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Show SAWJCFFRES (Bv Tad.) Now York, Feb. 9. .I3ck Johnson mooched In to see Jcllries fight Ruhlla in Frisco way back In 1901. It was the tlrst time J hnson had seen the bl fellow woik and at tbe time coffee f;nd doughnuts was a rare I rest wit a the colored fellow. He nal never been given a fat purse, and as lor an auto, he Docr dreamed of one. Jeffries and Rhuliu fought In Mechanics' Me-chanics' pavilion. Next door to tho big pavilion wan an annex, where the email club held weekly bouts. It was a cinch to beat your way into the pavilion If you could only make tho annex, go upon the day of the fight Eddie Hanlon, Harry Foley and Jack Johnson got In to see Sam Prultt, another an-other colored fellow who was buxlni; instructor and janitor. They stuck around awhile and kidded kid-ded Sam and then about 5 o'clock In the afternoon hid beneath the riug of the annex. Mr. Prultt started to lock up at 6 o'clock and with his big lantern lan-tern made the rounds. Everything was fine. No one was around to steal the gloves or bags and everything was fplc and spau. Sam started for the door to slip tho lock, when he heard a sound of giggling. It must be burglars, he thought; no, it might be a robber, and then again it m'ght be rats. He listened again and made the rounds onco more. He startel around wtlh the lamp and after he had tried all tho lockers and the rooms thought there might be some hidden under the ring. He looked, ond sure enough he piped a bunch of gold teeth and two others. "Come right out heah, you black Jack Ti.hn?on and you big Harry Foley, Come right out!" The trio told Sam t hold the light there a moment and they would come right out. While he was holding the torch like Miss Liberty Lib-erty the three came out the other side of the ring and heforo Prultt could find them again they were hidden in a room which was shut off from Mechanics' Me-chanics' pavilion by a thin wall. Pruilt hunted all over the gymnasium. for tho bunch and whllo he was doing the Diogenes thing they pulled out two boards and climbed Into tho big pavilion pa-vilion under the bleachers. There they saw Jeffries and Ruhlin enter tho ring and flttht one of the most disappointing btftKs of the year Jeffries was right at his best then. He had beaten FHz and Corbett and was confidence personified. Ruhlln. who had a few years -previous fought Jeff a draw, at the same club, told the sports that he would beat the big fellow's head off Billy Madden, who had Ruhlln at the. time; felt the same way, and, of course, hundreds of dollars dol-lars changed hands on the' fight. Jeff never felt surer of anything in his life than he did of beating Ruhlln Moving pictures wore to be taken of the thing, and there'-was a tremendous tremen-dous house. It was a cinch for Jeff. He was In enperb fonto'. He felt like ifghthig that night and could hardly wait for the bell to ring-. He played with Ruhlln that night. He was Jounger; stronger, full of ginger and longed for a slugging bee. Ruhlln hacked, stalled, held and ran. Jeff didn't get Si chance to mix at all. For three rounds It was a joke. In the fniirth he held his left" hand high. Inviting In-viting Ruhlln to tome In "und heit him, but" Litis stayed away at a safe distance dis-tance nnd tried to box. Joff followed hliu around and whenever he did get rioar enough to Gus hooked him in the Ftomach. In the fifth he hooked Gus right again - and ''thl- latter flopped flop-ped wtlh an agonized look on his face. Hilly Madden threw up the sponge as much disgusted and disappointed as any one else. The writer, along with some others, saw Jeff in his room after the fight and the big fellow was chewing tho gum that he entered the ring with. "1 was Just longing- for a fight tonight," to-night," he said, as ho ' pulled on hin t-hirt,' "but I couldn't pet the fellow to come near me T even held up my hand for him lo hit me, so that I could get him close, but then he backed away.. Oh. I was prime tonight to-night and I felt as rotten about the fiasco as you fellows do about about wasting all that training for nothing." The -moving pictures proved a failure. fail-ure. They wouldn't have drawn 20 cents anywhere. That waa the first time Jack Johnson John-son saw Jeffries fight. He saw Jeff when he was at the height of his career car-eer and when he looked and felt as though he cmild put up the greatest fight of his career. Whether he is as good now as he was then remains to be seen. Jack Johnson, the same gent, will bo the first to know. |