THE AUSTRALIAN RING.

NZ Truth, Issue 571, 27 May 1916, Page 11

THE AUSTRALIAN RING.

Reminiscences and Records. iBY "BOXER-MAJOR.") Copyright: All Rights R*sorvod by tha Author. BOOK llr-CHAPTER LXXXIV.

Many of the semi old-time boxers— to coin a phrase— that is to say> the fighters of the very early years of this century, who went out of the yame, say, about the time Jim Brennan closod down the National Sporting Club, and reopened It with vaudeville as the National Amplthoatre, now Fullers' National Theatre, m the same line, have vanished out of common ken Jn a manner that would appear remarkable In its completeness and considering their notoriety. It Is very rarely that one is met with or heard of, and only the war and thoir enlistment, enlightened us recently us to the fact thai. In many cases, they still existed.* Matt Michie, « sturdy hero of the Golden Gat© about 1901-2-3, was one of those. He had been working on the trams permanent way. for years, and only the other day rolled m to re-

port, wearing the khaki of a strenuous life. A miner and lines-layer, honest Matt should be a particularly handy man to a busy company of engineers. A brave, steady, unselfish fellow is Michie: and everybody that knows him wilf wish him a safe return, with honors thick upon him. Another I ran across the other day was Larry Gaffney. a featherweight of considerable renown a dozen years or so ago. He also would have been m khaki, but some anti-enlistment medical examiner turned him down, as his class have been rejecting sound soldiers all over the Empire for the past eighteen months. Have we not had instances where splendid men of all branches of atnletics, and particularly boxers, . have been rejected half -a-dp2en times on the most untenable, preposterous grounds, to pass with an Al certificate when they tried again, and the examiner happened to be a. man who knew his business, and was not a flash obstructionist; and begin to be promoted io non-commissioned rank from the very start of their military career? There are hundreds of men, m Sydney alone, who would have been good soldiers of the King to-day but^ for. having been rejected by some flash 4 noodle or suckling sawbones, on account of a wart on the knuokie or a slightly bent toe. ": : 'y ■: ■ ; ■:. '■' . ."..'.. The "fiat-feet" bogey wa9, and is, the silliest of all. an absurd and untenable theory, merely a theory, and yet our armies have been robbed of hundreds of Australians accustomed to much walking, swagrnen and the like, who could march any similar number of men with the archiest of arched feet, right off their trilbies. All Germans are flat-footed. , Who ever saw or heard of a brbtish Hun with arched feet? Nine4tenths of the kuityred-in-fright-fulness,- blusterous swino have, feet like huge, distorted spuds from Bungaroe. Yet we don't hear much about Gerhogs being bad' marchers. The meeting with him reminded me of a little stOry I had heard about him only a few days before, a story which is one more proof of what terrible, dreadful, . sinful, brutal creatures boxera are— not, brother West I got the tale first-hand, and can vouch for its absolute truth; and Larry Gailney does not even know I heurd of his action. Here it is: ' The widow of a once leading boxer finds herself compelled to earn her own living as a machinist m a. factory, and, as she has a little girl dependent upon her, she finds the task, In these days of' high prices, a tough problem. She took a room for herself and daughter In what she discovered ;to be an undesirable quarter. She wanted to get out of the place, but owed a couple of weeks' rent, had no chimce of making up -her arrears and getting her little belongings away, and was m despair, when one day she was, accosted In the street by a man with face and demeanor almost clerical: who, after begging pardon, tn- , troduced himself as one who had trained and boxed with her late husband. Tn short, Os Larry Gaffney. The widow was glad to meet a friend of the departed, and said so, and Larry then divulged his reason for addressing her. He had recognised her, and was astonished to find her living where she was. It was no place for her,\and he advised her to get out of it. * Then the poor creature explained her position. She had discovered for herself what he had told her, but was absolutely unable to remove her goods, on she was penniless, and her wages to come would not feed two people for a week, let alone pay back rent. "Is that all?" quietly commented Larry. "Don't let that trouble you. How much do you owe? Do you know any decent place you'd like t3 go to?" She did not But the long and the short of it was that Larry Gaff ney — no millionaire, but a struggling man with his own family to support— went right away and hired a van, accompanied the man to the house, with him packed and. loaded the trunks on the vehicle, paid the landlady, and drove off to new diggings, where he left the widow with people he was acquainted with and where she is contented and happy as far as a woman can be whoims to work hard for a bare living and support two people out of her small wages. '■ That Is the story of how a "brutal" boxer did the good Samaritan act. I I wonder If the miscalled "Vevorend" Scott-West, who so foully and falsely I maligns the cult, ever did a similar act; and I'd want good proof before I'd belleve he ever did, I wouldn't take his ; own word for it. ! I was informed, a week or two back, of the death of old Jack Gregory, better known thirty years ago oh "Cigarette Kelly." He was a bit of a bareknuckle fighter before that tUno on tho | diggings. What, however, entitled I Cigarette Kelly" to a niche In the temple of fame is the fact that he was the first man who ever boxed with Peter Jackson. When the tall black lad had shown some ability, m a flat flght forced upon him, he was taken down to Mick Dooley's rooms/which wero situated m Harbor-stroet. Darling Harbor, to be tested with tho gloved- The man who was. to become tho greatest heavy* weight boxor the world has ever known, tvns oakod to DUt on the mUtens with "Cigarette Kelly," who was a sort of assistant to Dooloy and considered quite capable of acting as trial horse to any novice; but Peter showed such form m thla spar with him as to secure him patronage and induae him to persist, Gregory was a contemporary of such famous knuckle-fighters as Dave and NVd White. Stonewall Jackson. Johnny Sullivan, ttnd Ko on, with whose* deeds In tho ..prlso* ring I dealt fully In Hook I. To the last, the old man. slneo H> became u noble to earn h la own llvlnir; was a pensioner on the- bounty of tho woll-known bookmaker, Billy AldrltL

(To b« continued.)