"Langford Astonishes All By Beating Champion Gans"

Re: Gans' marriages. The papers during Gans' lifetime (including various obit.s) frequently confused his wives' names along with the subject of divorce. ( Mary, Madge, and Martha were variously misprinted in the papers.) You are correct, Mary died before the Erne fight (Erne was eager to avoid Gans in '96). You're right, Gans married Madge in 1900. She and Gans were separated in late 1905 during Gans' rough year economically. By Feb. '06 they were in divorce court. As with many divorces it was a protracted affair. They are still in court by 1908 in which Madge is citing infidelity. Gans appears to be with someone (who is called "wife" by the newspapers) but is probably Martha because she makes a trip west with him. Madge is asking the courts for income from the Goldfield Hotel, his automobile, and diamond-studded jewelry (sounds very typical of high profile divorces!) I believe that when, on his deathbed, Gans called his lawyer to draw up paperwork to give the Goldfield to Martha, it was because of the legal mess with Madge. The divorce simply may not have been finalized. Only two children were with him when he died. It is my understanding that these were children of Mary and Gans, and that they may have been considered "adopted" by Madge when she married him. As I said, James also died of TB and is buried next to Joe. Like the varying facts you read in the papers about the fights--there were also various accounts about his "wives."
With regard to McVey's comment: Harry Shaffer also mentioned to me various rumors about Gans' womanizing and partying. Gans was good looking. Boxers were sexy stars of the ring and stage, and those who garnered the big purses could well afford to buy diamonds and expensive clothing. They were also expected to open their pocketbooks to their friends. Gans loved his cards (more comfortable with the guys probably than with the women). There were always plenty of women hanging around at every boxer's training camp. (It even amazes me how women fawned all over Bat Nelson during his lifetime.) Gans was sometimes accused of partying before a fight (but Mark and I try to explain the context for those few.) And while parties went into the early morning hours at the Goldfield--especially when Jack Johnson was in town--Gans was no Jack Johnson.

 

Then I wonder who was Julia's mother. According to 1910 Census that I just looked up, she was reported to be 13, James 16, Martha J. 30, Joe 37 (a year older than should be, but clearly it's him; he claimed he was 32 in Sept. 1905 in the court), and one Charles Ballard, also a household member, 58. Like I said, Mary died on March 18, 1896, so did they report Julia's age wrong or something.

Madge and Joe had one child, who died young, between the time they were married in 1900 and the time Joe applied for a divorce on July 19, 1905. Madge, on July 28, brought a suit against Martha Davis for the alleged alienation of Joe's affections, and denied Joe's claim that they were not living together since Nov 19, 1904. On Feb 6, 1906, Joe's suit was refused by the judge, claiming he didn't prove his case, and despite Madge's absence at the hearing for two days (it was originaly scheduled to Feb 5, then delayed until next day).

 

Gans' scrap-book is over 1.4 million characters (that's only small part of what it should become when I finish re-typing all other clippings I have on Gans, which will take years, perhaps). Langford's is small in comparison, only about 100K chars, and only covers 1902-1903, the rest I didn't even start to sort out everything I have.

 

To Senya on Gans' family: I believe Julia was a year younger than James. This could have been a Census error. Gans' age on the Census at 37 also looks strange, but we know that he "dropped" two years on his fight record when newspapers began to report him as "old." I was never able to find a birth certificate, so it is difficult to place his exact age. Do you have a date when the divorce between Madge and Joe was finalized? I suspected the messy divorce was what made the lawyer draft paperwork for Martha to enable her to take over the Goldfield. After Gans died, Martha remarried Ford Dabney, the musician and together they held the Goldfield and then sold it when they moved to New York. Senya, your research on Gans is remarkable. You are to be commended.

 

As for the number of Gans' wives...

The last thing Nat Fleischer says of Gans in "Black Dynamite" is "the Old Master had gone to Valhalla."

For those of us unfamiliar with Norse mythology, Valhalla was where the great warriors were rewarded in the after-life with multiple beautiful women (Valkaries)

By all accounts, Mr. Gans chose the advance payment option with respect to the women...

 

I have three questions for Colleen Aycock.

1 ) Have you seen the full length film of Joe Gans vs Terry McGovern?

2 ) Do you believe it was a fix? Yes, no, or maybe?

3 ) If you answered " Yes " to the fix, did Gans or his manager ever admit it.

 

When Colleen and I were writing the Gans book, we both watched the full length of the Gans-McGovern fight. I hope Colleen won't mind my answering here on her behalf.

1- At first Colleen believed that Gans was sick and got hurt by an early body shot by McGovern. I had seen film of the Goldfield fight and did not think Gans was trying. We debated while writing the book.

2- We later found news accounts where Gans admitted throwing the fight. Also, as discussed in our book, several semi-secret meetings took place between Gans' manager and McGovern's manager.

3- As discussed in chapter 7 of our book, there was an atmosphere of intimidation, reports of burnings and hangings of blacks, that give credence to the notion that black fighters had to "fight to orders."

Granted that McGovern was a ferocious hitter and had the ability to kayo larger men. But if you compare Gans' effort in Goldfield fight (clips on You-Tube) vs the one against McGovern, it is evident that he is not trying vs McGovern. That was the verdict of the onlookers and Gans admitted as much later in his career.

Could he be dazed from an early McGovern punch? Possibly, but very unlikely considering his experience and the fact that he never seems to get tagged cleanly, and gets up and casually shakes hands with McGovern after all of those knock downs.

In our book on Joe Gans, we also document circumstantial evidence of an arrangement. There were several meetings before and after the fight between Gans' and McGovern's managers. The quid pro quo for Gans' losing? A title shot against Erne. Please read our case in chapter seven of the Gans biography.

 

Gans didn't know when he was born, exactly, that 1874-11-25 date was picked at random, I guess. I remember meeting some other dates for his birth in contemporary newspapers, and his death certificate lists Sept. 1, 1874.

I still have many hundreds of unsorted files on Gans, but yeah, I have the date. Sometime in the middle of 1907 Madge filed another suit, for partial divorce, but it was also dismissed by the judge, same as Gans' suit before. On June 3, 1908, Madge filed another suit for absolute divorce, citing adultery as the reason. On July 17, 1908, they were officially divorced (see next day Baltimore Sun, page 8, or Baltimore American, page 15). Oct 2, 1908, Baltimore Sun (page 10) states that he and Martha are going to marry tomorrow morning. Baltimore American on the same day (page 13) also tells about something like that, but my copy is almost unreadable, the whole issue was heavily damaged and half the text on the scans is white, not readable at all. The Sun gives the names of Gans' first two wives as well:

"Gans divorced his third wife, who was Madge Watkins, of Cincinnati, about three months ago, after a year's fight in the divorce courts. His wife preceding this one was Beulah Henderson, who died some little time after the marriage. His first wife was a Baltimore negress by the name of Florence Reed, and from whom Joe obtained a divorce after finding that marital troubles were possible with one whom he thought would be an affinity as well as wife."

Gans needed the papers to transfer the hotel to Martha, because (Baltimore American, Aug. 10, 1910, page 12):

"The Goldfield Hotel is still in the possession of the Gans family. Martha Gans, Joe Gans' wife, is now the sole owner, and she will continue to run it.
It was stated in yesterday's American that the title to the hotel that the dying pugilist erected in his palmy days, had been obtained by Thomas R. Smith.
Under the Maryland law it is impossible for a husband to transfer his title in real estate to his wife directly. In order to make the transfer legal it is necessary that a third person be used to convey the title. This third person is merely a conduit, and holds the title only long enough to transfer it to the person in whom the owner intends it should rest. Mr. Smith was this third person. He held the title to Goldfield Hotel for about five minutes, when he transferred it to Mrs. Gans."

 

Regarding the Fleischer account, he was notoriously inclined to inacuracy when it made a fuller or more dramatic presentation.

Regarding fighting twice in two nights at such a distance, that is a credible argument for Gans' dissolution.

 

Thanks for the reply Mark. I have watched Gans vs McGovern several times. Early on, it is vintage Gans, then if you watch closely, McGovern lands a wild shot near Gans' ear. Ganss' keens visibly buckle, and he goes down. IMO, this shot disoriented Gans equilibrium. After the first knockdown McGovern went at Gans like a mad attack dog. Some of the knockdowns were hard shots, others were not. Gans at times tires to fight back. If this was a fix, why go down 6 times? Why not stay down after a hard shot?

There was also some funny business in the fight. Referee, George Siler who had fantastic control of the fighters in the ring actually escorts a woozy Gans to his corner after a brutal round one! I have never seen this before. It was as if Siler wanted Gans to win. Indeed, Siler was a great fan of Gans. He and Fitzsimmons were Siler’s favorite fighters.


PS: Gans was filmed vs Goldfield? This I did not know. I thought the only stuff on Gans was McGovern, Herman and Nelson.

 

1906-09-03 Joe Gans W-DQ42 Battling Nelson
Casino Amphitheatre, Goldfield, Nevada, United States

The film of 3rd fight with Nelson has actually been better preserved (or filmed) than the 1st. You can see flashes of brilliance from Gans, while his stamina is still with him.

 

Yes, it's possible Gans was hurt. But Gans was a seasoned pro who knew how to clinch and punch back, neither of which he did against McGovern. Gans should have pumped his left jab into McGovern's face and never let him get close, if he really wanted to win. He just allows McGovern to wade in throw haymakers.

If they staged a fake, they had to make it look real enough that they would not be convicted of fraud, so the multiple knock-downs may be a result of that. There was in fact an inquiry on fraud the next day, and the parties narrowly escaped being thrown in jail. Gans did say in a 1906 interview that he threw the fight, but the details???

Senya, I will pay $100 for the third Gans-Nelson fight, plus shipping etc. Do you know where I can get it? Thanks.