The Wageworker. (Lincoln, Neb.) 1904-????, September 02, 1910, Image 9

Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page. It is also available as plain text as well as XML.

    fc5
Let US make the pictures
of those Dear Children. :::
You owe it to them.
DeGASTON & HAUCK'
PHOTOGRAPHERS
1216 O STREET " LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
Chas. W. Fleming
Jeweler... and.. .Optician
1311 O Street
LINCOLN, NEBR.
F. W. BROWN
LUMBER CO.
700 O STREET
1 1
PHONE 1568
YOU KNOW
Golden Rod
. 7
Chocolates
That's the Candy!
ytT Our Motto:
Good Service and Courteous Treatment
Mr. Finch is a
member of 98, B. of L. E.
Hendry's
Restaurant
C. E. FINCH, Prop. Auto 2977
129 North 11th LINCOLN, NEB.
. M. DOYLE
e. Auto
3024
OFFICE PHONES:
Auto 2016 Bell 1674
H. B. BROWN
Re. Auto 2907
Bell 690
Brown & Doyle
Undertakers
OPEN DAY AND NIGHT
206 South Eleventh LINCOLN, NEB.
MY STORY
OF MY LIFE
BY
JAMES
J.
JEFFHE5,
L ..... L&V...1
rrom photo taken April 15, 1910.
(Copyright, 1910, by McClure Newspaper
Syndicate. Copyright in Canada and
Great Britain. All rights reserved.J
CHAPTKK XVII.
I GET DECISION OVER SHARKEY AND
TRAIN TO MEET CORBETT.
IT was less than tire months after
winning the championship that I
gave Tom Sharkey bis chance,
just as I had promised. To pre
pare for the fight 1 went to my old
quarters where the training was done
for the battle with Fitzsimmons. Jack
was with me again, and Ryan as well
as Ernest Roeber, the wrestler, who
was a good man to rough around with.
We had long runs, hard handball
games and plenty of rough work. The
big international yacht races were on,
and ' we could watch Columbia and
Shamrock from the shore near our
camp. More English fighters were
training near us. and we put up some
hot arguments about the yachts. The
only thing that prevented trouble was
that in our camp we were all heavy
weights and the Englishmen were lit
tle fellows. So we only had a lot of
fun stringing them.'
The date originally set for the match
was Oct. 27, but in throwing the eight
pound medicine 'ball with Roeber 1 had
the misfortune to strain my left elbow
badly. I missed he -ball and it struck
my forearm. The strain didn't amount
to anything at first, but soon Jtie el
bow became so sore that 1 had to cut
out boxing entirely and get a doctor.
It was not until Oct. 23 thalvl could
take the bandages off and pick up my
regular training work again.
Sharkey meanwhile was training
bard" at New Dorp. Staten Island, and
reports said that he was in the finest
shape of his life.
That was a fight to be remembered.
Over the ring of the Coney Island Ath
letic club was an arrangement of elec
tric lights for the moving pictures, so
many of them that the heat thrown
down on the ring was like a blast from
a furnace. Siler was referee again.
The moment the fight began I drop
ped into my crouch and walked toward
Tom, Jabbing him lightly. He rushed
with a wild' swing. We clinched, and
Tom threw me off with a heave to
show bow strong be was. I was box
ing carefully, encouraging Sharkey's
leads and blocking them without much
trouble. In the second round 1 pump
ed a right hander into his ribs, and be
went down for an eight second count.
I thought it would soon be all over,
but there never was a greater mistake.
He Jumped up and lunged at me so
hard that when 1 sidestepped be fell
on his hands and knees. Up he bop
ped and landed a swing on my ribs
that would have broken a lighter man
In two. I only laughed at him and
met his nest rush with a right under
the heart that bent his ribs in.
It was the toughest kind of fighting.
Sharkey was furious. He never seem
ed to tire. When I drove my right fist
against his ribs his mouth opened and
he gasped, but a tenth of a second
later he'd be jumping at me again like
a bulldog trying for a throat hold. He
was so anxious that three or four
SHARKEY SWUNG ON MY JAW AS HARD
AS HE COULD.
times he swung on me after the gong
at the end of tbe round. He didn't
moan to foul me. He was too full of
fight to bold In. J .
Along in the eigbtJi round Tom
swung one iuto my ribs that made me
double up for a moment and drove the
breath out of me so hard that It made
me grunt. He kept rushing and jump
ing in on me all the time, although he
was getting a fierce beating about the
body. 1 had given up the idea of
knocking Sharkey out in short order
now and was fighting cautiously.
The heat from the lights was terri
ble. It was worse than noon in the
desert. All around the ring men bad
taken off their coats and collars and
rolled up their shirt sleeves. The
sweat rolled off Sharkey and myself
In streams. When I landed on him
the gloves slipped as if he was greased.
Along about the fifteenth Shavkey
lauded a right on my uo: that flat
tened It unjl made me bleed hard. He
started another. This time 1 hooked
him on the jaw and staggered him.
In the nineteenth round we both
tried hard for a knockout. Sharkey
landed his left wrist like a club ou my
neck and nearly lifted my head off. 1
retaliated by swinging my right ou his
ear so that it bulged up and began
bleeding.
As we came within a couple of
rounds of the finish Billy Brady beg
ged me to rush and try for a knockout.
It was a close fight. In the twenty
fourth I had Tom tottering after a
punch on the chin. He clinched and
hung on desperately and stalled the
round out, backing away from me al
most for the first time in the fight.
The twenty-fifth and last round was
a terror. We stepped up and shook
hands, and then Tom was at me with
another rush. I threw up my left
arm and whipped my right into his
ribs, and lie gasped with mouth wid
open. I lauded on his chin with my
right hard enough to knock any ordi
nary man out for half an hour. Ton
fell in on me and clinched. He held
on a long time. At last I pulled his
arms down and shoved him away.
Then I went in as hard as I could for
a knockout.
The first punch hurled Sharkey near
ly through the ropes. He bounced
back and caught my left wrist under
his arm and held tight. I punched
him with the right, and he went clown,
pulling my left glove off as be fell.
He was up in a moment. Meanwhile
I had backed away and waved , my
bare hand to Referee Siler, who step-
I DIDN'T KNOW THREE OF SHARKEY'S
RIBS HAD BEEN CRUSHED IN.
ped in and tried to put the glove on.
Sharkey ran in. Siler shouted to him
to keep off and pushed him back.
Time was flying fast, and Siler could
not get the glove untied to pull it on
my list. Tom couldn't stand tbe sus
pense. He dodged around Siler and
jumped at me. 1 Iwaved my hand at
him and then, seeing that he wouldn't
stop, jabbed him away. And. then the
bell rang. Tom took one' more swing
at me after tbe bell for good measure
and walked to his corner. Slier gave
me the decision." It was a very close
(thing at that. Sharkey had fought
aggressively all the way. but many of
his swings were wild, while my blowa
seldom missed the mark. I cam
through the light very little damaged,
white Sharkey, with his broken ribs
and battered body, never reached the
same fine fighting trim again and aft
er being beaten by iiuhlin and Fltz
si rontons retired from tbe ring.
1 take off ray bat to Tom Sharkey.
He was as game a man as I ever saw
in a ring.
Jim Corbett wanted a chance to win
back bis old title, and so I gave it to
him. We were matched to tight twen-ly-five
rounds at Coney Island on the
night of May 11. In taking on Cor
bett I was just keeping to my pro
gram. Long before I beat Fitzsim
mons 1 made up my mind that if I
were ever champion I'd defend my
title whenever a good man came along
and challenged -me if any one cared
to offer a purse. Every champion
ought to do this o retire from tbe
game.
The public wanted to see me fight
Corbett. I'd shown that 1 could beat
a scientific puncher like Fitzsimmons
and a rough fighter like Sharkey. Now
they wanted to see if 1 could do any
thing with a lightning fast boxer who
wouldn't slug with me like the other
two. The tight fans thought Jim was
a back number, but they were satisfied
to see what kind of a .showing he
could make as long as he lasted.
Corbett didn't go to pieces like other
champions after being beaten at Car
son. He took pretty good care of him
self. He'd had one fight with Sharkey
since then and bad lost on a foul when
Connie McVey jumped into tbe ring.
But that didn't make the fans forget
what a great boxer he was.
- As soon as the match was made Jim
went down to Lakew6od and started
training. Ten weeks before our fight
be sent for Gus Ruhlin. and during
this last ten weeks of training he and
Gus fought every day just as hard as
if they were in the ring. Corbett had
a notion' that he'd have to fight for
his life against me and that real fight
ing was tbe best work to get him back
into the old . shape. He was about
right too.
While Corbett was working hard I
did more or less traveling around. A
little over a mouth before our fight a
big fellow named Jack Finnegau stood
up to me in Detroit and took the count
in less than a round. No class to that
fight. When I was through with Fin
negan I hiked back to New York and
in a few days was hard at work in the
same old training quarters where I
had prepared for the fight with Fitz
simmons. It seemed good to get back
to real work again. My bother Jack
was with me, and allot the old train
ing staff except Deluney.
I
Planing
Harrison
ill Company
The
Store
Fitting
House
Station C
LINCOLN
NEB.
BELL F 1029
AUTO 1745
JOHN WESTOVER
Manufacturer of Bridge I
and Building Iron
920 N Street,
LINCOLN, NEBft
M
ens
Clothing
Whatever is New and
Correct is here.
Let us show you what the
New Fall Styles are like.
FARQUHAR
1325 O St.
Lincoln. Nebr.
M. H. CHRISTY
THE REALESTATE MAN
219 Little Bldg. Auto 7283
5 Room house, full lot, and a barn,
$1,300 only, $300 cash, balance monthly -"
5Room,new, all modern, $500 cash,
balance to suit, $2,200
5 Room, all modern cottage, $2,900 only,
$200 cash, balance monthly.
Money to loan. The State Savings
and Loan Association has plenty of money
to help you buy a home. Payable month
ly. SEE ME.
Henry
Pfeiff
GROCERIES and -MEATS
Bell Phone 477
314 So. 11th St.
Auto Phone 3388
Lincoln, Nebraska