HOW KID McCOY STOLE TOMMY RYAN'S TITLE GREATEST DOUBLE CROSS IN HISTORY

Evening bulletin., October 28, 1911, 3:30 EDITION, Page 9, Image 9

HOW KID McCOY STOLE TOMMY RYAN'S TITLE GREATEST DOUBLE CROSS IN HISTORY

BY LAURENCE REDINGTON.
A few days ago the sporting columns of the Coast papers carried a story of how Kid McCoy had “come
back" by virtue of his win over some forth-rater In New York, a week or so after he had chopped poor old Bob Fitzsimmons to pieces In an Impromptu affair In which Fitz substituted for a fighter who was taken suddenly iII.
If Kid McCoy ever makes any more easy money out of the fight it will be by cleverness of head rather than hand. And thereby hangs this tale.
here is the true story of how Kid McCoy double-crossed Tommy Ryan out of the middleweight championship way hack In ‘96. It's a tangled yarn, but it’s Interesting In that It shows some of the methods by which that master schemer, Mr Norman shelby, thought and fought himself Into the pugilistic spotlight.
The main facts of the deal came to me a long time ago, but several corroborative details were missing Then, In the latter part of 1908. fourteen years after the fight, I ran across Kid McCoy In Savannah, where he and Tod Sloan were trying to pick up a few dollars looking to the International auto races, and from the Kid himself I gathered up some loose ends of fact and theory. When Kid McCoy bobbed Into ring prominence
this month, after being a dead one, for so long. I decided to throw the facts together In sequence, and now, after all these years, the story of the greatest double-cross In history goes Into print for the first time.
Enter Kid McCoy
Kid McCoy crossed Tommy Ryan’s trail when the then champion was training at Detroit for his fight with Jack Wilkes In 1894. McCoy came to Ryan's quarters and fairly begged to be taken In, saying that
he was willing to do anything, from sparrlng to washing dishes, and the coin didn’t cut any figure with
him, so parson Davies finally engaged McCoy, Just to be rid of his pleadings, at the munificent salary of $7
per week.
The Kid hung round, being useful and In the way by turns, for, while he was a good rubber, he was far to green to be of any use to Tommy as
a sparring partner. When Ryan went to New Orleans for the Dempsey fight that was eventually called off, McCoy beat his way on the bumpers and had a smiling welcome for Ryan and party when they finally arrived. He wasn’t wanted, but he had the knack of making himself useful, and he simply wouldn't stand for a shake.

When Jack Dempsey Fell.
The scene then shifted to Maspeth,Long Island, where poor Jack Dempsey finally got Into the ring with
Ryan, only to drop exhausted after a few listless rounds. Kid McCoy was "part of the party," as usual, but still only us a general roustabout and handy man. Ryan liked to send him on errands, but scorned to put the
gloves on with him.
After the Dempsey fight Tommy Ryan went back to Syracuse, and waxed fat and lazy holding down the saloon that the original Tommy Ryan had set him up in. He didn't exactly disipate, but he got In the habit of taking a few more drinks each day and smoking a few perferto’s, and that sort of thing always gets them In
the long run.
Every so often Ryan got a letter from Kid McCoy, who wrote that he was hanging round New York, looking for a chance to turn a few dollars, and he usually managed to slip In a request for the loan of a five spot, along with a hard luck story.
He begged Tommy to use his Influence to get him on In some prelim, and alternately flattered and fawned
on the champion. Finally McCoy begged Ryan to go on with him In one of the smaller towns "I know I
ain't got a chance In the world with you Tommy," wrote McCoy, "but the loser's end looks awful good to me,
and It's a pick-up for you," and so on In the same wheedling vein. Finally, when a letter came from
Maspeth, begging Ryan to come down for a match with anyone be wanted to name, Tommy accepted, and good naturedly offered the chance to Kid McCoy. He looked on the whole match as a Joke, and never thought of going Into training for it.
In the enemy’s camp
Now, months before this match was made, Kid McCoy had fallen in with Parson Davies and Joe Choynskl, then arch-enemies of Tommy Ryan, who, seeing championship timber In the Kid, had taken him In hand and were giving him every opportunity to develop, for the express purpose of evening old scores with Tommy, McCoy's whining letters to Tommy were all part of a gigantic frame-up to tempt the champion, unprepared, Into the ring with McCoy, and while the latter was borrowing dollar bills, on the plea that he was starving, he was In reality living on the fat of the land and training under Davies' watchful eye at Asbury park The matchmaker at Maspeth was in on the deal, his part being to coax the champion to box.
Tommy Ryan, all unsuspecting, arrived at Maspeth for the fight. "I want to let the Kid make a good
showing, so I'll stall along for six rounds and then go In and finish him," he told his seconds. And for
six rounds everything was as per schedule, but when Ryan started the finishing stunt, McCoy turned his
back and ran. He had Tommy chasing him for a while, then It dawned on the latter that, from lack
of training, be was all In. Then Kid McCoy tore In, and what he did to Mr. Joseph Youngs was a shame
in the fifteenth,Ryan, battered and unable to stand on his feet a moment longer, went to the floor for the count, and his despised rubber and valet was declared middleweight champion of the world
The Last Straw.
Tommy Huii crawled to the bathhouse after the fight. He wanted to be alone In his misery and humiliation He had a rub and finally lay down on a cot to sleep the sleep of utter exhaustion
"I was so tired that I couldn't have climbed a twenty-foot mountain to get a million dollars, and you know I
don't hate money," was the way Tommy expressed his feelings, telling the story long afterward "Finally I woke up feeling better Somebody was putting hot towels and then cold ones on my face, and I got to thinking that, after all, there were some people in the world who wouldn't shake you when you got
licked I opened my eyes, and who do you think I saw fussing over me?
I hope to die if It wasn't Kid McCoy, 'I hated to do It, Tommy, old pal,' he said, 'but I Just gotta get the dough.' "And do you know," continued Ryan, "the damn little skunk actually kidded me Into shaking hands with him " That's the way Kid McCoy feathered his nest A pretty example
of the double-cross, Isn't It?"

 

Maybe but it's an interesting read, if you have a better version please post

 

Sorry, it was my mistake in typing it, not the authors it was Selby, whats that saying? "dont let the facts get in the way of a good story". This reporter interviewed McCoy, as stated, it's a pity he didnt get Ryan's POV.