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Show CHAMPION HAS A GREAT WELCOME Key West. Fla , April 7 Jess Wil-lard. Wil-lard. the new heavyweight champion pugilist of the world, arrived here late today from Havana where on Monday he won the title from Jack Johnson A crowd of several thousand who gathered gath-ered on the pier to greet the new champion bocamp so demonstrative that they broke down fences and part ed ropes in their eagerness to get near the Kansas giant. The pollco had great difficulty in preserving order. or-der. When the steamship Governor Cobb, bringing Willard and his part. steam ed into the harbor after a rough trip from the Cuban capital, all the ships flew flags of welcome and the crews lined the rails and yelled cheering words at tbe white champion Sev eral govemmf nt torpedo boat, destroy crs opened their sirens In welcome Willard stood on the upper deck and repeatedly lifted his broad-brimmed -ombrero in answer Given Wild Welcome. As the ship warped into her dock the crowd of excited men, women and children on the pier craned npeks for a glimpse ol Willard. A few moments mo-ments later Willard was 6een com Ing down the gangplank the crowd held back until now by the police, broke fences and ropes and raced in the direction of the champion Soon Willard was surrounded by a throng of cheering jumping. gesticulating persons, and he was half carried to another end of the pier, where a committee com-mittee from Mip board of trade bundled bun-dled him into carriage for the parade par-ade up to the town A baud headed the procession to Willard's hotel and he was given an enthusiastic greet ing all the way Later, when willard was shown a telegTam offering $20,000 as a purse lor a fight with Frank Moran, be said . 'Pshaw' I don t know anything ibout my future plans. See Tom lones, ' indicating his manager Tom Jones, after reading the telegram said emphatically that Willard would not fight for nine months or a year. Earns a Ret. "W ilia rd ." said Jones, "has been training for a year and a half and has earned a rest He Is coini; to tout the country, picking up the money that Is due him, for. you know. Willard Wil-lard has not made anv big money out of this fight "After Jess has completed his tour and had a rest he will be ready to defend the title against an;, heavyweight heavy-weight thr public may think worthy. He will never fight another negro and will not meet any joke fighters. Any Lime, however, that a real white contender con-tender appears who gives indications of real ability and popular support. Jess will be found ready to meet him for the title in any part of the world. ' Member? of the party told of the farewell meeting between Johnson and Willard in Havana just before the latter sailed for this country They said as the steamship bearing Willard left the Havaxia dock Johnson John-son turned to a friend and said "I wish I were going back to the states It certainly is hard to be eiled this way " Then Johnson shouldered his waj through the crowd and disappeared Tonight Willard s backers received and answered manv telegrams regard ing offers of exhibitions while the champion Is en route to the north After a burned conference it was announced an-nounced that Willard and his party will travel direct from here to Baltimore, Balti-more, where the first exhibition by the new champion will be given on i Friday night. On Saturday Willnrd and his party will arrive at New-York, New-York, where a big welcome and reception recep-tion is said to have been planned. |
