MILLION-DOLLAR BRIBE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, 3 July 1925, Page 3

MILLION-DOLLAR BRIBE.

THE INSIDE STORY. DEMPSEY-CARPEXTIER FIGHT. (Harry Ertle, one of America’s greatest boxing referees, who was the third man in the ring at the DempseyCarpentier battle, tells this story.) It was the night before the battle between Jack Dempsey and Georges Car pen tier. I was at home taking thin" sea.sv in order to be in the best condition to referee the “fight of a centurv. ’’ A lifelong friend, a man with whom I had gone to school and who belonged to the same church as I did, dropped in, and after a few general remarks and questions about the fight, he began to talk in a vague and rather embarassed way of the big money involved. Finally he blurted out his mission. “I know vou’re honest, Harry,” he began, “but this is such an unusual opportunity for you that I just had to bring vou this message. “Now, don’t get sore, but a certain clique is ready to guarantee you 1,000,000 dollars if you see to it that Carpentier wins. He may beat Dempsey on "the square, because he is a great puncher. Should lie win by a, knock-out, you’ll get yours just the same, if you will agree to let him win under any and all circumstances. “A million dollars will put you on easy street for the rest of your life. What do you say, If you put this over I will get ten grand myself.” Tliis proposal made my blood boil. Here I was aske.l to throw away the good name I. had won through many vea.rs of refereeing, and to besmirch a sport that meant everything in the world to me. Hardly able to speak because of my rage, I pointed to the door. “That’s my answer. Get. out of here. I don’t want ever to see you again.”

He held out his hand. “Won’t you shake?” he asked. “You’re a square shooter.” Seein" that I made no effort to grip his* hand, he stumbled out of my house. He looked ashamed. TO CLEAN TJP MILLIONS.'

Later, through bits of information I wais able to piece together, I learned the details of the plot to fix the fight. Certain French gamblers, I was given to understand, figured they could clean up millions by betting on the American fight, and additional millions if Carpentier won and a return match was staged in Paris. The conspirators were said also to be partly animated by the desire to have their fellow-countryman win the world’s heavy-weight boxing championship. This bribe came as a climax to a long row over the selection of n referee that nearly smashed the plans for the big international light. Because Jack Kearns, manager of Champion. Dempsey, insisted on being dictator, the bout, which was held at Bovle’s Thirty Acres, Jersey City, on July 2nd, 15)21, was an assured fact only two days before the scheduled date of the battle. As soon as the bout was clinched for Jersey City, the State Boxing Board secretary chose me for referee. They didn’t consult Kearns in the matter. When he heard that he would have no voice in the selection of the third man he was hopping mad. Invariably, from the time boxing started in this country, the champion, especially the heavyweight champion, had the real say when it came to naming the referee. Kearns pointed out that as Dempsey was risking a title worth a million dollars or more, he should have been consulted before the boxing commission named the •official for the big international light. He threatened to withdraw. . . The Jersey Boxing Commission sent him word that if be didn't accept me as referee there'd be no figbt. “All right,” said Kearns, from Ins Atlantic City quarters,. “ there ’ll be no fight. Dempsey can go back with Carpentier to Europe and figbt bun there, and bring his own referee with hiift, too.” , , „ . . Again did the Jersey Board tell hnn thatMlieir word was final, and it would be Ertle or no one. as referee. • Kearns admitted afterwards that if it had been left to him and Dempsey they would have named me as referee themselves, but they disliked to be dictated to. HOW DISPUTE WAS SETTLED. Carpentier and Descamps had agreed to me without a second's hesitation. This surprised Kearns, as he thought that the clever Frenchman must have had something in mind when they O.K.’d my selection so readily. But, as a matter of. fact, it was because I had satisfactorily refereed the Carpcn-tier-Le vinsky fight, which gave Georges his world title, that they consented to my appointment. They knew _ my" work) while they weren’t so familiar with the refereeing of other State officials.

Things looked squally for a long time, with Kearns stating positively that tliere’d be no fight unless he had something to say regarding the selection of a referee, while the State Board was just as emphatic in telling him that he had absolutely nothing to do with this phase of the fight. Edgreen, the stake-holder, went to Atlantic City to consult with Kearns to try to .persuade him to accept me as a referee. He wasn’t able entirely to change his mind. Richard then arranged a conference in the of Madison Square Garden, New York, which was attended by Kearns, Edgreen and himself. They were behind closed doors lor an hour or more, and everything was satisfactorily settled, as they proved by going to the roof and posing for a picture, which they never would have done had they still been at loggerheads over the referee question. There was an army of boxing writers and camera men in the building at the time, and the world knew a few minutes later that the dispute over a referee had been settled, and that ] was going to officiate when Dempsey and Carpentier stepped through the ropes at Bovle’s Thirty Acres.