| Show N P Y state police lift lif t mask from Holly hollywood woods wonder man john montague beat bing crosby at golf using baseball bat shovel and rake by WILLIAM C UTLEY 66 CHUCKS said bing cros SHUCKS abys bys burly golf partner I 1 could beat you using a ball bat a shovel and a rake pa now if you have ever seen bing ing crosby play go golf if you will realize that this challenge would not be unlike telling joe louis 1 I could lick you with one hand tied behind my b back ac ks the dreamy eyed crooners average is about 74 which is golf of a i professional caliber the arrogant gentleman had been in the habit of spotting bing a stroke on each of five h oles holes and collecting with withering consistency its abet a bet said crosby and it was decided to play one hole for bing using the regulation bag of clubs took two shots to the green and two putts for a perfect p berfect par aloar biow the other party to the arrangement ran gement strode to the tee gave his ball a little to toss ss in the air and whaled khaled it with a baseball bat swinging in a manner that would have turned babe ruth green with envy when he was in his prime the bau ball traveled yards into a trap with an ordinary shovel this remarkable athlete played an explosion shot to a point within eight feet of odthe the cup wielding the rake like a billiard cue he hold out the putt for a birdie three that crooned crosby is enough for me he wandered uncertainly in search of the nearest psychopathic hospital poorer by wonder man shuns publicity some screwy magnificently screwy stories have come from hollywood where press agents have the imagination of an edgar rice burroughs and the conscience of baron munchausen but the screw 3 I 1 4 bing crosby crosb radio and screen star who go got trimmed in the remarkable golf match but befriended the victor in a time of need lest iest thing about this story is that it is true it happened two years ago and since that time john montague or LaVerne Moore or bull moore cependa de depending penda ig upon your point of view h has a s been the most talked of man in the golfing world john montague as the film colony knows him came to hollywood three years ago his ability to play golf was astounding he was handsome in his burly way his manners were delightful he was chivalrous with women he apparently had a bank roll he had two Lincol ns and a ford he could drink a fifth of scotch and eight gin fizzes fizzel for breakfast and never neve r bat an eye montague shunned publicity but as greta garbo proved one sure way to get into the limelight is to try to stay out of it no one in hollywood knew who montague was whence he came or where he derived his income not even oliver hardy the rotund comedian with whom the mystery man lived for a while and apparently nobody cared drives drive s yards but a man cant do the things monty did and remain in oblivion his feats of strength were as amazing as his golf prowess he held up a heavy automobile while a friend changed a tire with one hand he picked up george bancroft husky moving picture thea heavy lv and stuff stuffed ed him in a locker upside down during a moment of horseplay he could even lift ouie ollie hardy in one hand he ate a dozen eggs in less than half a minute he it was A Z 14 4 A 4 4 ZI xa on Q A 0 K whispered had whipped from three to six men at one time but these exploits pale beside feats on the links he drives straight as a die and consistently from 40 to 60 yards farther than the longest drive bobby jones ever made driving balls into a slight wind he has averaged more than yards per drive with the same slight wind in back of him to yards per drive he seldom putts his approach shots are so perfect they leave him putts conceded by his partners to win a bet he drove a ball from the first tee tea of the lakeside club across dead canyon road three quarters of a mile in five shots with plenty of room to spare george von elm a member of the club and former national amateur champion testified that he played with montague fo for r a month and monty never was vas over 68 63 such golf could win any championship in the world at palm springs montague broke the course record four times in four consecutive days the last day he turned in the unbelievable card of 61 he wears out the exclamation marks on a reporters typewriter still Johnr John Montague preferred obscurity ity he refused to play in tournaments na only once after much pleading on the part of his friend hardy did he consent to compete that was in the annual club championship pion ship play he sprained his ankle on the sixth hole but finished 18 holes anyway with a 64 then he dropped out turns down offer he refused to talk to reporters he would never allow himself himsel f to be photographed once when a photographer to concealing himself in bushes managed to expose a few plates before montague discovered him monty smashed the plates and paid the man for the damage offered to demonstrate his a ability in a moving picture short he said 1 I wont permit one picture re to be taken of me why should I 1 pose for a whole reel despite Mont agues reticence a light like that simply cant be hidden under a bushel grantland rice the eminent sports authority was reluctant to believe the stories which came via v ia the grapevine from the lakeside club they be true for instance the one about the time monty calling his shot picked a bird off a telephone wire yards away with a brassie shot or the ones one about how he di d nt get a wink of slee sleep p for five days and five nights then shot a 70 or the one about how he could hi hit t a dozen balls from any distance within yards bet on each one that tha t it would stop within 10 feet of the flag and win kin money or the one but why go on ile he prevent fame rice determined to find out for himself he went to hollywood and played a round with montague he decided all that had been said was true during the round monty picked up on the eighteenth hole 7 1 1 1771 R A P f ap oil 1 Z 4 john montague str strong ong man golfer of hollywood equipped with the clubs he used in taking a golf bet from bing crosby where he could have had a 64 impressed beyond mea measure gure rice told of john morita montague gue ar and d his goll golf feats in a syndicated s sports ports column westbrook wrote a column about him describing him as a combination of paul bunyan popeye the sailor man and ivan soon there were other stories these found interested readers some were even fascinated one such fascinated reader was john cosart of troop D new york state police oneida N Y somehow this thirty two year old montague with his golf genius his strength and his huge pound frame seemed familiar cosart reflected this montague a dead ringer for laverne moore bull moore as the boys called him whom the policeman had known seven years ago moore the son of a steel worker had been a mighty youth he too had been able to lift one end of an automobile with one haind could lick three men at once he used to smash dozens of cue balls while breaking the rack in pool games he had been a prep school football and baseball star once he struck out 19 batsmen batsman in a game young moores golf had been good enough to land him a job as a professional at the clayton N Y country club he once had played playe d the nine hole municipal course a at t syracuse in 28 23 moore had police record moore had a passion for making records and some of them were police records he got a six months suspended sentence in 1927 for posing as a policeman and taking 50 from a grocer accused of selling liquor on the night of april 5 1930 four young men held up a roadhouse near jay N Y taking from kin hana the owner when hanas father in law matt cobb objected they gave him a vicious beating As the robbers made their getaway one of their cars struck a culvert one robber was killed two were captured and got 16 year prison terms the fourth believed to have been bull moore disappeared the new york state police sent moores fingerprints to the los angeles police department on last july 9 hollywoods Holly woods strong man was arres arrested ted in the beverly hills apartment which he shared with oliver hardy and charged with the new york robbery when they took him to jail he admitted that he was bull moore and that there was no longer any reason for avoiding publicity he posed willingly for photographers tog raphers but refused to discuss the charges against him the arrest was a bombshell to the many celebrated friends of john montague to a man they backed him dozens of them all influential wrote pleas to gov frank merriam ariam asking that he refuse extradition montague or moore they said had rehabilitated himself and was now an admirable citizen the one mystery none of them was ever able to solve was the origin of bank roll he admitted he bet a week on the races he was always flashing a handful of hundred dollar bills some rumors had it that he owned a gold or silver mine in the desert to which he returned when in need of fresh capital but anyone who ever attempted to follow him was wa s lost in a c loud cloud of dust D western newspaper union |
