OCR Text |
Show - BURKE, THE BRUISER. He. Astonishes a. San Francisco II e-portcr e-portcr Who Interviews Him. "Have I the honor of grasping the hand that didn't whip Sullivan?" . "You have, sir," replied the party addressed, ad-dressed, as he proudly drew a hotel blanket about his athletic looking shoulders, should-ers, and emerged his face from the gloom of a pile of pillows. "Yes, sir," continued the recumbent gladiator; "I am Jack Burke, and that is the hand that did not whip Sullivan ;" and the reporter, who had searched him out through the Ellis street wing of the Baldwin Hotel, where they always put prize fighters and wrestlers, as far away as possible from the prima donnas and star actresses who beautify the Market street front, could see the athlete's eyes flash at the mention of that great c VCI1 1. -. "You did not whip the. champion, but you would have done so, of course, if you had not been sick?" "I was not sick ; I was never better in my life," replied Burke, in a surprised tone-r-and the reporter, who has interviewed in-terviewed all the fighters of the past twenty years, was so taken aback that he almost lost his presence of mind. "Not sick ? Oh, no, of course not ; but the referee was against you and would not let you win!", . . -- . "No such a thing. The referee was a good enough man." A FISTIC PHENOMENON. ' . , "Now look here," said the reporter, "this won't do. You can't make a record out here on any such a bluff as this. Don't you know that it's against the etiquette of the ring for a man to fail to whip the other fellow unless he is sick or the referee is a fraud." ; "I can't help it. I was not sick and I did not whip Sullivan and how, young . fellow, talk about something else." . - "You were born in London and raised there. That fact is of record. Have you any objection to telling me what university you graduated at." "I never went to any university." "Excuse me, Mr. Burke," said the reporter, re-porter, gently, but firmly. "I like you, and I do not want to see you ruin yourself in that way. All the modern pugilists are graduates of universities. Charles Mitchell, for instance, a graduate of Cambridge. Cam-bridge. Sullivan, a graduate of the Boston Bos-ton High School, whose athletic tendencies tenden-cies ruined his career as a man of learning. learn-ing. Muldoon was a graduate of Yale and even the six-day pedestrians could talk Latin and Greek." "I don't care," said Burke, doggedly; "I ain't no graduate." "Did your parents intend you originally for the law or medicine ?" "Neither." "Then you were destined for the church, of course?" - "Now, look here, 3'oung fellow, stop this joshing. I was brought up about Lambeth, and worked in the potteries till I got enough credit as a boxer to do better in that line. ' ."But, Mr. Burke, if you go on telling the truth in this blunt way about yourself, your-self, how do you expect rich men as Charles A. Dana, Senator Conkling, or Ben Butler to invite you to their homes and intrust you with the education of their sons?" "If you think that I'm fool enough to want any bigbugs to slap me on the back in bar-rooms and patronize me to the extent ex-tent of my capacity for wine, you are away off. My business is the ring, and I make the best I can of it. I don't toady to any man. No one could patronize me no, not even the Prince of Wales couldn't." "I suppose that, like most boxers, you are much sought after by the fair sex." . . "No, sir ; and I don't hope to be. You forget, perhaps, that I am a. married man." The reporter readily perceived that Mr. Burke was in such a state of benighted ignorance as to the proper stuff to ladle out to interviewers that it was hopeless to expect anything spicy from him, but he gave him one more chance to redeem himself, by asking him about contemporaneous contem-poraneous "pugs." Mr. Burke responded that Sullivan could whip any of them, and that McCaffrey's Mc-Caffrey's talk was alt bluff and .nonsense. Mitchell was a clever man; but had no power to punish. Mike Cleary, the man he comes out here to meet, had a wicked right hand ; but was slow with his left 'Snd depended more on a "knock out" than on science.. Jack DempBey, was clever, and his own best point was science. In thirty battles he had never been whipped. He had come a long way to box Cleary, and was in good condition, but would do a good deal of work before the match. He had no remarks to make for or against the climate of California, and as he was a stranger he supposed his opinion about the people would not go for much. S. F. Post. |