THE AUSTRALIAN RING.

NZ Truth, Issue 471, 27 June 1914, Page 10

THE AUSTRALIAN RING.

R[MINISGENCES_AND RECORDS. (By "Boxer Mrfjor.") Copyright: All. Rights Reserved by tho Author. (CHAPTER XLVII.) "

When summarising the Griffo-Pluto ' battles, m the last chapter, I trusted treacherous memory, and said that one of their contests was of So rounds' duration, and was fought at the Athenaeum Kail, Melbourne. / j When I saw the paragraph m print I suddenly remembered that I had the ! facts m a letter kindly sent to me when j I criticised m the "Sportsman" the ' story of an pressman as to one of GrifTo's tights In Sydney against Pluto. I then wrote that the scribe must have jumbled up things m his memory glory-box and mixed up Pluto and Jerry Marshall: the which, seeing they were both as black as the front end of a soldier's' boot, is not, to be greatly wondered at. the less as that writer made no pretence of having himßelf seen the fight. In making my correction I was perfectly correct as to Pluto and Griffo never having fought m Sydney; but mjf memory was not any more trustworthy than the American's when I wrote that brief paragraph — synopsis of Griff o's Melbourne performances, and gave place and number of rounds. . I didn't see that fight, either, so I am excusable. ' My correspondent, Mr. Peter O'Brien,

who wrote to endorse my remarks m the "Sportsman" of 24/l«/*13, agreed with me that tho Yankee writer hud mixed .lorry Marshall with Pluto, and m my statement that Griffo and Pluto never fought m Sydney. He kindly added the facts about ono of their battles In Mf*U>ourn<\ which was remarkable lor its length. According to Mr. O'Rrien, tlint particular content wns fought In the Athletic Club at the corner of Exhibition and Llttlo Bourke-streets, Melbourne, on December 13, 18S9. The lads fought for v purse of fifty Hovorclgns, unft tho light lusted from 9 p.m. till past 1 the next morning, SEVENTY ROUNDS BEING ' BATTLED THROUGH ere It dawned upon those responsible for this shameful overtaxing of the system of two mere, boys of eighteen, that the thing had gone far enough, and would probably not reach duality If they kept tho lads nt It clear round the clock; so they told them to stop liml called it a draw. It was then that tho Intelligent police got to work. No secret had been made of tho contest; indeed, it had been well advertised, and tho hull was packed with pfomlnent cltlxcus and the push. Yot. when It v.ua all over. I Ik- police lsfiucil HUtnnionseH ugnlnßl Urlffo and Pluto, charging each with

assault upon the other. It seems too delightfully comic-opera lor belief; but it was written* so large m the charge, and it was not the first nor the last of such bobby Bumble-like proceedings m this supposedly enlightened country, either, as will be shown later on. Griffo was deeply imbued with the newsboy's terror of the law, and he incontinently bolted back to Sydney and safety, and could never.be induced to set foot m Melbourne again. When a trip thither was suggested, Grlf would purse his lips m that way peculiar to him, look grave, and remark: ,"Melbun? No thanks! Good old Kidney Pie^ is good enough for me." if. Vittor was also badly scared that time, b^ing a- foreigner, and not well settled m his mind as to whether m tnls savage country the punishment for aiding ami abetting a couple of desperate youths m committing assault and battery upon each other was frying m whale-Oil or hanging to the boUgh of a blue-gum tree. So "Mons" was terribly anxious to get "the evidence" out of the way, and only too glad to hustle and assist Grifto's disappearing trick. " To do the Frenchman justice, ho was a conscientious- man, and felt tnat. having received the boy from me. ho was responsible to me for' his safety, and stood m loco parentls to him; and he didn't mean that tho dreaded police should get him if cun- 1 i ningr could prevent it. So it did, too': for X3rif was smuggled aboard a Syd-ney-bound steamer, and was well away while the police were still totoing around that summons calling him to court to answer a' charge on a heinoiiß offence against the peace and /the throne and person of her Majesty the Queen. Pluto had to face the music, and as he couldn't well deny on path that he had assaulted Griffo, seeing that twoscore of. dead-head cops and a thousand or two of citizens had seen .him m the act and persisting: therein for over four hours, and as he was not well advised and pleaded guilty, ho was fined by Bumble-tho-Beak the stlft sum of £5, or seven days' gaol. But the brave little black was not friendless, and lie was advised to appeal against the Magistrate's decision. It wasn't only the fining, of a boser ON A FOOL CHAR<xE OF ASSAULT; It was the whole aspect of the case' of the attitude of tho police of the State, and the precedent such an absurd finding would set up. The appeal was heard by Judge Hamilton at : the General Sessions. Lawyer Smith was for Pluto, and Mr. Johnson represented tho Magistrate. Judge Hamilton heard the statement of counsel m explanation of the case — though, no doubt, ho knew all about it right 'along; .and maybe witnessed tho horrific "assault" with his own eyes — and then upheld tho appeal without hearing ovldoncc. His Honor said that it was not nocea* sary to call on the appellant for any evidence. The match appeared to have been merely a boxing contest between two boys who did not hurt each other very much. He was not satisfied that the charge of assault was established, and the conviction would", therefore, be quashed, without costs. And the two eighteen-year-old lads, who had been chivvied by tho comicopera Victorian police, could breathe freely again and walk abroad without fear. : Griff o's roturn ( was opportune; but he made little out of his few contests till \ the Sydney Amateur Athletic Cllib waa started and housed m the old Masonic Hall, Vork-strcot This hall and tho Maaoolf! Hotel, that fronted It, which whs then, conducted b> # a ono-tlmo Scots athlete. Angus Cameron, to wit, who, for many years after loavlug the ' Masonic, conducted the Palace Hotel, at the corner of George and CampboUatreeta. evnr the destinies of which his widow now presides, had been tho hoadquarters of Freemasonry In New South .Wales until the now hall m Castloreagh-street was built U had been secured, during the. roller-skating boom erf 1886-7-8, by a syndicate, and devoted to that purpose, the wood floor being covered by somo kind of fine patent asphalt, that made a^ erreat skatinf surface. I When the S.A.A.C. rented It, this flooring remained, and the place was very adequately tilted up as a gymnasium. The Idea caQght on. Foley'n White itorse Hotel and halT had been pulled down to admit of the creation of the present Camfton Chambers, just south or Whttt I* now the Strand Arcade, whoro stood tho establishment of Maraha.ll, tho well-known chemist, and other shops; and thoro wns no opposition to a well-conducted boxing concern. It opened with n. long membership roll, which included the name of almost every prominent citizen who enjoyod snort of any Kind. The lute Jiu>k Want, Q.C., barrister and pollUj clan, flriun Achates of the late Sir John Robertson, was an active and duoply- interested member. So waa Koley's firm patron, tho lalo Georgo Hill, then considered ONE OF Tlflv WTCALTHrEBT MEN In AustraJla, who was an ardent supporter of the noble art. tli» ractotum, good old Ted Bullsarlo, still with us, though greatly crippled by tho effect, In later years, of a bad accident, was j a hnrd-worklnff commltteoman. He ! broke, both knoe-capH. fallln/r over a lot of Iron rails, negligently loft lylnK around In tho promiscuous fashion common then, nnd not by any meann unknown to-day, and the 'nogk-ct cost the country a very tidy sum In compensation. TctVs knees wero never quite Htronff nftur their smash, and ho Ih now compelled to K<*t about on crutches, an otherwise splendid, upstanding man. physically ruined by sheer wicked curele«»nesK. Tom Watson, utarlt'r for the A.J.C. for years, and now occupying n similar position under the AsHOCiuted lUu> \ng Cluba. at a higher salury than the miserable cheese-paring A.J.C. folk considered a fair thing — which is why ! he* accepted the AJI.C. offer— was another hard worker on the committee. And thereby hangs a vile. Tom Lees, who. by an easy win over Bill FarnAn, hud held the heavywoluht champion* ship of Australia till Peter Jackson chiutcd the title from him at Potey's. on September 26, JSB6, »ftcr thirty runnlnir rounds, had junt bestowed hln countenance on juifTerinir Sydney, after n loner übx*ncc abroad. /m was m hnd odor thrown nu (ttt/ick h< mndo on Pctor In Amerlea. ami when V» nj>plkd for «dml»wlon to th« (Jo<l«lard. Dooley ncht. on th<* atr^nartli of liin old cuiAOcicttton with the samo. thf commilter roftiiiml to issue a. MetaL and , told him plainly ttmt bis company In

such a select circle was not desired. The club was very properly particular as to the class of persons who should witness the fights conducted under its auspices; which .careful selection barred the old-time "bob push," and caused that body to assemble m force outside the hall on fighting night and fret itself crazy for information as to the happenings within the sacred "* precincts.^ » The same sort of thing obtains when the London National. Sporting Club runs a fight, but the Sydney crowd-was not the murderous, thieving gang that pollutes \he purlieus of tae N.S.C. and runs the rule over members and guests, as they run the gauntlet to obtain admission. Unfortunately, the fact that the front entrance; to the SJLA.C. was through the side hall of the hotel made it impossible to have the street entrance barred to strangers and guarded by paid doorkeepers, and Lees took advantage of this to bustle past the outer guard m the hallway and reach the inner portals. • „-.-.' Checked at the main door which gave entrance' to the hall itself, Lees turned ." away and knocked loudly on the door of the office of the club. Such a. summons was unprovided for, and almost . the only occupant of the small side room was good old Tom Watson, who answered the knock. He was confronted by the big bruiser, who asked to.-Jje,admitted, and when Mr. Watson, . ' who was also partly crippled .by a "game" leg, the result of a fracture m- * the hunting field, told him quietly that • he> could not enter unless he had a * • ticket, Lees promptly BASHED HIM IN THE PA<GE, knocking him to his knees. The assailant was overpowered and hustled off the premises, and. he was subsequently summoned for assault. Several credible witnesses were prepared to swear to the fact that they had seen the assault, and Lees was sure of conviction had It not* been' for. the/blunder of a prominent official of • tho club, who allowed himself, asfcvir- " tual prosecutor, to be trapped by a cunning trick, and.sold as cheap as' ever man was sold, , .'• A well-known character m Sydney m those days was Jock Ferguson, a Scots • traveller for a Scots whisky agent, and•••• also licensee of the Flagstaff. Hotel. South Hond. closed a few years ago under the iniquitous and every way unfair reduction-of-licences vote and " ' system. A system that robs Peter to • pay Paul: fattens the surviving hotelkeeper at the expense of the victim of V the vote, while it does not reduce the : assimilation by the public of the liquor they feol is requisite to their well- i . bolnc'or otherwise-by ono single pint ' of beer in' Any given electorate. It. ■*.'- --only makes it harder to get; and what is hard to get is always tho most desired. " . *■ „' .Well, Mr. Jock Ferguson was as. fuU of gullo as TJhe UlcNab of pictured' fame hlmself.Jand his hatred of the. , law and Its mlhtona was a disease. \ So ho set his cunning brain to werk t«y save Tom Lees, and decided on a mas- ■. tor stroke. ' Ho attended the Central. Police Court, then held In a queer old' building that ran from Caatlereagh to Pitt-street^, just south of Liverpool- ' street, and. fussed about the precincts uttering anathema on "yoa. cowardly eallaht." He butted In on the group .of club officials, repeating his onorta of Indignation, and was asked if he saw tho assault. Ho assured the group that he had witnessed the whole cowardly affair, • and he attained his end: for he was [■'■ .at once pounced, upon as a valuable independent witness for tho prouocu- • * tion. An ordinarily smart man would , hkvo been rendered cautious by the excessive eagerness of this strungor to help to convict tho complainant's assailant Not so the head of the prosed ■ eutldh. ' He t jumped at Jock's offer, and elected him :»ls "old reliable." Joek "~ Ferguson was installed In the seat ot honor as the boot witness for the prosecution, and was duly called to glvtt evidence. He hadn't oven- boon naked what his evidence would be; and when counsel for tKo prosecution questioned cunning old Jock tho fat was m tho flrc. He had been heralded as the valuable din- ■ interested outside witness, and when tho lawyer—Mr. J. H. McLaughlin. if I remember rightly—procoded to draw forth his story of what tlio witness stigmatised as A "BRUTAL. COWARpLY, ASSAULT." Jock proeeded to tear the ease for the. prosecution to pieces; saying that he had seen Loon knock, the door open, * tintl "Muster Wataon" at.o&co proceed to deal out sovoro punishment to the unfortunate Boca with a heavy-handlod umbrella. Jock was never Been with--out a* gamp, and he took it with him , Into the box, and. as he unfolded his tale ot wrong—to poor, Innocent, harmless Tom Locs—ho swung his own umbrella to illustrate tho torriblo na> turo of the assault by complainant, Tom Watson, on tho defendant, Tom Lees! It was a notable scene; and. while tho dirt) folk and their lawyer conferred In a.stttto of b'owllUered agitation, the Magistrate told thorn It was no use going on with tho case, m view of tho ovldonco ot tholr own specially commanded wltnoss, and dismissed th« information. That stupid, inexcusable blunder of tho prosecutors cost iho proprietor of: the "Referee." the late Markhara Evans, many hundreds of pounds. Acquitted of wrong-doing, Lees sued tha paper for libel, and actually got a verdlot for JC 200. tho jiiry bolng olthor wrong-headed or as completely gulled nu Wore tho hends of the S.A.A.C. by Auld Jock Ferguoon. Tho verdict was reversed on appeal, but the costs were enormous, the evldonco of Peter Jackson and Mil < Kaiißhton, as to Loes'« attack tipon the former, m Now York. being Ukcn on commlKston. Of course. Lees got nothing; but ho had nothing to lose. (To bo Continued.)