FELL FOR THE " MAGSTAKES"

NZ Truth, Issue 1197, 8 November 1928, Page 12

FELL FOR THE " MAGSTAKES "

(From "N.Z. Truth's" Specia Melbourne Representative.)

JUST why little Charlie Von Reeden fell for the "mag-stakes" will •v never be explained. '■ i

Perhaps it. was just a case of despondency that prompted him to do what he 1 did at Melbourne opposed to Kid Socks — but his voluntary : admission of guilt and whole-hearted effort.to clear every other person m the business proves the youngster's spirit.

He shouldered the blame for everything, m order that no breath of suspicion would rest on others. At big mouthful was made of his admission of guilt, and he sailed away for America a few days after the fatal fight. In doing so he passed up good money and wonderful prospects. he remained here a La Barba bout would have been his. In America he" may scrap for ten years and not get a shot at so great a luminary m the game as La Barba. . . That loss alone will punish Von Reeden for his action — a mis-step for. which he was heartily sorry long before he stepped aboard the Niagara. "It was a lesson," he said, when he bade good-bye. "A lesson I will never forget, and one that proved to me. that. a fighter has no right to figure he is smart enough to go on the wrong side of a bookmaker's stand!" l