THE AUSTRALIAN RING.

NZ Truth, Issue 473, 11 July 1914, Page 10

THE AUSTRALIAN RING.

■ — — : — _* - ■ REMINISCEfiCES_AND RECORDS. ..■ -, (By "Boxer Major.") v C«pyr|ght t All Rights Reserved by th« Author. ■' ' ■ ■ (CHAPTER XLDC)

■ ■ .- ' More correspondence. A. friend unknown, who uses the pen name of "Posh Price" (there was an •Id-time ■ English crack of .that name m the bad old days of^the bare knuckle prizering), though^ enclosing his real name, knows something, and kindly writes to impart his knowledge to me. Such information is always most welcome; yet I often get an introduction -to people who will remark that ever so long ago they had intended to send me so and so or to correct me anent such and such, but did not like to take the liberty. Liberty, indeed! To supply information to the compiler of such a work; as this is to confer a favor and convey, a very nattering, compliment; and correspondents' trouble m this line will be always gratefully appreciated by me. . Here is "Posh Price's" -letter: — "Boxer- Major." Dear Sir, — I beg to submit the following with all good intentions, well . knowing you will accept it m the spirit with which it is given. In your Rems. and Recs. of 21st inst, you state that Billy last public appearance was at the National m either 1903 or 1904. You will, I know, forgive me. Billy Murphy- fought a six (?) rounds' contest with Jack Clark© (St.;VPeters), at the Opera HQUse, Wellington, New Zealand, m either 1905 or 1906. Clarke who was MUCH THE HEAVIER MAN, AND YOUNGER, too, by a long* chalk, caught Billy m the fourth round with a solid right swing to the head, which lifted the one-time marvel off his feet to fall heavily. That Spartan pluck was still m him, though, for he was trying to get up when the contest was stopped m Clarke's faveor. When I see J. Clarke again/ I'll seek details of him. and send them along: if they are of any use, the pleasure is mine; if they are of no use, I can but hop© that I have not been of trouble to you. ■'".-'■ I am, dear "Boxer-Major, your wellwishing. . "POSH PRICE." And here's another interesting con-

tribution and friendly correction: — "Boxer-Major." Dear Sir,— l always lcok forward to your articles and read them with great interest, especially those dealing with Auckland. Yesterday's article especially interested me, as I was associated with good old "Barney" Donovan for a considerable time. I gather from reading your articles that you intend bringing it out m book form later on; consequently you would w*sh it free from error. One crept into your article on , Sunday last, when you referred to Frank Burns as "Barney's" stepson. Aa a fact, they were step- brothers. . . • By the way, Frank Burns was an exceptional jockey. He was ENDOWED WITH GREAT STRENGTH, and "Barney" often told me that his strength was the secret of his success and the reason he had so few falls. Furthermore, he worked at his calling at Sharland's, wholesale druggists, all the week, and rode winners on Saturday. Old "Barney",' was strong m home life. I never heard anyone speak of his family with greater devotion than he. ' , Re, Murphy: I went home with "Barney" Donovan after a tournament conducted by him m Stanley- street, Auckland, near the , old Rope works. Tim Murphy had made his first appearance, and "Barney" wa3 all praise of him. To use his own words, lie was "a good 'un, like his brother Billy"; I suppose the greatest compliment he could pay him. I hppe to be m Sydney shortly, when I hope to have the pleasure of meeting you. — Yours faithfully,, W. R. BUCKLEY. Queanbeyan, June 22, 1914. In the previous chapter, while making a passing reference to Abe Willis, I stated that I was told he had died m the asylum, where he had been confined some eighteen months ago. My information came from a Bource that seemed quite reliable, the circumstances giving the statement every attribute of face— except truth! 1 was conversing with one of those who had been occasional* visitors to the Callan Park Asylum, and he mentioned •having been reading my Griffo-Willis stories, and added: "Mind you don't write anything unkind about poor little Abby. . • You know, of course, that he's dead." I expressed surprise and regret, and several members of the Buttln family, who had surrounded us, indorsed the statement, i Was it any wonder I accepted the tale and referred to tho demiso of so famous a character m tho boxing world? Well, Abe did not do the Mark Twain act, and call to remark gravely that the report of his DEATH WAS GREATLY EXAGGERATED. But the next happening to Itjoccurred when, on Tuesday last, Mrs. Abe Willis — who was a pretty girl, and is still a prqtty woman, whose large brown eyes have a look of blossoming youth, and who has retained her noat figure, though her only son is -4, was ushered into my den, and informed mo that.her husband was not dead, and was not m Callan Park either. He la alive, but still under surveillance m an upcountry hospital. I explained the circumstances to Mrs. WUHb — whom 1 hud not seen since tho days of her girl- wifehood— and she explained, In turn, that she would have taken no notice of the statement had It not been the cause of a considerable augmentation In her visitors' list, and a lot of comment and alleged condolence that was a pretenco of kindness that sho considered was really a very thin disguise for a qulto opposlto intention. To put it m tho vernacular: Some of her alleged friends and acquaintances hud shown a disposition to throw off at her, accusing her of having wilfully and artfully concealed tho fact of her bereavement, with a crook motive. I am glad to thus confound those malevolent natures, and also to know that Abo Willis has not taken tho final knockout from the r dread Conqueror, the Champion of Champtona, Azrael, tho Angel of Death. But I must return to Grlffo, and Murphy; for, m matters of the ring of that period, they were an inseparable as George Dawson and Jim Burgo. And all four names were inseparable from tho Sydney Amateur Gymnastic Club and Its rise and fall, a fall precipitated by bad management from tho day Sydney J. Broomfleld, son of tho late bluff old Captain John Broomfleld, wealthy ship-chandler, ct Sussexstreet, and jrrowor and importer of tho finest orchids m Australia, resigned his olllccm as honorary treasurer and referco of the tights, and went to

Queensland for a while. , Syd was not long away; but when he came back he FOUND THE CLUB BANKRUPT, and Griff o, the club's protege, minus the nice bank account-he had while Mr. Broomfield was co-treasurer with himself of bis winnings. Griffo had by £his time become aware of the value of money as a means of procuring what he wanted — if there was enough of it! But he had not the faintest idea of the wisdom of that virtue which Jennie Latona, of theTivoli, used to inculcate, when she sang, as only she could sing such songs: — "Put a little. bit away For a rainy day; For the sun .won't always shine." ; He realised that he had money and he wanted to spends it on the things tttat, to his mind, constituted tne necessities of his new life. After, becoming "de f edder champion ob de wairld," when his bank balance ran into hundreds, he vkas no longer 1 grave, stolid, retiring boy, whose greatest happiness was to help his foster-mother m her battle to keep a family on an extremely moderate income, with the present of a fiver out ' of his modest early winnings. ! Syd Broomfield, as treasurer of the club, and the best friend the boxers had, was the man whose duty it was to j see that Griffo's big winnings went to his credit m the Savings Bank, and were not dissipated m folly. For a while his task was an easy one; but later his office, became the prlndipal t occupation of his busy life — at that time Syd was his father's right hand man m the business m Sussex- street; the headquarters of all the grand old salts of the great sailing fleet that rendezvoused m Port Jackson m those happy days before true friendship died of disenchantment and duplicity— and Griffo became a day-and-nightmare to Mr. Broomfield. There was always some "deserving case" that poor, ignorant, illiterate Griffo thought it his duty to subscribe to; and there were always robbers of both sexes eager to urge him to playup .his earnings. One day he would drift into the Sussex-street office accompanied by a LOW-BROWED, CUNNING-FACED } HORSE- COUPER, who held the firm conviction that a four-guinea hair-trunk was a fortyguinea racehorse without which Griffo could not possibly exist and retain his title. Another day he would appear, accompanied by a couple of shortskirted, high-booted, thick-legged larrikinesses, to whom he had promised a tenner each for personal adornment. The next, it would be a hang-dog-look-Ing tough, who would declare, volubly, and ask God to strike him blind if It wasn't the truth that he had picked Griffo-up when he fought Dirty Dick or Tiger Tim at the back o' de Dog an 1 Duck, on de Rocks, and who expected Grif .to "come a tenner" on the strength of his alleged devotion. I have been present after Griffo had pulled m a fat "shower" — he got the richest rain of coins of any man m Sydney —or the world — before or after him ever drew — when the meanest-looking, dirtiest^cadglng members of the mob to whom he .would disgorge it up to the last half-crown, had- no better claim oh that poor lad than the blasphemous asservation that they had "aIIUB barracked fer yer, Griff. Gorblime, yer wouldn't ha' boat Bloggo, that night at do Wite 'Orse if we 'iid n't been roustin' fer ycz m de gallery." • , "It was as pitiful as it was disgustIng; for the boy, who actuully had no acquaintance with such gaol-bird scabs on the fair, face of Creation, was afraid of future probabilities if he did «\ot "come a dollar" to such dogs; while he himself, not once, but often, needed the money the beneficence of tils ardent admirers had provided; little guessing Its ultimate destination. I have known him to get as much as £12 m one shower at the S.A.G.C; seen the hallway throngod with frowsy larrikins, as ho came, out, and looked on, helpless, while ho bought sixpenny drinks for the dirty loafers and handed out, m sheer blackmail, every penny of the largesse bestowed on him, till ho would have to say, "'Ero.Lorlummo! I must keep this 'arf-a-ddllar fer a cab 'omo." And I've scon some foul scroucher try to bite him for even that. Mr. Broomfleld was adament when such cases as the "cllnahs" and the horse-couper were PUSHED UNDER HIS PATIENT NOSE; but the devil himself could not prevent Griffo from separating himself from his cash-in-hand; and yot, m the case of a really deserving, truo friend, ho was canny, captious, caution personified. No wonder honorary treasurer Broom If old was glad to turn over his responsibility;, though the day^ho did it was the most unfortunate duy of Griffo's career, up to then. Among the wonderful featherweight's greatest admirers m the days of the White Horso Hotel was the lato Captain ' Harry Morse, commander of the Amorlcan mail steamer Alameda, and oommodoro of the Oceanic Co. a fleot The dear old sport always had a sovereign for Griffo, and, on ono occasion, when ho sat jambed up against the ropes, when tho ring was on the floor-level at the great centro of Australian boxing «n those days. I "*"«»• Captain rise, after Griffo h«d tox«l a wonderful four rounds' prelim nary, and, pulling both trousers pockots,lnside out, .empty the whole, content* well over live pounds In gold and silver over the ropes into the ring, as his contribution to the Hcigho! and oheu fugacesl Those wore great old days, of which the proTent generation can have no concepU °Larry Foloy was banker to many a good sport and a condensed Charitable Aid Society, In those times. A river was nothing to a itftf**^*"* many a time have I fallen back on ESS when I ran short Inmwjjr one Instance. The crowd In the bar was "a good crowd," and when 1 ran »h?rt and *avo Larry "the quick touch" for v five-pound note, there was no demur, whatever ho may have thought Inwardly. That was on a Wednesday, my "off day," the day the "Referee" was published. On the following Friday morning I turned up, at about eleven o'clock, nnd slipped Foloy his Uver on the qulot, disliking publicity, In my Now Zealand -bred senso of a gentleman's honor. No secrecy for Larry! He hold up the "fin" between hl« forefinger and thumb, and. addressing tho merry crowd, of all clauses bar tho tough, sang °*>U "Who s&ya newspaper men don't pay tbelr debt*? Look here. I only lent the 'Major thl« lout Wednesday, and hero tho damn fool Is paying It back on Friday." onco more — ehou fugace«! (To bo Continued.)