YANKEELAND SPORT.

NZ Truth, Issue 127, 23 November 1907, Page 8

YANKEELAND SPORT.

SQUIRES' FAILURE-BAD HANDLING.

Racing and Running,

Long and Luminous Letter from Sydneyite Loflgton,

Mr Uosepti Longton, well-known among Sydney "sports, 11 writes a most interesting letter on currentday sport m Yankeeland. Longtbn's letter is addressed to Mr John' Norton. . It is dated from the Hotel Knickerbocker, New York, September 21, 1907. In an accompanying note, however, Longton explains that he was not able to post the letter till five days later (September 26). He'tvas then m Montreal, -and it was from there on the date named thai the ., letter was eventually despatched., In hlis note Longton added thai; he was leaving the following day,, (September 27) for London.

"As I, have to satisfy so many anxious., inquirers as /to the doings of 'Bpshtei;. Bilj' ,£3qujres," says Longto^,,, l'l 'think.^he niost' of.my". friends; wko'&re: p'bhderefs over 1 ' foiii paper, .will -haye _ their appetite appeased if you Consider, this article of mine fit for publication m your medium. You prbbably do not remember my existence ; but I. do yours, and also an article ''Ware, Hawk!' that appeared an your columns years ago. Squires has been very badly managed. I 'do not blame him for not trying himself out with Jack Johnson' before he left Australia, for I ; ; consider the 'Skunk' the best-fight-er' m the world— 'bar Jeffries. I saw him at Bridgeport beat Sailor Burke into "a pulp m their six-round bout.

"It is little wonder why the vies' draw the color line!; 'Oh, slender thread,.!' A. Kaufman, who settled Mike Schreck's championship aspirations, may take him on. That is .the 'Skunk's' orilv chance of getting someone to meet him. Burns ;very Wisely refuses to negotiate' .with him ; and, I think, we are liable to hear'-of Noah' Briisso, alias Tommy Burn's; j going' into retire'meni. He is trying to get on a match with jG-unner IVfoir, whom he (Burns) should have no difficulty m defeating—as Jack, Palmer, whom Twin Jack Sullivan beat so easily, has ! put up a tame, but" equal go ; with ; the Gunner. However, you are a- . ware of the degenerate bunch that try to keep up the honor of 'Hold Hingland's' name. So it is useless fbr^nie to- hang on that nail.

''Getting 'ti'ack' to the name of Squires, I say again that he has been very badly managed. "He has all the ear-marks of a great fighter'; but as he has never met, down under, even a fif prater, I fail to see where he was entitled to -a fight with secondrate Burns; wlfo beat him so fairly and so easily. Ido uphold his comiug here to win the coveted prize; but his management should have pitted him against such fighters as Carter, Flynn, Sam Langford, Black Bill, Morris Harris, and the usual bunch of mug* heavy-weights, who are clever, . but have that canary streak down their backs. He , would then have fought . his way up, and been given a chance. As matters stand, Squires will never see his name where, the names of Fitzsimmohs... Cr.Mfip, and Peter Jackson^—not uientioniiig ' the" many others that old Larry Foley dug up out of so small a population — now stand. I think that Squires, is taking on m 'Twin' Jack Sullivan, a very clever fighter, much cleverer than Burns, whom* he (Sullivan) still has a. decision over ■*- and ■ I only hope and pray that our representative wins, to enable him to demand another meeting with the French Canadian.

' ' 'With ' Jim \ Jefiries m retirement , and the 'Skunk' unable to get a fight, the remaining fighters are -a bad lot m the ■ heavy-weight division. Joe Gans occupies' a similar honor to 'Jeffries m the light-weight class. .Britt proved himself an . awful' cur. He turned it up. Britt is a quitter. Nelson never got over the hiding Gans gave him. So now we have to dig up a. representative in' Packy McFarland, who, I predict; is the coming champion, with Murphy or young Erne to relieve Joseph Gans of his laurels. I pity /Mimsic,' who fights Gans next week.' I dp not hesitate m saying' that the ' Skunk' will again bring home the bacon. He has done it with suoh monotonous regularity. Sammy Killar, an English bantafn. is , very successful here ; and Abe Attill, m his class, . refuses to be beaten ; and from a cutting that I forward you, you will see that he wants the 'Skunk'— Gans.

"I am also forwarding you a few Clippings from local scribes, one re••ferring to 'Boshter Bill and others by the same artiste-one 'Tod' of the .Evening 'Yellow' journal. Also a cutting, from 'The World,' an evening and/ morning journal, the sporting column of which is edited jby 'Robert Dd^ien, an authority ( on $port, and an 'advocate of any Australians who seek pugilistic fame m this country. His article on his first meetingwith 'Jeffries (which I include) proves his , claims as an authority; and you and I know his reputation as a gentleman. Well, it was worth coming from' Australia to read his articles on Squires, and to see such a f riead so far away, both before and after the big fight. ...

"No fighter ever got the boosting encouragement to defeat a man that Squires got.. . Those great fighters— Goddard, Dawson, Peter, Bob, Dan Creedon, Griffo, ,and Murphy— paved the 'way for 'Boshter Bill, 1 who was so rottenly managed. The memory of those great pupils; of Larry Foley

ly conjecture, r that the mutineers had flattered themselves with the hqpes of a more happy life among the Otaheiteans than they could possibly enjoy m England , and this, joined to some female connexions, most probably occasioned the whole transaction. The ship, indeed, while within our sight, steered ■ to the W.N.W., but I considered this only a feint, for which we were sent away, ■Hurrah for Otaheite' was frequently heard among the mutineers. 'i .....

are still ripe m the fight-loving Yankee's hea'di Hence Squires mingled with the name of Australia, being? asked by all to beat the Canuck. However, he failed ignominiously, but he still has a chance to make good by defeating Twin 'Jack Sullivan. Should he do so he will be idolised m the United States, for it is here that one gets a square go. Joe Thomas (whom 'Kid' Kitchell hung that knock-out punch on) is at Squires's training establishment. Also a colored heavy m Denver Ed.. Martin*

"To 'drift from the roped arena to the racing ring, I must mention that this country owns two wonder•ful racehorses— one Colin, by Commando, and owned by'J. R. Kune ; and Roseben, a six-year-old gelding by . Ben Strome--Roseleaf, who ran, on a round turn, six furlongs m & mm 11 3-ssec, and 7 furlongs m 1* mm. 22sec— (Gee ! This is swift, even" for 'Murcans. — Ed. T.)— the quality of both performances being enhanced by the fact that m the first he humped 1571b5, and m the second 1261b5. He has, m all, won '4l races out of seventy-four starts. At present he lies 'twixt life and death, owing to blood poisoning, contracted from a sponge that had previously been used by a stable boy noted for attending too many Salvation Army, meetings.

"Alfred Shrubb has cleaned up the--1.. 2, 3, 4, and up to 10 miles running handicaps here. A cricket team captained by Heskith Pritchard played all' New York yesterday. England declared her innings closed with 3 wickets down for -166. The game was eventually abandoned, owing to rain. "I saw the Lusitania, the largest vessel m- the world, 45,000 tons displacement, arrive, alter breaking the Atlantic record. I now look forward to a meeting to-morrow, at Dunellin, Bob Fitzsimmons's Farm, with that motlcd hero who next week, poses for a famous Italian sculptor, who considers Robert the model man for, his work, 'The Prize Fighter.' This is a great country. There is gold here for all. The population is a mixpd one. There is plenty of w,ork<* for all, and more who. like to come. Of course, there are a lot here who have very much wealth to spend, and a larger- number eager to help the above m. accomplishing that design." * » •

Longton refers to the Squires-Sul-livan fight. The result of this, which has since been decided, was that Squires was defeated m the nineteenth round. . Some of the clippings sent by Ldngton will be reproduced. Meanwhile, the following— as further illustrative of the savage sportiveness with which Squires'" failure with Burns was treated*— may here be givA SAD, SWEET STORY.

I. The steamer left the 'Frisco dock one morn at half-past eight, With thirty-seven actors and some precious human freight, A' rugged young Australian, with a most despondent air. Was sitting on the corner of a nice new steamer chair. His brow was slightly furrowed with the furrows born of thought, But furrowed much more sadly from some wallops he had caught. His nose was swollen terribly, liis jaw . was drooping south, 'And as the journey home began, these ■words came from his mouth. Chorus : "Take me back to old Australia, Where the gold mines yield returns, Where the kangaroo hops blithely. Far away from Tommy Burns ; Where the air is not so chilly, •And the pugs are not so deft, Take me back to old Australia, Which I never should have left !'* 11. The night fell black across the waves, the stars came out to play, The passengers began to yawn and beat it to the hay. But one poor youth stuck to the deck, whence all but him had fled, For when he thought of Mr Burns, he couldn't go to bed. He mused about Herr Placke, : Jack Palmer, Jack Monroe, And various other quinces, who had tried and failed to show. And when he finally fell asleep, stretched m his steamer chair. He muttered feebly m his sleep, the following broken prayer.. Chorus : "Takeme.back to old Australia, Where they called me 'Boshter Bill, 1 Where I landed many a lemon, And was noted for mv skill ; Where the air is not so chilly, . . t 'And the puss are not so deft, Take me back to' old Australia, Which I never should have left !" "Independence Day, glorious Independence Day, with its flags and its music, its powder burns- and its Tommie Burns .'"—Bill Squires. Poor Bill Squires ! After the fight for which he had trained long, weary weeks, he said, "I was; beaten, and now I am going home."

Poor public ! Thanks to the Australian's press agent, many thousands were bet. and lost on this latest stew from foreign parts.

How Jim Jeffries must have smiled when he saw second-rate Tommy Burns annihilating fifth-rate Bill Squires !

Just before the fight we were informed by some eminent Western clitics that Squires had all the earmarks of a wonderful fighter. He was suggested as a possible rival for big Jeffries. If Tommy Burns, who couldn't beat middle-weights like Hugo Kelly and near-heavy-weights like Mike Schreck, knocks out Bill Squires m one round, how long would it take Jeffries to protect his title ?

"I was beaten," said Squires, "and now I am going home."

Yes, William, you were beaten, and no doubt about it. Let us hope there is no doubt about the return ticket.