Jack Johnson related articles from 1909

• May 9, 1909 – The World (New York)
Handsome Man Who Is Punched Twice a Day By Jeffries
How it Feels to Help in the Training of the Greatest Fighter, to Meet Terrific Blows, and Why Jeffries Avoids Striking Certain Spots.

Since James J. Jeffries has announced his intention of meeting Jack Johnson, the colored champion, in the squared circle, new interest has been felt in the man who is acting as sparring partner to Jeffries in the William Morris Circuit of vaudeville theatres.

A few days ago this man, Sam Berger, of Los Angeles, was merely a feature in a vaudeville act, a sort of lay figure – a very good looking figure, to be sure – who helped to make Jeffries stand out as a star.

Today, with perhaps the hardest battle in the history of pugilism in prospect, Sam Berger becomes a figure of almost national interest as the man who is now virtually in training with Jeffries for the big fight.

Twice a day in some theater, in some big city, for the next ten weeks, Berger will be helping Jeffries to earn the modest little salary of $2,000 per week, and incidentally amuse a sensation-loving public. But away from the theater, on the running track, in unpretentious and obscure training quarters, in Turkish bathrooms even in the small confines of a theater’s dressing-room, these two men will be working together to the great end of defeating Johnson.

Sam Berger is a Californian and has the honor of being the amateur champion of the heavyweight class on the Pacific coast. He won the same title at the Olympic games conducted at the St. Louis Exposition. He is only twenty-one years of age, is six feet two inches tall, and weighs 225 pounds when stripped for fighting.

In Los Angeles he owns a haberdashery ship, where fastidious dressers and sporting men alike do congregate. A hail-fellow-well-met, something of a ladies’ man and a matinee idol, he is even more popular with his own sex. In Los Angeles and San Francisco he is in great demand as the presiding officer of amateur sporting events, and his announcements are famed for their humor.

It is only natural that between the sporting haberdasher, Sam Berger, and the sporting café owner, James J. Jeffries, a typical Californian friendship should spring up, so, after three years of intimacy in Los Angeles, Jeffries chose Berger as his sparring partner, not only for his brief vaudeville tour, but for the preparations to fight Johnson.

“How does it feel to stand up before the big man twice a day?” echoed Berger in the dressing room, which he was sharing with Jeffries at a New York theater. “Well, there is no using in my making light of it and saying it is a daily joke, because it is not. When we first went into vaudeville we were told that the public just wanted to get a good lock at Jeffries and see how he trained. I was supposed to be just a sort of chorus man, a supe. But the very first appearance changed all that. The audience sent us emphatic messages across the footlights, “Quit your kidding!” “Get busy!” “Get together.”

“From that time on we certainly got busy, and, what with trying to suit the audience, which wanted three good stiff rounds, and not displeasing the police department in the various cities, we have had a regular whirlwind time of it.

“You must understand first that sparring with a champion is much safer than working with a mutt! And a mutt is a – well, we will say an unscientific boxer, a fellow who hits wild, has no method, has no head, has no real sporting sense to him.

“When a man gets to the head of his profession, I don’t care whether it be the law, sculpture, street-cleaning, pants-making or fighting, he has to be a man who thinks and works. Jeffries is a thinker. Every blow he hits, even in our stage stunts, is backed by a reason. He never loses his head. He never strikes at me wild. I am far safer with him than with a man in a lower fighting class who has half of Jeffries strength.

“I get some hard ones! – and here he showed me several bruises on flesh as firm as muscle and skin can be – “but I am never in danger of a knockout blow.

Why? Because, as the public seldom realizes, the knockout blow never leaves a bruise. The blow that leaves a visible mark is generally a glancing blow, a blow that does not land just where the puncher intends it shall. The solid punch does not cut a man, it stunts him. To use the medical term, the knockout blow is one that strikes at the center of what is known as the vaso-motor system, the nerves which control volition. There are several of these centers, and you can count on it that when a man goes down before one of Jeffries’s blows, one of those centers has been hit, and Jeffries knows just where and at what he was aiming.

“Conversely, he does not aim at those centers in sparring with me. He skillfully avoids them. So I am safe.

“Then, you must remember that in sparring with me on the stage, while he must satisfy the audience that he is earnest, there is no money or reputation at stake. He does not have to think of the one big aim – finishing me off. And I don’t mind telling you that while I have been sparring partners for a lot of the big men in the pugilistic field, I never met a man with Jeffries’s disposition. I’ve got to keep up my end of the game, too, before the audience, and sometimes I land a good deal harder on Jeffries than he would on me. Many a fighter would turn a bit ugly, but Jeffries never does – he never evens up the blow, And in our dressing room he is one of the kindliest of fellows you ever saw. He is, of course, in better shape than I am, and though we both come off winded, he will see if I got the worst of it, and insist upon the masseur, or rubber, taking care of me first. And if you’ve never stood or sat around, waiting for care and attention after a couple of stiff rounds, you can’t understand what this consideration means. When a man has reached the point in fighting where Jeffries has, that is, when his physical strength is subordinated to his mental power, his sparring partner is not only safe, but fortunate.

“As to the systems of training, why, I must work precisely as Jeffries does. When he runs, I run. If he punches the bag, I do my stunt at that. Same with rope-jumping-all the work Jeffries does on the stage I do – to a lesser extent, of course, in our training quarters. A man who spars with fighters must have plenty of wind and speed, otherwise he is no good as a sparring partner. You would not pace a runner with a wobbly bicycle. Neither will you put an easily winded, slow man up for sparring partner for a fighter. I am a Chicagoan by birth, but I have lived so long in California, land of outdoor life, that perhaps I deserve little credit for my fine physical condition, which gave me a chance to spar with Jeffries.

“I’d like to take this opportunity to say something to the average business man. It is this – you can trace heart failure and lung trouble straight to shallow breathing. And if you do not breathe deeply you do not stand correctly. Take a look at yourself, if your abdomen protrudes , your chest recedes and your back caves in, take up deep breathing and take it up at once.

 

• May 11, 1909 – The World (New York)
“Friends Better Keep The Negro Out Of My Way.”
Retired Champion Heavyweight Pugilist Declares That He Will Thrash the Present Titleholder On Sight. Never Disliked Any Man More Than Johnson. “And I’ll Mark Him Up When We Fight; Could Lick Him on a Second’s Notice.”

Special to The World
Chicago, May 10. – James J. Jeffries will fight Jack Johnson within five months after his vaudeville contract expires. He is signed with Billy Morris for nine weeks more of theatrical work, and when this is finished he will sign to battle the big black.

Jeff was not at all peeved when he got in today from the East. He was in fine fettle and was enjoying his breakfast coffee in supreme content when a reporter interrupted the flow of Java.

The big fellow looked over the interloper and politely inquired what he wanted.

“All I want,” was the timorous reply, “is to know whether you will receive Jack Johnson and talk fight with him.”

A dark cloud overspread the countenance of the Californian. For one fleeting moment the “fighting face” that made Gus Ruhlin’s knees knock together for mutual support appeared.

The expression that broke Bob Fitzsimmon’s lion heart and which struck horror to the face of Tom Sharkey flitted across Jim’s face.

“I’ll Knock His Block Off.”
“If that fellow comes to see me he will get a cleaning for which he might get a lot of money later on,” thundered the former king of battlers. “I don’t want to see him, I don’t want him to _____ any advertising at my expense.

I have said I will fight him and that goes. But I won’t even talk to him until I have finished my theatrical contract in July. Tell his friends to keep him out of my sight, for I’ll knock his block off the first time I see him.”

“Will you sign up then?” was the next question.

“Yes,” said Jim.

“But will you demand an additional six months in which to prepare for the bout?”

“Well, I don’t think so. I’m not prepared to say as to that. But I have said I will fight him, and that goes as it lies. I could whip him on one second’s notice.”

Jeffries had recovered his equinamity by that time, and was willing to go along smoothly in his conversation when the interviewer was tactless enough to refer to the statement given out here several weeks ago, in which Johnson said he would confront the boilermaker and offer him $1,000 to say yes or no and to agree upon a tentative date for the ring battle.

Jeff Glowers
The Californian glowered at his visitor. He doubled his massive right fist and gazed tenderly at his left mitt, upon which was a pestiferous boil and which was encased in soothing salve and oiled silk.

Then he glowered some more.


Finally he found utterance and said: “Under those conditions I would be glad to receive Johnson. I would welcome him. If he comes to me with that yellow-back with all those numbers on it I will take it away from him.

“Johnson, however, will keep out of my way until we meet in the ring. Jack Johnson won an easy victory over Tommy Burns in Sydney, N.S.W., on Dec. 26 of last year. Just such an easy victory will I have over the negro fighter, who says he is champion of the world, but he will be a more marked fighter than Burns was. I have harbored ill-feeling for a number of the men I met in battle, but never so bitter have I been against any other living soul. I’ll batter him into such a state of helplessness that, he will never fight again. I’ll show no mercy.

“It would not surprise me if I knocked him out in a jiffy – that is, if he’ll stand up and fight. The club that offers me the best inducements will get the mill.”

 

• May 13, 1909 – The World (New York)
Live Tips edited by W.P. McLoughlin
Jack Johnson will leave Chicago for his bout with Philadelphia Jack O’Brien next Wednesday night – and in the meantime he will not see Jeffries, who is in Chicago, to talk fight with him before he takes the trip to the Sleepy City.

Wise chap is Johnson’s manager. If he lets Johnson go to see Jeffries without a police guard there will not be any need for further reference to the negro champion outside the obituary columns.


• May 18, 1909 – The World (New York)
A.J. Drexel Biddle Tries Out Johnson.
Philadelphia Society Man Boxes Two Rounds with Champion – Negro Not Popular.
Philadelphia, May 17 – Jack Johnson, the black champion pugilist, who is here to box Jack O’Brien, was tried out for speed and wind today and was found to be not wanting. He is in plenty good condition, good enough to fight six fast rounds, in the judgment of no less a person than A.J. Drexel Biddle, the well-known Philadelphia society man who is also something of a boxer, and who today went to Merchantville, N.J., where Johnson is training, and tried out the conqueror of Tommy Burns in a short bout with gloves.

The bout took place late in the afternoon of the old frame church, once the place of worship of the colored brethren of Merchantville but now used by George Cole, a colored fighter, as training quarters for himself and friends.

This church was crowded to suffocation by colored sports, all anxious to get a line on the champion, and a few white followers of boxing, including a party of friends of Mr. Biddle. The bout between the society man and the black pugilist lasted only two short rounds, and while full of action was in no way rough.

Much to the regret of the crowd, Johnson would only box two rounds of two minutes each with Biddle.

“Never in my life did I at any time feel better or more fitted to fight than I do at this moment.”

This was the statement made at noon today by Jack O’Brien, who will try to lower the colors of Jack Johnson when they meet before the National A.C. on Wednesday night in a match that has aroused interest from coast to coast.

Jack had just returned from a six-mile jaunt along the roads and was busy punching the bag at the Kings of Puesta? Inn, when he was greeted by a representative of The World.

“Fine, I feel fine,” said O’Brien, when asked how he was feeling. “I can truthfully state that I have trained for the Johnson fight harder than I ever trained before, and that is saying a whole lot; I am certain that my many friends will have no kick coming on the result of my showing against the negro.”

O’Brien, it can be said, looks the picture of health. He weighed 167 pounds this afternoon, at which weight he will probably enter the ring.

Today he is just as fast as he ever was, and while he does not care to make any positive assertion as to his personal opinion on the outcome of his battle with the colored man, O’Brien wears the look of one brimful of confidence, and one who is certain of the course he is about to pursue.

Jack Johnson was introduced at the National Club on Saturday evening, and the reception he got showed him how poor a favorite he is in Philadelphia. He climbed into the ring and was introduced by Jack McGuigan, but was greeted by a storm of hisses and groans.

He stood still, smiling and bowing, and tried to make a speech. It was impossible for those at the ringside to hear what he was saying, but someone caught Jeffries name and a rousing cheer followed. Johnson thought the applause was meant for him and proceeded with his inaudible speech. The noise gradually died down, and then O’Brien’s name was heard. That settled the business, and Johnson finished his remarks without anyone knowing what he said.

 

• May 19, 1909 – The World (New York)
Two Jacks Are Ready For the Fray Tonight. Philadelphia Has Put in Some Hard Licks at Training and Declares That he is Confident of Victory. Johnson Has Not Worked Hard for the Contest. Negro Evidently Believes He Will Have Little Difficulty in Winning on Points.

Special to The World
Philadelphia, May 18 – With Jack Johnson, the dusky heavyweight champion, in good condition, and “Philadelphia Jack” O’Brien, the elite-local boxer, in the finest of trim, two ***** things are liable to happen in tomorrow’s contest at the National A.C. here: The first is, the pale-face might possibly somehow or other, outpoint Johnson, in which case he would undoubtedly claim the heavyweight championship, and would present the very unusual spectacle of a world’s heavyweight champion whom a middleweight can lick, the middleweight alluded to being Stanley Ketchel, of Grand Rapids, Mich. And again, even if beaten, O’Brien may receive more money for his six rounds of milling than Johnson, the victor and title holder.

This latter happening may easily result, for Johnson is guaranteed $5,000 for his services, whereas O’Brien is to receive 30 percent of the receipts. The officials of the club figure that the receipts will amount to upward of $22,000, in which case Philadelphia Jack will put down as his end something more than $6,000.

Of the two ring gladiators who will match ring intellect and swap punches in this town this evening O’Brien is by far the better trained for the fray. He has been working conscientiously at the King of Prussia, near this city, for nearly a month now, and he appears happy as a schoolboy, so enthusiastic is he regarding his chances with the negro.

It seems as if Johnson has been accepting too many invitations to banquets and good time sto be in the finest shape, but he declares that he is, and his trainers voice his sentiments.

It was just 3 o’clock this afternoon when Johnson called off all hard work. He then called for his automobile and started out to get the air. Before entering his car he said:

“I am in great shape and will win in a walk.” George Cole backed up Johnson’s statement by saying:

“Johnson was never more fit for a fight and will be in the very best of condition to make the fight of his life. I think his condition and speed will be something of a surprise to O’Brien.”

This morning O’Brien took a three-mile jaunt on the roads in the vicinity of the King of Prussia Inn, and after a half hour’s work at the bag and a few tosses of the medicine ball he announced to his trainers that he was ready to try conclusions with his dusky opponent.

O’Brien will not come to this city until late tomorrow afternoon. When he reaches the city he will be accompanied by his retinue of trainers, who will be behind him when he enters the ring.

O’Brien, as told yesterday in these columns, figures on weighing between 167 and 170 pounds in his fighting togs.

Frank A. Egger announces that he has $5,000 of Chicago money to wager that Johnson will not knock out O’Brien

Egger says this money comes from Walter Powers, Frank Thomas and Martin D. Madden of Chicago. It will be in working shape tomorrow morning at Manager Edward’s saloon.

Same page:
Jeffries has weighed himself in Chicago in public and showed just 243 pounds. He said his best fightinig weight is 220 pounds. He can easily make that extra 23 pounds take the skidoo.

 

• May 20, 1909 – The World (New York)
Black Champion Worsts O’Brien In Fast Fight. Sends Philadelphia to Floor in First Round and Closes One Eye with Hard Swings Later. O’Brien Game And Clever, Chases Big Opponent. Johnson Hissed for Rough Work and Warned by Referee – Crowd at the Ringside.
By William P. McLoughlin (McLoughlin attended the fight.)

Philadelphia, May 19 – The much discussed bout between Jack Johnson, heavyweight champion of the world, and “Philadelphia Jack” O’Brien was held tonight in the National Athletic Club of this city. It went six rounds, and while O’Brien showed extreme cleverness and did most of the leading and landed some good stiff jabs, he was no match for the big negro, who was about forty pounds heavier and six inches taller than the Philadelphian. A crowded house greeted the fighters.

Johnson sent O’Brien through the ropes in the first round, but the local boxer was up in a jiffy and began a series of jabs and clips that he managed to keep going all through the six rounds of fighting. When Johnson did send over a sweep it counted, and Jack showed the effects of the big fellow’s wallops.

Too Heavy for O’Brien.
Johnson followed in the main his waiting tactics. He held back distressingly and was roundly hooted throughout the fight. But whenever he cut loose it was plain O’Brien was up against a ripe, red apple. He mixed it frequently and his bulk soon began to tell on O’Brien who showed the effect of the disproportion in weight and strength.

Up to and including the third round it was O’Brien’s fight by good, clever work. He did all the leading and landing serveral good, clean blows that woke the native ones up to a wild delirium of joy. But, alas! Johnson clipped over a right swing to O’Brien near the bell in the fourth that sent the Philadelphian to this knees, and from that time on it was Mistah Johnsing’s go. O’Brien’s left eye was almost closed in this session.

O’Brien in the fifth and sixth had the tall dark man panting for wind. He pulled up a little in the middle of the sixth and hammered O’Brien right and left and his wallops were hot ones. It was Johnson’s go, but O’Brien deserves a good deal of credit for a game and clever battle.

The Fight by Rounds
Round One – They began to mix immediately without shaking hands. Johnson pushed O’Brien down. He arose and jabbed Johnson with his left, and mixed. Johnson dropped O’Brien with a left to the stomach. Johnson laughed as he held O’Brien in a clinch. O’Brien feinted Johnson three times and then landed a left to the mouth. Just before the end of the round Johnson landed a hard right overhand smash to the jaw. It was Johnson’s round.

Round Two – Johnson roughed O’Brien and was hooted. Johnson rushed and swung a left to the stomach. O’Brien landed a right to the jaw. They rushed and crossed each other to the jaw. O’Brien’s clever work brought roars from the crowd. He pranced up and down, in and out, and had the negro confused. Johnson landed twice on the stomach hard. The round was about even.

Round Three – Johnson jabbed his left to the face and O’Brien rushed, landing a left hook to the head. Again O’Brien jabbed his left to the mouth. Johnson rushed and landed on O’Brien’s neck with his left. Johnson put a right uppercut to the stomach. O’Brien feinted and had Johnson tired and confused at the end of the round.

Johnson Forces the Fight
Round Four – They mixed and O’Brien laughed as Johnson missed a right uppercut. O’Brien jabbed Johnson on the eye with his left. Jack repeated with the jab and cleverly ducked a right swing. Johnson landed a hard right to the ear that made O’Brien hold. They exchanged rights to the body. O’Brien missed a swing and fell to his knees just before the bell rang. Johnson did the forcing in this session.

Round Five – Johnson wrestled and punched O’Brien to the floor. O’Brien got up with a big lump under his left eye. Johnson grinned as the crowd hooted him. Again Johnson landed on O’Brien’s sore eye, closing it. A hard left uppercut to the stomach made O’Brien wince. “Philadelphia Jack” slipped to the floor in his own corner. They exchanged hooks to the face at the bell.

Round Six –They shook hands gingerly and proceeded to mix it up. O’Brien slipped to his knees after side-stepping several well-meant swings. Johnson planted a left to the mouth and crossed his right to O’Brien’s closed eye. O’Brien slammed a right to Johnson’s stomach and then a jab to Johnson’s nose. They were locked in each other’s arms at the bell.

 

• May 20, 1909 – The World (New York)
Johnson’s Greed Cost Him Big Share of Profit. Great Crowd at the Ringside When Heavyweight Champion and Philadelphia’s Favorite Boxer Clashed.
By W.P. McLoughlin

Philadelphia – May 19 – The manager of the National Athletic Club got a severe shock when Johnson rolled up in an auto at 2 o’clock in the afternoon and made a peremptory demand for the money guaranteed to him, $5,000.

“Ain’t you rushing it a bit?” said Club Manager Harry Edwards. “I have heard of hold-ups by fighters before, at the last moment, but this is the first time I know of such a thing taking place ten hours before ring time.”

“Well, I’ve got to have my money now,” said Johnson in a sullen way. Then there was a whispered consultation, which included Jack McGuigan, the fight manager of the National A.C., and George Little, manager for Johnson. The four drove to a bank and Johnson got his $5,000 in large bills, which he tucked away under the careful scrutiny of Little.

I learned that Johnson had taken this step to foil an army of creditors. A sheriff was camping on Johnson’s trail with an execution for a debt of $850. There were several others, it was said.

There was fear that Johnson might “throw” the club and refuse to go on after getting his money, but this fear was dispelled by the action taken by Manager Edwards, who told the Sheriff to keep Johnson under surveillance.

“If he refuses to go on I will arrest him for grand larceny,” he said.

That Johnson has a fool manager and that he himself is a fat wit is proved by the way in which he comes out in the money end of it. He was offered $4,000 or the alternative of 30 percent of the house. He refused it. He finally was offered $4,750 with the same alternative. Johnson held out for the $5,000 guarantee flat, which was agreed upon.

The Foxy Philadelphia Jawn.
O’Brien insisted on 75% of the house, out of which he agreed to pay Johnson his share. Wily Mr. Jack O’Brien! The house counted up more than $23,000, of which O’Brien got $17,000, and after paying Johnson $5,000 the Philadelphian stood $12,000 to the good, more than twice the amount guaranteed to the champion.

The crowd gathered early around the National Sporting Club. At 6 o’clock there was a mob in front of the main entrance and a long line of would-be spectators had formed waiting for the box office to open. But the tickets had been sold several days ago. There was nothing to be had but those vended by the speculators at big increases on the original prices.

I walked from the depot to the club building because I like to look strange places over. Philadelphia is surely one strange place. They had baked catfish on the bill of fare where I dined. They also had “green” apple pie. That was good. They still employ **** policemen and the houses all have those combination mirrors that enable the tenant to sit at a window and rubber both up and down the street at once. I saw a man riding a bicycle. I saw a peach basket hat of the vintage of last April. The brick sidewalks still are here. So are the green shutters and the white marble steps. There are brass knockers on some of the hall doors.

A big electric sign blazing forth the world “Welcome,” glittered on the front of the City Hall. It made a hit with the New York delegation.

“Glad to see this brotherly spirit,” said Little Tim Sullivan, as he doffed his hat.

“Brotherly nothing,” said the wise Jack McGuigan. “That sign is for the coming convention of the Knights of Pythias.”

“Well, it will do for us,” said Eugene McGuire as he led a big delegation from the Bronx into a thirst place. He picked the wrong place, he told me later. He called for champagne and they served on him some stuff made in Egg Harbor City, N.J. Gene stuck to beer the rest of his spare time.

There were four specials from New York. Three of them were fairly well filled.

Early in the afternoon O’Brien, whose name, as you all remember, is Joseph Hagan, told his mother he would lick Johnson. She said later:

“I believe he will do it. He never failed to keep his word with me.”

Little Betting on the Fight.
There was a curious absence of betting. There were all sorts of rumors floating around and the general impression was that it was a good bout to keep away from with hard-earned money.

“I hear Johnson hasn’t trained,” said Jimmy DeForest. “He looks it.”

“O’Brien is in fine condition,” said McGuigan.

With O’Brien in fine trim, fast man that he is normally, and Johnson with a paunch, the crowd decided it didn’t look good and the money stayed some.

When the crowd began to pour into the club at 8 o’clock the street outside presented an odd spectacle. The building is in the heart of a negro district. It looked as if every “cullud pusson” it town turned out to get a peek at Johnson and to wait for the result of the fight. The street was like a mass of black soot studded with straw hats. They began to wear straw hats here on May 1, but they are of the vintage of the year before. Nothing goes to the ash heap in Philadelphia but ashes.

Johnson was the first to show, escorted by his manager and a retinue of negroes. He was clad in a big bathrobe. He got a mixed greeting in which “boohs” drowned the cheers.

Much Applause for O’Brien.
O’Brien followed a few moments later. He received a tremendous cheer. Jack wore a tasteful white silk kimono. Oh, dear, but it was just too cute.

In O’Brien’s corner was the wily Abe Attell. There were several other old-timers, including Frank Floyd. “Yank Kenny” presided at Johnson’s corner.

A telegram from Billy Delaney offering to fight Johnson for $10,000 was read.

“I’ll do it when I come back from Europe,” said Johnson.

“I want a bit of it myself,” said O’Brien.

Young Corbett was then presented amid applause.

A.J. Drexel Biddle then climbed in O’Brien’s corner.

 

• May 21, 1909 – The World (New York)
Champion’s Hits Seemed To Want Knockout Force. But When He Put One Over for Sake of Appearance Jack O’Brien Had to Take a Rest on the Floor. Philadelphia Boy Was Great on the Tap-Tap-Tap. O’Brien Praises the Strength of Johnson – Champion Extols Jack’s Cleverness.
By W.P. McLoughlin.

Counting each tap, tap, tapity-tap of that touch-and-run pugilist Philadelphia Jack O’Brien, he had it on Jack Johnson a thousand ways in that six-round bout in Philadelphia Wednesday night.

Counting the chug, thug, bump, smash, that send men jiggering into strange sleeps, the big black champion had it on O’Brien right from start to finish.

Seriously, Jack O’Brien would dance up to Johnson, push out a left or right, land it, and the crowd, in ecstasies of delight, would yell “Wow-w-w-w-e-ee!”

And Johnson would show a great mouthful of gold-filled teeth and laugh aloud, “he-yl, he-e-e!”

Then O’Brien would wink at the man in his corner – Abe Attell – and come back with another swat, pish-just like that-and Johnson would grin some more. Then the big black man would forget himself so far as to swat O’Brien on the jaw. Sometimes hot and sometimes cold. Twice he did it real hard and O’Brien went down each time as if to sleep for a brief spell, but he got up in time to keep the game a-going.

O’Brien Was Dropped Twice.
O’Brien was dropped twice clean with blows that apparently were well-directed. His left eye was bunged so bad that it had a cornice of deep black. His smile vanished in the fifth round and he could no longer wink at his able manager, because when he closed his right eye both optics were out of business, and Abe Attell got confused with his signals. It takes a good deal to confuse Abe.

One could find dozens of men in Philadelphia yesterday who smiled when asked who won the bout. They seemed to have something up their sleeves. The fact, as I related in my ringside dispatch, was that O’Brien’s clever financiering won them out. They reasoned that O’Brien in drawing down the lion’s share of the house as against the miserable $5,000 taken out by Johnson early in the afternoon, had done most of his work in advance.

Bad Odor All About
The whole thing has a bad odor. It seems incredible that a club like the National Athletic of Philadelphia, which has had some rummy-dum experiences, should enter into a deal with Jack O’Brien to take 75 percent of the house and pay Johnson’s amount out of his share. But that was what was done – sure as you are all alive.

Worst of all, I am reliably informed that it was not the club but Mr. Jack O’Brien who engineered the bout. It is alleged as a mitigating circumstance that the negro did not know it was O’Brien who really paid him his $5,000 guarantee. But it was.

Now, gentlemen, I have heard of the famous Philadelphia lawyer who could answer almost any question, but this is one that I think should tax even the ingenuity of a member of that erudite profession in the Quaker City:

If O’Brien Guaranteed To Pay Johnson $5,000 For a Six-Round Contest Shouldn’t Johnson Knock Out O’Brien?

What’s the answer?

Chorus – “NO-O-O-O.”

Do I heard some doubting Thomas there in the back row asking:

“Could Johnson Knock O’Brien Out?”

To which I must give the observant and thoughtful reply:

“Yes-s-s-s! With One Right or Left Punch.”

But, on the face of it, while the old and musty Marquis of Queensbury rules declare that a hit-and-get-away counts as more effective than the punch-and-get-one-that-doesn’t-hurt-in-return, I beg respectfully to differ. Ruling on the idea of foot racing and shadow boxing, O’Brien had it on Johnson. But when it came to sending in a smash-tee hee-why that there Jack Johnson he just banged O’Brien to the floor when he felt he had to do it to keep up appearances.

“I am satisfied with the result of the bout,” said O’Brien yesterday. “Johnson had fifty pounds the better of the weights, his reach and height were against me, and still I had to force all the fighting. I was better against Johnson because of my condition, than I was against Ketchel. I will be even better in my next bout. I have a dozen theatrical offers, but I don’t think I will accept any of the engagements.

Each Pleased With Other
“Johnson is a big, powerful fellow, with a terrific punch in either hand. He was in good shape, and he waited for me to lead, so he could cross me, and win with a knockout. No one can realize what a proposition I had on my hands. It was the cheers which helped me, and when I saw many of my old friends in the crowd pulling hard for me how could I lose?”

“I won,” said Johnson. “Everybody knows I did, but I admit I never dreamed O’Brien was so fast and clever, and anyone who tells you he cannot hit is crazy. He punches as hard as any man in the ring. I tried to catch him coming, but he is a little too cute to be copped in six rounds. Ten rounds would enable me to do the trick. I am going to England; then I will return to America and whip Ketchel and then take that flier at James J. Jeffries.”

I told Ketchel of Johnson’s remark. He smiled in a Helena, Montana sort of way that meant worlds. “I knocked the life out of O’Brien,” said he. “I wonder what I could do to that ******?” So do I.



• May 22, 1909 – The World (New York)
Jack Johnson’s Auto Is Seized For Debt.
Attachment Made on a Suit Brought for Board of Champion’s Blind Brother.

Special to The World
Philadelphia, May 21 – Jack Johnson’s plan to leave for New York tomorrow was rudely interrupted today when Sergeant-at-Arms Voight, of the Camden County courts, visited his training quarters at Merchantville, N.J., and served upon the big champion an attachment on an automobile in a suit to recover a board bill.

Johnson and his manager, George Little, were at breakfast when Voight arrived. They invited him to join them at the meal. He did so and explained that the automobile must be taken back to Camden, that the attachment for it had been issued at the instance of Clara S. Kerr of Philadelphia, to recover $405.95 for board for Johnson’s blind brother Charles. Johnson insisted that the machine was not his, but belonged to his manager.

Little confirmed that statement, but Voight insisted that they go to Camden with him in the machine and have the matter settled by someone in authority. They accompanied him and were taken to the private office of District Court Judge Jones. Little produced a bill of sale before the Judge showing that he and not Johnson had purchased the automobile, and a Camden lawyer who represented the pugilist asked for a dismissal of the suit and the attachment.

Attorneys for Mrs. Kerr said she was attending a funeral and could not be present at the hearing, and a postponement was agreed upon 10 o’clock tomorrow morning. Johnson was indignant over the proceedings. Judge Jones asked him why he did not pay the bill.

“Before I’ll pay that bill I’ll go to jail for ten years,” defiantly declared the fighter. “It is a very unjust bill and I will never pay it. I’ll fight it to the limit.”

Johnson explained that he intended to sail for Europe next Tuesday and desired the suit determined as soon as possible. The motor car was retained as security and Johnson was allowed to go, promising he would be present at the hearing tomorrow.

 

"It's interesting that on March the 4th 1909, a full 16 months before he challenged Johnson, Jeffries himself stated he weighed 245lbs. Jeffries scaled 227lbs when he fought Johnson, so he had only 18lbs to lose ,and 16 months to do it in."

That caught my eye as well as I read thru these articles.