THE JOHNSON-JEFFRIES CONTEST.

Oamaru Mail, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 10504, 12 July 1910, Page 2

THE JOHNSON-JEFFRIES CONTEST.

■RECEPTION OF THE NEWS. (Per Pkess Association".) Auckland, July 11. The Australian files contain some interesting cablegrams regarding the Johnson-Jeffries fight. One despatch says: "This Fourth of July is one of th' 1 most memorable in the history of New York". At the hour the fight- was timed to start, Park row, where most of the leading newspaper offices are situated, was the scene of delirious excitement. Tens of thousands of people congregated in this vicinity, and while waiting for news from Reno city this vast surging -multitude was tuned up to a feverish pitch of expectation. Here and there fights broke out, in almost every case the result of racial feeling. Almost- any assertion of confidence in Johnson on the pari, of a negro provoked an assault, and colored residents peacefully inclined had frequently to seek the protection of the police. Around the Times building, close by which stands the great Hotel A.stor, the leading theatres and cafes, the traffic was blocked by a dense crowd, millionaires and workmen jostling each other in their frantic efforts to hear the first rows. ' Johnson wins!' Four million voices are shouting the words'. The white population is dazed. On the other hand, the negro quarters are scenes of maniacal enthusiasm. The whole negro community 'seems to have gone mail in its excessive joy at the result, it is stopping at nothing, and riots are imminent.' All through the negro quarters, extending from Sixtli Lo Tenth avenues, the colored element is oil fete. Small fights are occurring everywhere. Bottles are" flying, windows being smashed, and explosives being let off regardless of danger, and many saloons are being taken possession of by frantically excited negroes. The negro churches are holding special thanksgiving meetings. At Cone;,' Island, where a million people were enjoying their holiday, everywhere in this colossal pleasure result the machine stopped v. hen tin- news of .) < -.hnson's victory was received. All the ordinary pleasures were .abandoned fur the time, while the.crowds gave vent- to iheir expressions of feeiiug. '1 housands of negroes spending the day here banded themselves together for mutual protection, and before the day was over it was feared there would be some serious riots in this quarter." In an account .of the light cabled to Sydney. ?. 1 r V\ ■ \Y. Naughton, an ex-New Zealandcr, widely known in the I nii.'-d States as a sporting writer, says: ".Johnson won all the way. When he knocked Jim Jeffries down ihe first time in the fifteenth round, many of the spectators turned and struggled rotvards (lie exits. It was a heart-rending sight. In the early stag''- uj the fight it looked as if it would be a cautious engagement, and .so it- proved until Johnson became imbued with confidence. Then the Calves on black became 'flash,' sneered ,-u Jiai Corbet! oyer Jeffries' shoulder, and in the twelfth round Johnson kepi nodding and grinjiinji; over rTcfirics shoulder to people lie knew in the crowd."'