The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 7, 1898, Page 16

1§ THE SAN FRANCISCO CALIL, SATURD AY 7, 1898. EFFRIES GETS THE DECISION BUT FAILS TO STOP THE SAILOR Not a Great Battle From a Scientific View, but Exciting Enough for the Flimsily Constructed Seats Give Way During the Thousands Who Attended. Show and Hurl Hundreds of Helpless Spec- tators to the Floor, Injuring Many. e R R R ot h Rt -t R 2 8 2-2-2-F-3-F-F-F-F-1-8-3-F-F-F-F-3:-F-3-F-FcRcq =g s 00010 0 were came seats 2000 from sReRuR=RaPeFoFagagoRegeReFeRgegegoRuRuFeReRaysFoRa] 2 ¢ < more ju ing was obscured in a cloud of dust. the midst of the dust cloud, and another section of the seats went down. Hardly had the sound of the breaking timbers died away when the remaining section of the platform gave way. Nearly 2000 men were scrambling, cursing and fighting in thatcloud of dust, and in the confused seasof broken timbers and chairs. wounded, assisted by friends, on the way to the Receiving Hospital. It took some time to get order out of the confusion and start the show again. am of injured to the Receiving Hospital. down. The criminal carelessness of a contractor and the National Athletic Club, as well as the indifference and incompetence of an official of the Fire Department, came near turning the Pavilion into a scene of death and disaster last night, instead of having it an arena for the aggrandizement of a pair of pillowed bullies and the edification of a frenzied crowd. Tom Sharkey and Jim Jeffries were pitted to fight a twenty-round contest. tosfollowers of prize-fights as “sloggers,”” and the doors of the great building were hardly large enough to let the crowds in fast enough to witness the exhibition. platforms, tier above tier, and arrangements had been made for seating 10,000 people. the preliminary exhibition fights were called every seat on' the lower floor was crowded, and on some two men were clinging. when there came a sound of cracking timbers followed almost instantly by a roar as of thunder, above which could be heard cries and curses of injured and angry men. the Polk street end of the building had fallen, carrying with it about 500 men. Instantly there was a stam- pede in the great building. Men began rushing in all directions and hundreds of them crushed their way out through the crowd at the door and sought safety in the street. The Larkin street end of the build- They are both known Seats for the crowd were constructed on Long before The master of ceremonies had stepped into the ring to announce the first contest, A tier of about a dozen seats along In the midst of the confusion there came another crash from Several were injured, and for a few minutes there was a stream of the The lightweights introduced to the great audience, and they danced at each other for a round or two when there the same warning sounds from beneath the seats along the Larkin street side of the building. The nearest the ring went first, and tier by tier they went crashing to the floor beneath. In an instant more men were scrambling amid the wreckage, fighting and cursing and groaning in their agony their injuries and obscured from the rest of the audience in a cloud of dust. Again there was a In that crash the bandsmen were among those who went For a while it was thought the great contest would be called off and the crowd dismissed fearing and greater disasters from the insecure seats. Finally, however, order was in a measure restored £ and the fights went on. Stelzner and Baker were called to the ring, and they had hardly taken their cor- “ ners when creaking timbers gave warning of yet another catastrophe. which the seats were placed at the Larkin and Grove street corner of the building began to topple over, and down it went with a crash. Several hundred men were among the debris when the cloud of dust cleared away, and again there was a procession of injured to the Receiving Hospital. s were of 8 slight nature, though for the time painful. his spine, and he may never fuliyrecover. will be able to attend to their regular duties. Contractor Doran says he put up the platforms and the seats ina good workmanlike manner, and A section of the platform on Most of the in- One man, however, received an injury to Several others were so injured that it may be days before they They were, he says, calculated to hold and seat on the main floor and 4000 in the gallery. Nearly twice that many were put on the platforms District Fire Engineer O’Shaughnessy passed on He, however, The braces were placed The managers of the club claim that the contractor was not stinted in the cost of his work. Doran replies to that by saying he had only a short time to do the work and the limit of the expense the club & according to the plans he prepared and had approved. £ 6000 © and the timbers used were unable to hold the weight. g the platform and pronounced it sufficiently strong to hold the crowd that could get on it. ~ asked that a few more braces be put under it to make provision for emergencies. & according to his direction, but his judgment, according to the result, was at fault. o o © would stand for the work was $1125. g_DOO000000c:0OO00UDOOO0000v:fOU000004300000000&00&5151:‘.5)5}:(0 A DECISION IN TWENTY ROUNDS | golnd ’ to round-arm blows and swings in_the hope of scoring a knockout. There Wwere very few straight blows landed. Jeffries should have whipped Sharkey In one or two rounds during the con- test when the sailor was groggy from blows he received in the head. Fitz§lmmnns can whip Jeffries easily, and will certainly do so if they ever meet. Although Greggains gave the decision at the end of the twentieth round in favor of Jeffries, there were many of the spectators who said that a draw would have been proper. The preliminary event was to be a ten- round go between two light heavy- weights of local fame, Jack Stelzner and Henry Baker. Stelzner was the taller and heavier of the two, and was the fa- up an aggressive fight and tgok some grueling punishment from Stelzner’s stralght lefts. In the sixth round Stelz- ner, who had been warned before, fouled Baker, and the referee, Lon Agnew, gave the fight to Baker. The decision did not meet with approval from the publie, as it was evident that Baker would goon have lost had the fight gone on ahd many more q‘iflia:ntkv(linl‘;ltlons of the rules have i o 2 Steivnere foked in the prize-ring than MY VIEW OF THE BIG FIGHT BY JOE CORBETT. Tom Sharkey and Jim Jeffries engaged according to schedule in a twenty-round boxing match at Mechanics’ Pavilion, and Jeffries, the “pride of California,” was awarded the decision. The crowds began to congregate in front of the various entrances hours be- fore the time set for the doors to be opened, little dreaming, as they merrily vorite In the betting at 2 to 1. Baker put | P! ment to many on account of its lasting the twenty rounds, yet was as good a fight as has been witnessed in_California for some time, barring the Walcott-La- vigne contest. Both men fought very carefully during the early s s of the fight, apparently afraid to try the prowess of each other, Jeftries, however, landing body punches at_intervals which hurt and finally_won for him the decision. He forced the fight- ing from start to_ finish, following Shar- key from one side of the ring to the other, but was unable to land a_knockout punch, owing to Sharkey's quickness and cleverness. He, however, kept trying, mixing it _up whenever Sharkey was so disposed, his body punches having a ter- rible effect, ¢ in the last few rounds, oted most of his time to that part of Sharkey’'s anatomy. Jeffries’ judgment of distance was very oor, as was Sharkey's,punch after punch cutting the air, but as’Jeffries forced the fighting, landed oftener and did more | damage, he deserved the decision, which was a just one. Sharkey, on the other hand, cousider- ing the odds against him, fought a good fight, and a clean one considering his past performances. True, he could not hustle Jefries around as he has many others, vet he seemed intent on making a fair fight, forgetting himself very seldom, and then doing no damage. He was almost continually on_ the de- | fensive, his rapid footwork and clever | ducking saving him from many a hard | punch. He tried hard and often to land | a_damaging punch, but Jeffries was too | big and long. He made a game fight, | however, yet should not complain, as | Jeffries outpunched him, having him on | queer street three or four different times. Both men have much to learn in the way of science before they will be able to cope with such men as Corbett and Fitz- simmons. JEFFRIES WAS NEVER AFRIAD [ ] + a + 2 L) + chatted as to the probable result of the|of him, and he begged to be excused from fight, that death under crashing lumber | S2ying anything, adding that he did not | [ ] = L] + Jeffries’ natural modesty got the better e 2 4 i I again i H"H' Al 1l The Flimsy Structure on Which 2000 People Were Seated. and falling humanity might be their fate. It is needless to say if every one in that v have foretold what was in store for hi i Jeffries would have sett pionship_aspirations be o ant Such, however, is the uncer Managers Groom and Gibbs, in antici- | pation of the big crowd, had made elab- orate arrangements for thefr reception. Carpenters had been very busy for the two weeks building tiers of seats at an | elevation, so that everybody, young and old, could have a good view of the great battle, The crowd, on entering the Pa- vilion, immediately settled in these ele- vated' seats, but they were bullt in a v and not strongly enough to hold immense mass of people, who occu- pied every inch of available space, and, | consequently, came down with a dull crash, carrying everything before and upon them. To describe the scene as I saw it is vet the picture of those peo- were hurled headlong to the nd in some places twenty, on h other, amid an avalanche of top of ea ):SUCU:“C('CEC(C‘flfififififififibfibdbfidodoo_OOOC{OG"JOUOGOUOQOK‘QDQQOUOC&DfifiG The fight itself was a big di ppoint- | challenges.” 5 wish to appear rude, but he had nothing to say. By repeated questioning, how- he was prevailed on to say that his of pain le to hit with much blow caused a twinge of through his arm, causing of the game could he lick - s “‘His blows did not feaze me, and I told him at different times dur- ing the fight that he would lose if he did e fighting and less running s would anger him, and he | said he would knock my roof out into the audience, and when hé hit me he would ‘How do you like that? I joshed throughout ‘the fight, and it got him azy. The only Mjury I received was when he butted me in the nose and e “He_blackened it, and it hurt me more than his blows. I was not tired at the end of the fight, but as fresh as a daisy. I am going to rest until my hands get in shape again, as I can’t hit with them. I will then be ready to receive die Muller, the little lame boy who rthe good-natured ned a contract with the management ADVERTISEMENTS. SPECIAL PURC NTIRE BLOVE IMPORTER! Having bought AT OUR OWN FIGURES the entire stock of E. CEASED IMPORTER enabled to offer the other equally Prodigious | Birgains To-day 20 dozen LADIE! 65c¢ closed out for 75¢ a pair. red, green, pearl, value for $1 ors, red, tan, value for $1 1 STITCHING NOTE—We guarantee all these lines to be first class in quality and fit. will appear in sparring | IT A ROBBERY. | | time he wants to. a draw, but to give Jeffries a decision . will fitted out by h! vith a i | chairs and broken lumber, will live for | EENG FNS 10 Clothe v Blm with a| .o 1 think it was a robbery,” Shar- | nd years to come. That no one - 5t disgustedly said after the fight.| | s killed v‘»\um:h( 15&]()\(‘ greatest of | i ; fost, lowest and | X | es, ar any a v W ome and | | (k i | e i Sestn cow thomsemes| JcHries on the Stage, | meanest tum ever done in Frisco. The | to_be caught like a rat in a trap. Immediately after the fight Jeffries | worst he could have done was to call it | | | moving up close he landed a good right | swing on Jeffries’ jaw. The big fellow smiled and made a wicked hook at Sharkey, but the blow was very neatly ducked. In the second round Sharkey struck 'The Southern California 7 Giant Bests the Sailor. . Jim Jeffries, the powerful representa~ ftive of Southern California, received a | decision in his favor last evening, ren- dered by Referee Alexander Greggains, :after he had faced Tom Sharkey in a twenty-round contest. The battle was not as interesting as the majority of the spectators had ex- ‘pected, owing to the fact that Jeffries put a quietus on the sailor lad when- ever the latter attempted rushing and pushing tactics, for which style of fighting Sharkey has been noted. It was in the second round, after had received a straight left on that he attempted to intro- avorite game—that of pushing his adversary with his shoulder and then dashing at him, swinging the left and right at the head. Just as soon as Sharkey bore in Jef- fries put his gloves on the Sallor's shoulders and held him against the ropes. Sharkey quickly came to the conclusion that at rough work he had an opponent who was his superior in weight, and afterward he did not resort to rushing and shoulder butting. In the opening round Jeffries immedi- | ately assumed the aggressive and | forced Sharkey to dance around the | ring, but after considerable fiddling | and arm movements the Sailor wasi first to lead with his left, but the blnwi fell short. Jeffries then got Sharkey into a corner and landed lightly on the neck. The Sailor, who was much quicker on his feet than Jeffries, side- stepped at a time when Jeffries was in the act of swinging his left, and then ADVERTISEMENTS. | Blood Humors Whether itching, burning, bleeding, scaly, | crusted, pimply, or blotchy, whether simple, scrofulous, or hereditary, from infancy toage, speedily cured by warm baths with COTIeURA | 80AP, gentle anointings with CUTICURA (oint- ment), the great skin cure, and mild doses of CuTICURA RESOLVENT, greatest of blood purifiers and humor cures. | (Uticura Ja s0ld_throughout the world. Porre Dava axp Cmma. Conr... Sole Props.. Boston. U + How 1 Care Every Blood Humor,” free. | rally Sharkey swung his | gering against a post. | his arm back and Sharkey made ready at Jeffries in a clinch and was hooted by the gallery. He had one arm free, however and according to rule he had the right to hit his opponent if he so pleased. Time and again Jeffries tried | short-arm blows and hooks, but ®the sallor was too quick, and avoided pun- ishment by clever ducking. After a right for Jeff’s jaw and the blow came within an inch of landing. He smiled as the gong sounded for corners. It was in the fourth round that Jef- fries took some of the fire out of Shar- key’s attack by short-arm punches which troubled Sharkey’s ribs to no lit- tle extent. One hard smash caused the sailor to grunt, and he then wildly ! rushed Jeffries, only to receive a left stop in the nose. Jeffries swung his left and right, and Sharkey ducked so low as to almost scrape the floor with his nose. After a rally in which no damage was done, Sharkey turned to his seconds and said, “Why, he’s easy”’; but scarcely had the words been spok- en when Jeffries’ left fist landed on Tom’s neck, and the sailor retreated quickly, Jeffries failing to follow up a | good opportunity that Sharkey left for a smash in the stomach. | In the fifth round Jeffries proved that | his blows were dangerous. A right swing landed on Sharkey’s arm and the | force of the blow sent the sailor stag- Jeffries, whether it was because he did not desire to take the least chance of being hit in the face or was obeying instructions, failed time and again to follow up his game and especially was this noticeable when he had Sharkey in a corner under his wing, so to speak. Each time that Sharkey ducked under Jeffries’ left arm | whenever Jeffries attempted to hook | him in the neck Sharkey would smile and pass some remark, but during the | last rounds of the fight Jeffries stopped the sailor's artful ducking by sending a straight right into Sharkey’s ribs. | In the seventh round some hot fight- | ing resulted at close range, and in a | rally near the rdpes Sharkey made a | wild rush, swinging right and left at. Jeffries’ head. The latter backed away | but the sailor was on top of him in a jifty and Jeffries was sent through the | ropes and came within an ace of falling | to the floor. 1t was expected that the contest would terminate before the tenth round, but the sailor, who was much quicker on his feet than Jeffries, man- aged by ducking and clinching to | avold punishment. Jeffries fought a very slow and care- ful fight, but he left his face ungarded and Sharkey found little difficulty in reaching it with straight blows, but the sailor wanted to land a swing, which blow Jeffries looked out for. Jeffries invariably telegraphed his blows. Before hitting he would pull to duck. The only hard blows that were landed were delivered at close range, and the sailor must have a sore left side this morning. Still, Jeffries received his share of punishment in the face. One or two blows that Sharkey landed on Jeffries’ mouth and nose must have bothered tls receiver. The fight was not very interesting from the fact that both men resorted To THE STICKING THE WINNER wiLt Now ' 2-CLASP CHAMOIS GLOVES, only, worth 85c; will be closed out for 65¢c & pair. 40 dozen LADIES’ 2-CLASP colors and black, all sizes, extra good value for $1; will be 50 dozen LADIES’ 2-CLASP PIQUE KID GLOVES, white, will be offered for $1 a pair. - ] 50 dozen LADIES' 2-CLASP DRESSED KID GLOVES, col- < mode, green, n will be offered for $1 a pair. 30 dozen LADIES’ 2 AND 3 CLASP in different bra 2 will be on sale for $150 a pair. A Loag SUFFERING PUBLIC WOULD ENJOY ACONTEST Y LOSER W WLl ENLIST(\ | AT ! | floor. HASE! STOCK I. JACOBY, THE DE- OF GLOVES, we are following and many in white “PEERLESS” KID GLOVES, colors, heliotrope and black; extra white, pearl and black; good PIQUE AND OVER- s—"Trefousse,” *Do. value at $2 a pair; after I punched him and everything with this fellow! there is not a mark on me. to punch him_ when and did_almost You see I was able wherever I | wanted. I could have knocked him out in the tenth round, but thought if I be- n rushing the crowd would have hal- d foul and the police would stop it. “I will fight him again for $20,000 any That decision does not I will say one thing: If he goes up against Maher he will knock his head off. I don’t know of any heavy- weight in the ring that he can lick. When ireggains gave Jeffries the decision I v dropped dead with surprise. 1 am going to rest for six months, and the next hurt me. | fight I go into will be for the champion- h ship of world. ght. That de nce of a few My reputation is all sion only thou means a dif- and to me.” LIST OF INJURED. Some Perhaps Fatally Hurt by the Collapse of Seats. HARRY DOBSON, lacerated wound of the chin. J. D. GINOCHI, lacerated wound of the evebrow. JOHN MCcLELLAND, both knees bruised. J. L. MATCOVICH, contusion of right leg. R. STAPLETON M. F. CURRA scalp and co F. G. GRU arm. G. RATTO, fracture of left leg. B. OLCOVICH, sprain of right ankle. THOMAS MULVEY, possible internal on of the spine. IAGEN, fracture of left prain of right knee. CHA DR. Mc TLTY, The foregoing is the list of the men who were injured by the collapse of several rows of chairs at the Pavilion last night. A few minutes before Baker and Stelzner appeared in the ring the crowd was horri- fled by a sudden crash, accompanied by the shrieks of the wou des in the southwest cormer of building had collapsed, pre= cipitating several hundred men to the The police rushed to the rescue, of the wounded, and when the debris was cleared away it was found that a number had been injured. A few minutes later the seats near the main entrance gave Way, injuring several people. Immediately after the first accident happened the ambulance was summoned. Finding that it was impossible to convey the wounded to the hospital in the am- bulance Captain Wittman ordered the patrol wagons to assist in removing the njured. InJured. olland, a_former driver of the patrol wagon, and Louis Holtz secured Rtretcher and assisted in removing the Wounded men to the hospital. With the exception of Mulvey it was found that nmone were seriously injured. Mulvey, who is well known, it Is feared is internally hurt. Al the victims were loud in their de- nunciation of the failure of the National Club to see that the seats were substan- tially arranged. It is ned that several holders of tickets informed the promot- ers of the fight that they feared an acci- | dent, and suggested that they proceed to | “brace” the seats. They were told to mind their own busi- »ss, it is claimed, and rather than miss fight they concluded to .occupy the seats, at the risk of their lives. YELLOW JOURNALISM. Given a little horse-bill type, a press and a location by a sewer, and war scares and fleet movements come easy to professional fakers. Likewise bogus interviews with men who have never seen Cuba.—Grand Rapids Democrat. ————— SPEAKING OF FINDING WORK. Some men always have a job, while others are always looking for one. Wil- lie Boler of Atchison has had a steady job for several years, althoughheisdeaf and dumb and has no legs. His broth- er Joe was a great big fellow, and per- fect as to speech and legs, but never had a job in his life.--Atchison Globe. —————nn Try our §1 eye glasses. 710 Market, 11 Geary.