THE PEE; , OMAHA. SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 11. 1921.
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Plans complete top Elaborate M-sar Mi festival Of mi
aiifnmahilo
And tcovsq Racqs
TLtlitKT
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"Go"
When the starter ahouts
thla command at Ak-Sar-Ben
track Tuesday afterpoon, the,
cream of Crcat Western cir
cuit race horses will obey that
impulse, and race fans will
see the beginning of one of
the classiest race meets held
in the west.
For thia meet 170 horses,
pacers, trotters and "jump,
ers" have been entered, while
purses of more than $5,000
have been hung up for the
winners.
The 2:03 pace the opening
day is the smallest card of
entries for the entire meet.
Only six horses are entered.
But the host "of wonderful
horse-flesh that will be in
that event will make up in
nuality what it lacks in quan
tity. Hal Mahone, 2:014;
Kid Hal. 2 :051 : Red Launce
lot, 2:0214; Russell Boy,
2:00'i; Tiberius, 2:0514:
Johnnie Quirk, 2:011,4 are the
entries and a better field of
goers would be hard to find.
The 2:11 pace for a purse
of $1,500 and the 2:12 trot
for a similar purse are the
big events on Wednesday
and Thursday programs.
Each race has 21 entries.
It is thought that out of those
entries at least 12 will hear
the word "go" by the starter.
The 2:15 trot Friday, the
closing day of the meet, is
the class of that day's pro
gram. In this event 16 horses
have been entered. The 2:10
pace Thursday has 15 en
tries, so there is no danger of
any horse shortage during
this meet.
The colta will be given an
A STORY OF KID RILEY
CmIIbuM From Pace Three M. ,
he knew how much he had coming
to him, and I stuck it in the bank
for him I having made that lawyer
guy put things through the courts
which made me trustee for the Kid's
kale.
I won't bore you with sperfluous
(I ain't got a dictionary handy, and
don't know if that's the way sper
fluous is spelled; but it's pronounced
that way and ought to) details; but
the long and short of it was that less
'n two years later the Kid finished
Eddie Franklin out on the coast, and
when they put his picture in the pa
pers next day they had a headline
which said he was lightweight cham
peen of the world. ,
The best part of it was that we all
knew he wasn't no fluke champ.
True, he didn't have the cleverness
of Packy MacFarland nor the punch
of Joe Wolcott, nor the speed of
Young Ahern; but when it came to
rill-round scrapping he was there with
the best of them. Of course, right
after he won the title he went on a
vaudevHIe touj and got away with
quite a bit of soft coin, and then it
was the Kid who come to me and
)lowed that he wanted to get back
:nto harness again.
So back to the big burg we go, and
I fits up accommodations for him at
a roadhouse in Westchester, and hire
him a string of sparring partners,
' and he gets into trim right fast when
managers fall all over each other to
match him up. "
But being champ didn't turn the
Kid's head none whatever. B'lieve me
he was the modestest thing I ever
n-n across. I sort of got to imagine
him a regular schoolboy until he
come to me for the two and a half
centuries to buy a doll the sign of
submi!on.
I didn't have the slightest objec
tion to the Kid getting married I
was glad of it in fact. The right
girl sort of acts as an anchor to a
man who has more money than he
knows what to do with; especially if
the bright lights ever get his nanny.
So I come across with his two-fifty,
hut I allows that I'd like to give
Rose LaBelle the onceover.
The Kid beam I ke a day in June,
and insists on taking me pronto
down to the hotel where she is stop
ping. Knowing a thing or two about
women whose names are similar in
sound to Rose LaBelle, I suggest
that he call her first and let her
know we're going to drop in which
suggestion he takes and tells me she
says she'll be delighted. 1
Two hours later the bellhop tells
us we're to come on up, and up we
go, and into the suite of rooms con
sisting of bedroom, parlor and bath
which Miss LaBelle occupies. The
Kid goes In first,' proud as a Boy
Scout on parade, and the girl rises
to the occasion, as it were. I close
the door, and the Kid turns like he
was presenting me at court.
"Mister Joe," he says tremulously,
"meet Miss LaBelle, my future in
tended." She slipped me fiva fishlike fingers
and raised her drooping baby-like
eyes to mine. Maybe they fooled
the Kid, but they didn't fool me none
whatever. And she knew it, and
into them there came a flash of fire,
a sort of challenge as much as to
say: "Mebbe you're his manager,
but I've got the inside track and I'm
gonna keep it-" And when I got
right close to her I seen that the
golden hair of her was dark brown
at the roots.
To myself I groaned and remarked
something about the Kid being up
against it. To her, I says that I
was defhted to meet her and knew
opportunity to show their
mettle this season. The 3-vear-old
pace Thursday has
15 youngsters entered, and
the 2-year-old trot for the
same day has 14 entries.
There are some fast babies in
the lot of youngsters and
some good races are ex
pected. In addition to the races a
host of free acts on the plat
form in front of the grand
stand, on the race track and
in the air are to be given after
each heat.
"The Smiles of 1921 " a
musical extravaganza with
pretty girls, peppy music and
beautiful , costumes will
spread joy each afternoon
and evening. ,
that her and I was gonna be the
best of friends. She counters in the
same strain but believe me. -there
was a declaration of war right there
and for the first time I symoa-
thized with them Russians who didn't
have enough munitions. She had a
clove hitch on the Kid, and know
ing his innocence as I did. I wasn t
wondering at it none whatever.
I stayed for about an hour and Tn
the course of the conversation found
that Miss LaBelle had been in "the
profession." Closer questioning wised
me up that she had been a chorus
ladv. first on the road, then in the
'Follies. She had the looks all right.
Born with most of them ?nd tho
rest cultivated like the blond hair
and the nice looking eyebrows and
the color in her cheeks ' '
Eventually we break away and the
Kid allows that as soon as he fin
ishes his scrap with Tommy Buck
three weeks from then he's gonna
get m.'irried and take a honeymoon
trip on the two. thousand and five
hundred dollars that gonna be handed
him as .a honorarium. Of course,
I get one thousand and two hundred
and fifty dollars of that, but the bal
ance is enough even for her honey
moon, I'm thinking.
I'm too wise to buck the Kid, es
pecially when I see that the Indian
sign the spider had on the fly ain't
a circumstance to What this dame has
on him, but during the training I
get in a little of the inside stuff,
trying to make the Kid see that Rose
LaBelle ain't the genuine stuff, but
I might as well have tried to make
Bill Bryan believe that war ain't hell,
The fight comes oft in the Garden
with reserved seats withdrawn from
the market account of the- demand
. . 1. ...
ana raiter room selling at a pre
mium. And what the Kid does to Buck
is a plenty. There wasn't a man in
the place who ever called him a
cheese champ after that bout. No,
he didn't finish Buck, but I don't
believe any man ever took such a
lacing since Carl Morris wns cut
into chopmcat by Jim Flynn in the
same ring. .
Then came the marriage cere
mony; about as quiet as a St. Pat
rick's day parade. But everybody
agreed that Rose LaBelle looked
queenly which was all that the Kid
needed to make him more than per
fectly happy.
As there hadn't been no rcg'lar
invitation, Rose had announcement
cards printed, and some "at homes'
which announced that Mr. and Mrs.
Patrick LaBelle-Riley (some mon
niker, eh?) would be at home at
number so-and-so Riverside Drive,
at such-and-such a date. She was
after the style, that chicken was.
And when we was throwing rice
and shoes and bidding 'em good-bye
after a swell feed at a Broadway
hash house, I shook with Rose once
more. This time she didn't try to
hide the dislike she had for me
and I knew then that the wsr had
started. -
When they got back from their
honeymoon two weeks later I knew
that it had done a darned sight more
than started. That skirt had already
influenced the Kid against me. Not
that he realized it he was too
fcloomm' innocent but first thing he
did was to come at me about the
guardeenship and holding his money.
Sheepish he was like he didu t have
the right to ask me.
"An' y see," he winds up, getting
courage by the route he'd gone, "it
seems silly that a married man has
to go to another guy for a handout
when he's earned the money. It's
ciine, ain't it?" -
IT W Av S&A csvr-v-& Katti LaxO,seti?atiotiai If I
u s'pa.v ..mmwvskkbbii ! i r 1 1 1 1ST - wr7r7 vt nor r7Lwrc' rix.
SHCOOR PHOTOS
THE G
"Yes. it's yours, Kid. What's the
rub? Ain't our plan always worked?
Don't you know where every dollar
is? Have I ever handed out less 'n
you wanted?"
" 'Tain't that," he retorted, with a
sort of harassed look. "It's kh! th'
devil 1 Mister Joe, Rosie just don't
like it, and what she says goes
see?
Of course, as far as that guardian
ship paper went I had the Kid dead
to rights,- but I tore it up and made
an accounting and forked over the
coin and then sat hack to watch re
sults. I saw 'em two days later
when the Kid buys a limousine:
great, big husk of car ft was with
a shiny black body and a vase for
orchids, and a chauffeur. Rose La-Relle-Riley
was going to live and
live high.
I stood for a month-long honey
moon, and then I dropped in on
them one night in their Riverside
Drive apartment. Her and Kid were
going to it hammer and tongs. The
Kid, simple .guy that he is, invites
me in right in the middle of the mix-
up. and appeals to me like he d al
ways used to do before that female
woman, butted in. '
"Some of her swell sassiety friends
comin up here tomgnt, pipes tne
Kid desperately, an Rosie .
T told you not to call me Rosie,"
she sriaos angrily. "My name is
Rose." .. - -.
"an' Rose says I gotta doll all
ud in an ooen-face suit. Its rotten
stuff. I'd rather wear fightin
trunks " . " h ' ..
"And you'd look better in. them,
she spouts once more.
"He sure would." 1 savs caimiy.
"That's his type," she comes back,
quick as a gathn.
"It is. It is the type that made
him champion of the world and
caused you to marry him, and pays
for this fancv apartment and that
I big limousine and those diamonds
fyou're exhibiting. Yeh, I reckon he
does look better in tigtiting togs
than in anvthinz else. That's what
I dropped down to see him about."
1 want him to put cm on again.
- "And I suppose," she says bitterly,
"that you wanna get hold of his
money" again. The very idea of you
taking half the money he made when
all' you did was to sit back and he
did all the fightin'. Robbery J
call it!"
The Kid had been playing safe
and neutral up to that time; but at
that his face flamed and he took
a hand in the game.
"Cut that, Rosie," he says harsh
ly, more harshly than I'd ever heard
him spealc. "I won't stand for you"
"Whoa. Kid," I advises quietly.
"This is her home, and she can be
as much of a lady as she likes in it
If she don't like me, and insists on
Cillin' me harsh names, the best
thing I can do is to get out. But
before I go I'll, say one thing, Kid.
It's this I ain't been doin no gum
shoe work since you got married,
but I happen to know that 1 G. K.
has been early for you to hit the
hay, and thtt once or twice you've
tasted a sip of champagne, and that
ou ain't a lot beggin' your par
don. Mis' Riley to put a champ
on the blink. What I'd advise, Kid,
is that you can this sassiety stuff.
Let the wife lo it if she wants; but
ycu cut the smoke and the fizz wa
ter, tie yourself down to the hay
from 9 p. m. to S a. m. Do 10 or
15 miles on the road, and get back
into trim. There's many a guy gun
nin' for vour scalp."
Then I' beat if. The. Kid follows
me into the street and clutches my .
artn appealingly,
and Great jve&tetrtt cttrctUts ate entered for jiti-far-Beti fall meei ttiis tjeatr.'
RAG K
"Say, Mr. Joe," he pleaded, "you
don't tnink harsh of me for what
happened up there, do your"
"No. Kid," I laughs; "I don't feel
sore at you for nothin. . But I will
say that, while I ain't hankering cm
coniin' between a man an' his wife,
that it ain't no go, Kid. You'll get
soft in three months; you'll lose
your eye and your judgment of dis
tance; your stamina and wind all
will be broken. A fighter, Kid,
works at his business all the time.
Trainin" has to be done, and done
regular. Lemme know. Kid, when
you're comin' back out to West
cheste'r. Meanwhile,' I'll lay low
and say nothin'."
About two weeks later the, Kid
comes along and announces he's
ready to train for another scrapi I
worked him out and put him through
a course tl sprouts and in a few
weeks I allowed that he was good
enough to sign up for 10 rounds
with Eattlinrr Larey. The Battler
is, a wader-in, and a fighter from
the geng.
The Kid trained hard. But on the
night of the fight Con Kennedy cor
nered me and says low and easy:
Joe." he says. I m just askin
friendly like you ain't.betting much
on the Kid, are you?"
"Why?" I asks.
"Answer me first."
"Yes, I'm betting kinder heavy.
I'm (jiving two to one on Bob Ed-
gren's decision."
"Uh-hun. lie frowns a bit. "An
I suppose you're bettin' two to one
that the Kid will win by a knock
out?"
"One to three," I amends. "Why
all this quiz?
What time has the Kid .een go
ing to bed at nights?"
Nine oclock. ,
He sort of grins at that.
"You're soft, Joe: plumb spongy.
Three niehts this week I've seen the
Kid and that peroxide dame of his
out after la.E
You ve seen them yourself?
"You got me."
I didn't ask no more questions, be
cause I knew Con, and I knew he
was a careful guy and a foolishly
truthful one. But it was a shock
the Kid had lied to me for the first
time. I' guess I wasn't none too en
thusiastic when I pushed him into
the ring and prepared towels and
ammonia and water and lemon tor
he commencement of the fight
They got together in the first
round, and the fur certainly tiew lor
three minutes. I wondered then why
it was that the Kid didn't feel him
out for a round or two. But no! He
stood toe to toe and swapped wal
lops. .-" .
But when the Kid came to his
corner at the end of the first round
I understood, and knew for a cer
tainty that Con Kennedy hadn't been
exaggerating about the Kids late
hours.
I didn t say a word, but the Kid
caught my eye and he knew I'd no
ticed. And with the beginning of the
second round he waded in again, just
like a streak of lightning. And grad
ually, as they mixed, the Kid began
breaking ground. Once I heard him
grunt as a hard one whipped to his
midriff. Then
The Kid backed, covered uncov
ered and his right . swished wildly
through the air. It landed plumb on
the vulnerable po'nt of the side of
Larey's jaw, and the challenger
sprawled on the canvass knocked
out cold. ' i
Of course everybody went wild,
and I collected my bets and the
papers went crazy and said the Kid
was th rrr'atest of all lightweight
kings;. but I wasnt fooled. i
OF THE
I don't think I need to say that
LaBelle what's-her-name made cap
ital out of that win. The Kid pulled
down $1,500 for that four minutes of
scrapping and Rose put it to him that
he didn't need no training more'n
just a couple of weeks before a bat
tle. Then, to make matters worse, her
old theatrical enthusiasm cropped up
once more. You've met 'em haven't
you these leggy broilers who think
they have Bernhardt backed off the
map and that nothin's good enough
for them, but Shakespeare or Broad
hurst or one of them big playwriters?
Rose was that, and then some. The
long and short of it was that she
arranges a vaudeville engagement
with the billing of
KID RILEY,
Peerless Lightweight Champion of
the World
assisted by the famous
ROSE LABELLE , '
Premiere Danseuse.'
I didn't say a word to the Kid
abou'. bein' his manager, and he sort
of steered clear of the subject when
he was around me. And, of course,
when they went on the road fr
their 28 weeks,. I knew blamed well
that I'd never see a cent of the
money they raked in.
What's the use? Twenty-eight
weeks is mighty close to seven
months. So I'll skip that seven
months And the Kid came back
to me fifteen pounds over weight,
flabby (for a prize fighter), a bit
bloodshot; and he announced that
he was ready to go into training
again.
Honest, I wanted to cry. If it had
been any one but the boob of an
unsophisticated Kid, I'd have handed
him one and consigned him below,
It seems that there was a reason
for the Kid coming to me &t that
time. Eddie Lonegan, a Pacific
coast lightweight, had cleaned up ev
erything out . there that bore the
stamp of class, and had invaded the
east. What he had done to the high
class crop of lightweights was a sin
and a shame. . And one fact stood
out starkly he was the one light
weight who was in a position to de
mand a chance, at the title.
So we signed new managerial ar
ticles, and I started him training.
There ain't no use going into the de
tails; but the Kid was all in.
Managers all over the . country
started bidding for the fight. The
Kid was offered six thousand for
his share of a ten-round battle. I
was 'for taking it, but the Kid re
fused. '
"Carey, out on the coast, offers
twelve thousand for a twenty-round
bout," he says. "I need the money."
"He'll wear you out, Kid," I
pleaded.
I battled with the Kid for a
month. I begged with him and
pleaded with him and argued with
him. Nothing doing. He was
adamant.
A funny little thing happened a
few days before the signing of articles.
I he Kid came to me looking kind of
strange, aGd; like the Kid, let straight
from the shoulder.
"Say," he says abruptly, "Eddie
Lonegan knows my wife."
"Is that so?" I asks politely.
"Yeh. I seen them in my limou
sine iust now. Funny, ain't it, that
I should gonna be fightin' him
soon?"
I agreed that it was very funny,
and then shifted the conversation
into other channels.
Well, Rose LaBelle kent on crack
ing the whip; and the Kid kept oa
doing the tricks she wanted.
WHIP
But this time she cracked once loo
often. The fight with Eddie Lonegan
was a worse farce than the .notorious
Johnson-Jeffries argument out Reno
way. . 1 he Kid didn t have a chance
from the gong. Eddie just played
hack and laughed at him, and jabbed
and jabbed and jabbed. It was
sickening. The Kid was gore all
over, and gameness helped him out
until the 14th round. Then he
started going down. Once in the
Jttn, tnree times in the lath, six
times in the 16th he went down for
the count. In the 17th it was all
over, and Eddie Lonegan was light-
weigni cnampion ot tne worm.
The Kid was all broken uo. I
went back east with him, and didn't
see mm tor three days. Then he
come to me looking miserable
enough to cry. He doesn't say a
word, but sticks a legal paper into
my mitt. :
One look" shows me that it's a suit
for divorce, instituted by Rose
against " the Kid, and charging
cruelty and incompatibility!"
No, the Kid didn't fight it. It went
through flying, and the Kid was
soaked for heavy alimony. And as
though that wasn't enough less'tt a
month after the divorce Rose La-
isejie marries iiddie Lonegan, light-
wcignt cnampion ot the world.
That's where the Kid hit the road
to hell! , ,
There wasn't no use trying to do
a thing with him. It's just that way
with a man when a woman's pulled
the Delilah stuff on him. He startsJ
tor the bottom, and he gets there in
record time. . It was pathetic it
was worse than that. And .it seems
that she'd just ' Jield ' them papers
back long enough to have that
twelve thousand the Kid got for los
ing to Eddie Loiiegan put in her
name at the bank. . ...
There was the Kid, as close to
broke as a man can ever gst, bor
rowing money from me, drinking
like a fish and developing a hate
for that woman that did my heart
good. The awakening had been
rude but thorough.
It was an inspiration that worked
a reformation. My inspiration. I
cornered him one day in Chris's
place a hangout for pugilistic and
theatrical hasbeens; the Kid with his
boyish face already a bit seamed
with the fast life.-
"Kid," I says, "I take it that you're
wise that Rose handed you a dirty
deal played you for a sucker all the
way through."
His face got real ugly. .
"Go ahead," he says tensely.
"I guess you wouldn't like noth
ing better than to even- the score a
bit?"
"Right again."
"Well, Kid, I got a plan!" r
He . broke , into a cold sweat of
hope and leaned across the table,
staring at me.
Mr. Joe I II do anything any
thing in this world to get even with
that woman. She did me, Mr. Joe;
did me brown. And I was sucker
enough to stand for it because I I
loved her, and I thougnt she
meant it when she said Ah, hell,
you understand!" ,
I understand, Kid. well, this is
my. plan. When you was in your
prime you was a better man any day
in the week than this cheesy Ed7e
Lonegan." His eyes glinted at men
tion of the name of Rose's husband.
They do say. Kid. that there
in't no such thing as a 'comeback.
I agree with cm on general princi
ples. But, Kid, rules is only proved
by rceptics.
What I m suggesting. Kid, is
I that van room hack with me, let
0CTAVUS
me finance a little training at West
chester; buck the apparatus for
about six months straight, and then
sling a challenge at Eddie. He'll
snap you up if any promoter will
otter a decent purse, because he
thinks you're pie for him him and
Rose has probably laughed at you
a dozen times and I can tip off
one or two promoters that you've
got the stuff, the real stuff. They'll
match you! How about it, Kid?
The Kid shoves his glass of red
eye off the table and . it busts off
the sawdust floor. Then he sticks
his hand out and clasps mine.
. "Until I beat Eddie Lonegan," he
says. I m done with the booze,
That's on the level 1"
Of course, I knew the Kid never
could win from Lonegan. No man
who s blackshd that far ever can
come back entirely. But I will hand
it to him on the way he worked. In
a month the blear had gone from
his eyes, and the flabbiness of the
muscles was giving way to the rock
like hardness which had been there
before he ran foul of Rose LaBelle,
I tipped off a bunch of my news
paper friends and having been in
the game once myself, they fell for
it and pretty soon the papers all
over the country were screaming
news of the attempted comeback of
Kid Riley, ex-champion. And be
cause l had talked confidentially a
few places, there wasn t any ha-ha-
ing over it.
Only Eddie Lonegan had his little
giggle; and after I had taken Bob
P-dgrcn and Damon Runyon and
Goldberg and a few other big ex
perts up to see the Kid work out,
and they had written their opinions
to Promoter Carey quiet and con
fidential like he hung up a purse of
$1U,W0' for a I0-rotind go. And be
cause the Kid was so wild for ;
chance, he agreed thai Eddie Lone
gan should take $9,000 win. lose or
draw, while the Kid got the re
maining $1,000. And his training
aione was due to cost that much,
Eddie accepted rieht off quick.
It looked like chicken money to
him the easiest sort of easy coin,
And two months later I saw the
Kid, pink and white and with his
eyes clear and his step springy,
climb into the ring and receive in
structions from Dan Smiley, the fa
mous referee.
Knowing the motives behind this
comeback stunt, I was prepared to
see the Kid wade in and mixthings
trom the gong. And 1 was never
r.lrtr siimrtcH in mv lif titan trt
J see him, after they'd touched gloves,
step back and throw up a long
ranee guard.
They sparred, .they boxed, they
danced in and out and landed light
lefts and rights to face and body.
The first round ended tamely. A
half-dozen blows had landed on
each man, but no punishment had
been inflicted.
The second round was a repe
tition of the first, and the third of
the second.
The fourth and fifth rounds past
ed uneventfully, and still the Kid
retained his freshness. But his eyes
were glittering, and he took my
words of encouragement without so
much as a look or word, except when
he said, between the fifth and sixth
rounds:
"I'm gonna wirff M". Joel I'm
gonna win !"
In the sixth round Eddie changed
his tactics. Seemingly the sparring
of the first five rounds had gotten
on his nerves, just as it had on the
nerves of the crowd. He watched
for his ooening and waded in. The
Km clinched without attempting any
infijhting. Eddie came in once more,1
RY COHEN
slugging like a piledrtver. And again
the Kid clinched. The crowd hooted,
but the Kid merely smiled slightly.
Similar tactics continued through
the seventh round. It was Lonegan's
fight by a tremendous majority, but
I knew that the Kid hadn't uncorked
yet
In the eighth round he start'
things. Lonegan, ialsely confident
that the Kid was going to hang on
until the end, came in uncovered.
Biff! The Kid's right shot into the
stomach, and Lonegan grunted. He
backed away with a sudden terror,
and the Kid was after him. Bangl
Bingl Bang! A tattoo like a punch
ing bag rang out, first his right to
Eddie's head, then his left and then
his right again.
This time it was the champion
who covered. Then the Kid ignored
the howling of the crowd and played
safe for the balance of the round.
In the ninth he took no chances
until just the right opening present
ed itself, and then he slammed in a
fusillade of blows to the head and
body, and once again the champion
covered. At the end of the round the
champion was breathing like a steam
engine, while tne Kia seemeq iresn
as at the commencement.
It was the gong at the beginning
of the 10th round which awakened
the Kid. His jaw set and his eyes
blazed and he streaked across the
riiiar. And that was where I climbed
up on my seat and howled. The spec
tators' went wild. I have never seen
such fighting! The blows were be
yond count. At the end of a half min
ute of fight, Jonegan wenr. aown.
He took the count of eight and
arose. J. he Kia, Dreaming sienor-
ously and cursing gutturally, a
changed man entirely, circles the re
straining arm or me reteree ana
riiled all over his man; ignoring the
puny Diows ne receiveu, aim uuvw,
and rielits to the stom
ach and wind always the body,
never the head.
Loneean broke irround. His face
wore a hunted, harassed look. The
Kid came in and the champion tried
to clinch. The Kids right streaked
through his guard and landed on the
solar plexus. -
Dan bmiley counted iu over tne
prostrate form of Eddie Lonegan.
And frenzitd fanatics burst into the
ring and lifted to their shoulders the
recreated Iightweignt cnampion
Kid Riley.
And when it was all over and the
Kid was dressed and had gone to the
hotel with me to talk things over,
I asked him a question:
"How did you have the nerve to
play that waiting game, Kid? I
asked.
He smiled slowly.
"I didn't know Lonegan," he said
oftlv. "but I knew Rosie. I know
how she ruined me. and I knew no
usband of hers could stand the gaff,
cause wnyr cause mey ve been
drinkin' champagne bought with my
money, ridin' until all hoursof the
night with my limousine. Iwasn't
ightin Lonegan, Mister Joe: I was
fightin' Rosie's husband. That's why
won. s
"I've fought my last fight. I'm
quittin the ring. And why? Be
cause, Mister Joe there ain't nothin'
that II make Rosie sorer than to
sie sorer than to . . 1
; game while I waj
npeen; that's why!" i "
c. Kid?" I v
lortly. i
is done. Mister Joe.
tfully, "if we can't
know I quit the game while I wa
ightweight champeen
And the booc,
He laughed shortly,
Me an booze
wonder" wistfully,
draw up some more guardeenshin
pepers, an' have you handle things
iur ine once more."
(Copyright,
1921. Thompsj
Feature
oenuct.
' and
oiled
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4
1
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