honorable Lord Althoip, His Majesty's Home Eec retai y. "Sayers on the other hand, gained his celebrity and popularity at a time when the prize ring was a discredited and disreputable institution in-stitution which the law sternly suppressed whenever It could. Do-cent Do-cent folks kept aloof, not so much from want of sympathy with the sport as from disgust at the blackguardism black-guardism with which it was associated. as-sociated. "Yet, wherever you went In ( lubs. in Belgravian drawing rooms. In country parsonages, among statesmen, clergymen, men-about-town-ba rristers. tradesmen, working work-ing men there was no such topic discussed at the time as Sayers great light with Heenau. the American Ameri-can champion in which the Englishman Eng-lishman got a draw. TOM SPRING. ANOTHER IDOL OF OLD ENGLAND. "I think," commented the veteran, "that the fact that a professional pro-fessional fighter. In the then state of public opinion, should have attracted at-tracted such universal attention and won such universal popularity is an extraordinary tribute to the character and prowess of Tom Sayers. Say-ers. "Tom Spring, the hero of the two hour fight with Jack Langan, was another fighter who was a hero with the people of England. In beating Langan, he beat one of the gamest men who ever lived. These two men met twice and both battles were classics. "It is pleasant to cite," said old Bill, "that after their second fight, Tom Spring and Jack Langan became be-came fast friends and continued 10 until the death of tho latter. On every annlersary of their last battle, bat-tle, Langan sent his former adversary adver-sary a keg of the finest Irish whisky distilled in Dublin, in which Tom used always to ask his friends to Join him In drinking the health of "the best and bravest man he ever fought." Spring soon after his retirement from the ring succeeded Tom Belcher as landlord of the Castle Tavern. Holborn. "The last time I ever saw Tom Spring," continued Clark, "was in the month of June In 1851. the year of the Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace. Spring was then bat king the Tipton Slasher against Harry Broome for the championship champion-ship but owing to his Illness the Slasher had to pay forfeit. "I went to Spring's tavern for chat and was shocked at the change which had taken place In his appearance. ap-pearance. He was, however. In cheerful spirits and was evidently much relieved at having finally fixed up the match between Broome and the Slasher. But two or three days later Tom had a relapse and long before the great fight for the championship cham-pionship came off, his place knew him no more. They erected a handsome hand-some monument to him In Norwood Cemetery and beneath it lies as true a piece of gameness as eer trod the green turf of old England. "If I were asked to name I he most sensational cents In the history of tho prize ring, and the contests which created the greatfst excitement excite-ment and Interest, I should without hesitation .a the matches between Tom Cribb and Mollneaux, the Black: the battle between Tom Sayers ami Hcenan and the mill between Jim Jeffries and Jack Jo hnson. In all these bouts the whole puh-ic puh-ic and not merely tht sporting fraternity fra-ternity was Interested. There had been several attempts by foreigners to wrest from British bruisers the championship of the priz? ring before be-fore Thomas Molineaux appeared upon the scene. MOMNEAVX THE YANKEE WHO STARTLED ENGLAND. "In the very early days of boxing before John Broughlon s time, the Karl of Bath brought oer from Italy a huge Venetian gondolier, ' whom he backed to thrash any Englishman En-glishman that could be produced againsl him. But Bob Whlttaker. a pupil of James Flgg, snuffed out the pretensions of the big Italian In three rounds Then there was a gigantic Frenchman, Petit by name, who challenged Ja l Slack, Brough-ton's Brough-ton's conqueror, and was knocked out in twenty-five minutes. A more successful foreigner was Tom Ju-chau, Ju-chau, the Swiss, who thrashed two good men, Coont and Mllsom, and claimed the championship; but Bill Darts, after a desperate figlit of forty minutes, checked the gallant Switser's career of conquest. After that none but native Englishmen ontended for the title till Mollneaux Moll-neaux burst like a meteor upon tho startled world of sport. "Molineaux was an American negro ne-gro and unheralded, unfriended and unknown, made his way to London from the United States where he had been a slave "Of his early history little is known. I have seen it stated that his master was a sporting planter, who, having seen Molineaux thrash many of his fellow slaves freed him on condition that he went to England En-gland and tried his prowess against the British bruisers. There is a I portrait of hlin preserved and a more hideous, animal face it would be hard to imagine The huge pro-.' I truding lips, the expanded nostrils, ' low forehead, npe-shaped skull, covered .vlth woolly hair, all Indicate Indi-cate a degraded type of humanity. But these drawbacks were redeemed re-deemed by a certain, comic, humorous humor-ous expression, which lit up the man's face when he was in good temper, though, w hen angry, the expression ex-pression changed to one of the most saage ferocity. "He was a man of great physical strength; the breadth of his shoulders, shoul-ders, tho depth of his chest and the enormous size of his arms proclaiming pro-claiming him a veritahle Hercules. "Molineaux fairl licked Crlbb in their first fight, but Crlbb's second sa ed him from the ignominy of an official defeat and the battle was called a draw. After that meeting Molineaux was dined and. feted for months. Cribb, In the meanwhile, prepared carefully for the second meeting. He went into the ring." concluded the veteran. 'In far better bet-ter shape than the ignorant African, and finally beat Molineaux after 9 terrific fight." Against Young Guard. Gen George W. Wingate. ex-Mayor Ardolph L Kline. Lieut. Com- i mander Louis M. Josephthal of Manhattan. Congressman Herman A. Metz and Willis J. Physioe recently re-cently appeared before Justice Ford, in the Supreme Court, lo receive his approval for the incorporation of an association., to be known as the Young Guard. The object of the association is to teach young boys the use of the rifle, and to afford an opportunity to secure a free course in the basic principles of military Instruction. Another object stated is to instill in" the minds of the youth of the United States that to become a worthy citizen he should fit himself him-self to defend his rights granted by the Constitution of the United States. Still another object is to encourage the love of pea"e with honor and obedience to the laws. The order Is also planned to make for the promptness and general efficient effi-cient needed In any industrial organization or-ganization of which the youth may later become a part. The application was held up by Justice Ford, who noted on the paper: "Counsel will explain why the training in the use of the rifle Is necessary to fit a young man for J an industrial organization, of whlclr he may later become a part." |