What happened was that Dempsey drew the colorline.
New York Tribune Nov 19:
It's tedious to correct all the spelling and stuff. You guys can read the article here:
New York Tribune Nov 19:
TO THINKING men and fair-minded sportsmen the fame and honor !
of heavyweight Juck Dempsey should in no wise be impaired !
through the refusal of Fulton's conqueror to box Joe Jeanette. :
je antiquated negro bruiser.
So man of sonst- can impute to the refusal a grain of personal I
?owardtce. Jeanette, a resurrected ghost of a once powerful fighting
i.sc.i;-ie. hit tiie down grmle year8 and years aK?* It would have been
,;*y next to shame for the promoters to have allowed a real battic be- ;
lL the two. even had Dempsey been willing.
Dtmpsey refused not through fear but through principle. He felt
ijjDSclf being imposed upon. And under the circumstances he would
UM shown lack of character to proceed. Dempsey made no stipulation
tfth the promoters as to the selection of his opponent, save that he
?ijeff the color line. The promoters selected Joe Bonds, and so adver?
ted. Bonds wa ' on hand to fulfil his engagement?ready, in fact, when
Jeanette and the manipulators behind him forestalled the white man
i the ring.
There arc those who say that Bonds had earlier been influenced, if
jet bribed, to help "frame" Dempsey. His story to writers at the ring
!jde bore out the suggestion.
"The management told me it could get no one, black or white, to
-on with Dempsey," Bonds said. "[ consented so that the show would
?et be crabbed. I did it, though sick."
Bonds intimated further that he was suffering from concussion of
?be brain.
"A girder fell on his head," declared Dumb Dan Morgan, manager
i Bat Levinsky.
If a girder "beaned" Bonds the fact was unknown to Tom Thorp,
ach of the Granite State eleven, of which Joe is a member. Bonds
?j_ plead to Thorp a badly injured hand?this indicating evidence of
mt prior propaganda.
Now for the Climax
???trHEN I stepped out of the dressing room," Bonds is speaking again,
? "Joe Jeanette addressed me. 'You're a lucky dog to ? have a
chuce to fight that fellow,' he said. 'I'd give a lot to be in your shoes.'
"Is that so?' I replied. 'Well. I'm willing to resign in your favor.'
They told me nobody, black or white, would fight Dempsey," Bonds con
jaded lamely. "When Jeanette offered to take the assignment off my
lands what else was I to do? I knew in my own case it would be simply
? couple of blows, with me on the receiving end."
In sporting circles there was a story in circulation early Saturday
aorning that Dempsey was to receive the surprise of his life. Those
close to Bonds add further to his narrative of the early meeting with
Jeanette. They said Bonds told the negro that the anagement had
-.ven him $100 to go on with Dempsey; that Jeanette said Morgan
mid make that sum good if Bonds would stand for the substitution ;
tut Jeanette himself finally gave Bonds the hundred, and that Bonds
remained in the back of the hall in ring regalia, to keep his engagement
should Dempsey refuse to meet the negro. This same authority has
t that, once in the ring, Jeanette was to provoke Dempsey to action
?y word of mouth ; this failing he was to insult with a blow.
De****able Act of Treachery
WHATEVER the sporting merits of the case on either side of the
pugilistic argument, the fact remains that those behind the
attempted coup were guilty of a de****able act of treachery, not only to
Dempsey but to the New York public as well. And of these the most
traien were the two Dans?McKetrick, manager of Jeanette, and Mor
?an, manager of Battling Levinsky, recently knocked out for the first
an? by Dempsey. To Jack Dempsey, who had contributed $500 to the
fad, insult was added to injury.
Each follower of boxing is entitled to his personal opinion as to the
'?rtsmanship of the color line in pugilism. But the boon has been
wanted to white champions of all classes in all modern times. Dempsey,
'.may be arsrued, is not a champion. But he is the logical successor
"?Jess Willard.
It ?b net so long ago that sportdom was clamoring loudly for some
?kite hope to remove from pugilism that abomination and disgrace,
.enyweight champion Jack Johnson, whose behavior was a stench and
a ey?jore to whites and negroes alike. No one criticised the con?
tenir, WUlard, for drawing the color line.
It was not the mere matter of facing Jeanette that confronted
tepsey. Had he put up his hands against the colored man he could
sot have refused satisfaction to Harry Wills, Sam Langford, Kid Nor
Sb$ and other colored heavyweights. Which, meanwhile, would have
?ren big Willard an excuse longer to postpone the inevitable.
Dempsey's Faith Betrayed
fjEMPSEY came in good faith to Madison Square Garden to fulfil
U what he considered an obligation. He went further and gave $.500
? the war fund from his own pocket. That he was allowed to be insulted
!Pab shabbily of the management, even though it had no hand or
Pledge of the attempted coup. But there should have been some
y^snen around to evict the negro bodily from the ring if necessary,
'-?jwent his entrance in the first place.
Meanwhile, the boxing game in New York has suffered one more
'? ?*?-tagarno i., ever to be revived in the Empire State these manipulators
?^their ilk should reap none of the benefits. Their names now suggest
?travesty against the fair name of sport.
To one judging the situation dispassionately it appears one of three
*3f'*s prompte] the attempted coup?cheap notoriety, an attempt to
"?redit the conqueror of Bat Levinsky, or a desire to discredit Jimmy
'^froth, an outside promoter, brought on from the Coast to handle the
?'?i boxing campaign.
Men who for any or all of these reasons would stoop to such base
: "*? should have no benefit from boxing'.; resurrection, if, indeed, t
of heavyweight Juck Dempsey should in no wise be impaired !
through the refusal of Fulton's conqueror to box Joe Jeanette. :
je antiquated negro bruiser.
So man of sonst- can impute to the refusal a grain of personal I
?owardtce. Jeanette, a resurrected ghost of a once powerful fighting
i.sc.i;-ie. hit tiie down grmle year8 and years aK?* It would have been
,;*y next to shame for the promoters to have allowed a real battic be- ;
lL the two. even had Dempsey been willing.
Dtmpsey refused not through fear but through principle. He felt
ijjDSclf being imposed upon. And under the circumstances he would
UM shown lack of character to proceed. Dempsey made no stipulation
tfth the promoters as to the selection of his opponent, save that he
?ijeff the color line. The promoters selected Joe Bonds, and so adver?
ted. Bonds wa ' on hand to fulfil his engagement?ready, in fact, when
Jeanette and the manipulators behind him forestalled the white man
i the ring.
There arc those who say that Bonds had earlier been influenced, if
jet bribed, to help "frame" Dempsey. His story to writers at the ring
!jde bore out the suggestion.
"The management told me it could get no one, black or white, to
-on with Dempsey," Bonds said. "[ consented so that the show would
?et be crabbed. I did it, though sick."
Bonds intimated further that he was suffering from concussion of
?be brain.
"A girder fell on his head," declared Dumb Dan Morgan, manager
i Bat Levinsky.
If a girder "beaned" Bonds the fact was unknown to Tom Thorp,
ach of the Granite State eleven, of which Joe is a member. Bonds
?j_ plead to Thorp a badly injured hand?this indicating evidence of
mt prior propaganda.
Now for the Climax
???trHEN I stepped out of the dressing room," Bonds is speaking again,
? "Joe Jeanette addressed me. 'You're a lucky dog to ? have a
chuce to fight that fellow,' he said. 'I'd give a lot to be in your shoes.'
"Is that so?' I replied. 'Well. I'm willing to resign in your favor.'
They told me nobody, black or white, would fight Dempsey," Bonds con
jaded lamely. "When Jeanette offered to take the assignment off my
lands what else was I to do? I knew in my own case it would be simply
? couple of blows, with me on the receiving end."
In sporting circles there was a story in circulation early Saturday
aorning that Dempsey was to receive the surprise of his life. Those
close to Bonds add further to his narrative of the early meeting with
Jeanette. They said Bonds told the negro that the anagement had
-.ven him $100 to go on with Dempsey; that Jeanette said Morgan
mid make that sum good if Bonds would stand for the substitution ;
tut Jeanette himself finally gave Bonds the hundred, and that Bonds
remained in the back of the hall in ring regalia, to keep his engagement
should Dempsey refuse to meet the negro. This same authority has
t that, once in the ring, Jeanette was to provoke Dempsey to action
?y word of mouth ; this failing he was to insult with a blow.
De****able Act of Treachery
WHATEVER the sporting merits of the case on either side of the
pugilistic argument, the fact remains that those behind the
attempted coup were guilty of a de****able act of treachery, not only to
Dempsey but to the New York public as well. And of these the most
traien were the two Dans?McKetrick, manager of Jeanette, and Mor
?an, manager of Battling Levinsky, recently knocked out for the first
an? by Dempsey. To Jack Dempsey, who had contributed $500 to the
fad, insult was added to injury.
Each follower of boxing is entitled to his personal opinion as to the
'?rtsmanship of the color line in pugilism. But the boon has been
wanted to white champions of all classes in all modern times. Dempsey,
'.may be arsrued, is not a champion. But he is the logical successor
"?Jess Willard.
It ?b net so long ago that sportdom was clamoring loudly for some
?kite hope to remove from pugilism that abomination and disgrace,
.enyweight champion Jack Johnson, whose behavior was a stench and
a ey?jore to whites and negroes alike. No one criticised the con?
tenir, WUlard, for drawing the color line.
It was not the mere matter of facing Jeanette that confronted
tepsey. Had he put up his hands against the colored man he could
sot have refused satisfaction to Harry Wills, Sam Langford, Kid Nor
Sb$ and other colored heavyweights. Which, meanwhile, would have
?ren big Willard an excuse longer to postpone the inevitable.
Dempsey's Faith Betrayed
fjEMPSEY came in good faith to Madison Square Garden to fulfil
U what he considered an obligation. He went further and gave $.500
? the war fund from his own pocket. That he was allowed to be insulted
!Pab shabbily of the management, even though it had no hand or
Pledge of the attempted coup. But there should have been some
y^snen around to evict the negro bodily from the ring if necessary,
'-?jwent his entrance in the first place.
Meanwhile, the boxing game in New York has suffered one more
'? ?*?-tagarno i., ever to be revived in the Empire State these manipulators
?^their ilk should reap none of the benefits. Their names now suggest
?travesty against the fair name of sport.
To one judging the situation dispassionately it appears one of three
*3f'*s prompte] the attempted coup?cheap notoriety, an attempt to
"?redit the conqueror of Bat Levinsky, or a desire to discredit Jimmy
'^froth, an outside promoter, brought on from the Coast to handle the
?'?i boxing campaign.
Men who for any or all of these reasons would stoop to such base
: "*? should have no benefit from boxing'.; resurrection, if, indeed, t
It's tedious to correct all the spelling and stuff. You guys can read the article here:
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