Volume 17 , Issue 40

1896 - Fitzsimmons Gets An Injunction

The San Francisco Call out of San Francisco, California, dated 4 December 1896, Friday, page 1, had this headline concerning the Fitzsimmons prize fighter: "Fitz Gets An Injunction, The Courts Will Decide the ownership of the Purse." A majority of sporting men still believed that Fitzsimmons was robbed of the decision and the purse. And ... Wyatt Earp was arrested the day before for carrying a concealed weapon without a permit.

Found on Newspapers.com

The lovers of fistic sport who sat about the ring at Mechanics' Pavilion Wednesday night and saw Bob Fitzsimmons put Tom Sharkey to sleep do not and will never believe that t the Cornishman fouled the sailor, and moreover, the majority of them were outspoken in their belief that Bob was robbed.

The fight and its sudden and unsatisfactory termination were the talk of the town 3 December 1896, Thursday, and the peculiar train of events that led up to the fight and what followed it were over on every street corner and in every cafe.

The sports recalled the declaration of Martin Julian that the referee was fixed for Sharkey, Earp's peculiar action in not defending himself before the assembled throng and the fact that he was relieved of a gun in the arena.

Then they told each other how foul Sharkey had fought and of Earp's apparent indifference to the sailor's tactics. Then Earp's sudden and precipitate disappearance from the ring were commented on and inferences drawn from that.

An incident that caused a great deal of talk was the refusal of the trainers and backers of Sharkey to allow the doctors to see the sailor. When Sharkey was carried out of the ring he seemed in a complete state of collapse and totally unable to walk. This, ring-goers thought, was the time for a physician to be called. Yet, when Dr. Lustig, Dr. O'Brien, Dr. Rottanzi and others offered to attend him they were shut out of his dressing room and no physician saw him until a man named Lee, an irregular practitioner, with whom the police are well acquainted, was called and with no one but Sharkey's people present at the examination pronounced him seriously injured.

His statement was heavily discounted in view of the subsequent reports of reputable physicians, made the day before, that Sharkey's injuries were far from being severe enough to incapacitate him from having gone on with the mill. So long a time had expired that it was hard to tell when or how the hurts were received.

Messrs. Gibb and Groom, managers of the National Club, were coming in for no small amount of unfavorable comment for not withdrawing Earp as referee when Julian objected to him. Julian was willing to accept any one in the house outside of the bad man from Arizona.

An easy and honorable solution of the matter would have been to withdraw Earp, which the management had a perfect right to do, and turn the selection of the referee over to Sharkey and Lynch.

In this issue would be found the opinions of a large number of prominent citizens on the subject of that decision.

GIbb's Explanation

The manager tells why Wyatt Earp was selected as referee. Manager Gibbs of the National Club stated to a representative of The Call how he happened to select Earp to decide a question involving the payment of $10,000.

"You understand," said he, "that the agreement was that in case Sharkey and Fitzsimmons could not select a referee, then the club should do so, and as time passed and they were far away from the decision we began to cast about for a man. Stepping into the Baldwin one day I saw Mr. Earp, and I told MR. Groom, who was with me, that it we had to find a man, there was good material.

"I knew that Wyatt Earp was a cool, clear-headed person of an unimpeachable reputation, and one who would be perfectly fair to both fighters. Moreover, he had refereed about thirty fights and had the experience necessary for the position. The only desire of the National Club was to give Fitzsimmons and Sharkey an equal chance in the ring and for that purpose we wanted a just and able referee for the contest. Neither Mr. Groom nor myself spike to Earp regarding the matter until noon on the day of the fight.

"Starkey and Fitzsimmons had failed to agree upon a referee and the club must act. Groom and I hunted up Mr. Earp and informed him that we had selected him. We three sat in a small curtained apartment in the Baldwin Hotel. Earp thought over the matter for a few minutes and said that if it were agreeable to all parties concerned he would do his best to render a fair decision.

"Then we notified Julian and Needham and both gentlemen expressed themselves as perfectly satisfied. We congratulated ourselves that all these preliminaries had been settled, but when we got to the ring last night Julian informed us that he objected to the referee. He said he had been told that Earp was going to decide in favor of Sharkey.

"I then brought Needham and Julain together and said: 'Gentlemen, I haven't a word more to say in this matter; settle it yourselves. Make some choice quickly so that the contest can begin.'

"After considerable discussion Fitzsimmons called off the debate and Earp was permitted to act as referee. I watched his work and saw that he acted with fairness and promptness. He stood close to the two men and would quickly break them apart when they clinched. My instructions to him were to overlook any little unimportant fouls on the part of either man as it was not the wish of the club to stop the contest on a mere technicality. Mr. Earp said he would not interfere unless absolutely obliged to."
  |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

---