Charley White, America's Greatest Referee, Tells the Story of World's Championships From the Viewpoint of the Third Man Inside the Roped Arena.

This is the first of a series of stories written specially for the Evening World by a man who has won international fame not only as a referee but as a judge of fighters. It is the first story ever told from inside the roper arena, and by one who took an active part in many famous championship battles. the story is told in narrative form and contains many interesting incidents never before disclosed. It also includes a comparison of fighters of the good old Horton law days and those of today.

BY CHARLIE WHITE,

No. 1 - Fighters Old and New.
Copyright. 1911 by the Press Publishing Co. (The New York World).

Hardly a day passes but somebody asks me what I think of the present-day champions of the ring and how they compare with the fighters of the old Horton Law days. Everybody seems to hold a positive opinion either one way or the other, but I believe the question is one that a person can decide either way and still be mistaken. men of to-day, followers of pugilism who did not see the men of former days fight, say that present-day boxers must be better than the old-timers were; but the men who were considered "fans" fifteen years ago cant't see where the fighters of to-day figure in the least with the men who were the heroes of long ago.

I Have refereed more championship bouts than any other man in the world. I have acted in the capacity of referee for many years, and there has been hardly a single one of the big fighters who has not boxed with me as the third man in the ring. therefore, I feel competent to decide the different merits of the men who have held championships. For instance, I believe that jack McAuliffe, first of the lightweight champions, was the greatest fighter his class has ever known, and I will explain why in the following series of stories.

I believe that I receive as much mail as the ordinary business man. All sorts of people write me for advise on things pugilistic. Boxers from all over this country, England and Australia query me on the different points of the game. Some of them are "bugs" for fair.

I've known some queer "bugs" in the pugilistic world- second raters who have the idea that they are most wonderful boxers; champions who have sworn they entirely missed their proper vocations and should have been either singers, actors, playwrights or pianists.

I have known fighters who were possessed of voices like those of street vendors, but nobody could convince them that they were not intended to [?] operatic stars. Several of them paid big money to singing teachers, but I never heard of them appearing at any concerts.

Tried "Buck and Wing."

There have been a lot of fighters who were about as slow on their feet as they come who believed they were natural born dancers. They have been known to take lessons in"buck and wing" dancing with the idea of applying for engagements on the vaudeville stage.

The immense sums of money that many fighters of only mediocre caliber are receiving to-day would astonish the champions of a few years ago. Why, Knockout Brown received almost $7,000 for his little ten-round session with Champion Wolgast: And the men fought with good-sized gloves at that. Imagine Jack McAuliffe fighting with skin-tight gloves and to a finish for $150 - that's what he did on more than one occasion when he was climbing the ladder of fame.

Nowadays the fighters don't have to worry about getting the money that is coming to them. In the old days they were never sure of getting anything at all. Just to illustrate the point, here's a story of how Jack McAuliffe came within an ace of losing his end of the purse when he fought Billy Meyers at a little Illinois town some years ago.

While McAuliffe was alone in his dressing-room three strangers weighed their way in and closed the door after them.

"How long can you stay with Meyers?" asked one of them.

"Why, I could stretch it out all night." replied Jack.

"String it out as long as you can and we'll fix you up." said the spokesman as the thre strangers turned and left the room.

There was an $8,000 gate to be divided between the fighters, managers and backers. Disagreeing as to how the money should be split up in case the fight was stopped it was decided to place the coin in a safe in the office downstairs.

When the fight had gone a few rounds McAuliffe looked around and saw the three strangers occupying back seats. But they didn't stay there long.

Burglars Get the Coin

You see that "safe" although it had a regular stell front and sides, had a paper mache back, and those three fellows were after the money. They got every cent of it, and then returned to see how the fight was going. At last one of the men came over to McAuliffe's corner and remarked: "Go ahead, Jack, and finish this any time you want."

Three days later Jack entered a big sporting place in Chicago, and when the cashier spotted him he called him to one side and handed him a small bundle.

McAuliffe opened it and found it contained $2,750.

"That's your share of the purse for the fight the other night." said the cashier.

The sum was within a few dollars of what Mac's one-third of the purse figured, and Jack was so afraid some other hold-up men might take it away from him before he could leave Chicago that he turned the money over to a New york friend for safekeeping.

Now the boxing game is more of a business and a box office proposition. In the old days of the Horton law and prior to that time the boxers fought more for the glory of the thing than they do to-day. They loved a fight. Give them a chance to battle for a title and they would be happy. If they happened to engage in a fight that was scheduled to go less than to a finish there was always a decision rendered and a winner's and loser's end to the purses. Such conditions caused a man to fight his very best.

Boxing in public was not allowed at all until the Horton law came into operation, and the fighters had hard times pulling off bouts.

Fixed the Constable.

One of the most amusing stories I have ever heard has to do with that fight between McAuliffe and Billy Meyers at North Juson, Ill., and it shows how the authorities used to prey upon poor pugilists.

The managers of the fight had slipped the town constable a "bit of change" and he had departed for the remainder of the night. But just as soon as he was out of sight his deputy showed up and demanded a "century" note. There was nothing else to do, so they handed over $100 to him, and started down the stairway.

Among the many yeggs and hold-up men who were down from "Chi" to see the battle was one "Chicago Pete." He wa there for business as well as pleasure, and when he spotted that hundred dollar bill he went after it. On the dark stairway he held up Mr. Deputy Constable and relieved him of his little piece of graft.

With an awful howl, the deputy returned and demanded another hundred. Again they handed it over, "Chicago Pete" repeated the previous operation and took the second bill from the deputy.

For the third time he demanded another bill, stating that he had also been robbed of the second one given him. The demand was too much for the poor promoters. One of them called "Chicago Pete" to one side and offered him $25 if he would take care of the constable for the remainder of the evening.

Pete inveigled the rube into accompanying him downstairs. before a light could be struck in the dark room Pete had the constable roped, tied and gagged. He fastened him into a chair and locked the door on Mr. Constable as he returned to watch the fight.

"Chicago Pete" didn't even take the trouble of looking in on the deputy before he left town that morning, either.

Fell into the Ring

When McAuliffe fought Harry Gilmore, the Canadian, for the lightweight championship of America, the fight was held in the downstairs hall of a building in which the upper hall was occupied by the Salvation Army, and as there was a religious meeting going on overhead that night the manager[?] of the fight requested the spectators to remain absolutely quiet.

Two coons had climbed up onto the beams that crossed above the ring. At one of the exciting stages of the bout both coons began to shout. Somebody got close enough to them to shove them off, and they fell sprawling into the ring. The fight stopped long enough to allow several "gentle" attendants to remove the colored men from the ring.

But even the noise made when these men fell failed to disturb the singers in the barracks overhead, and the fight was finished without the Salvationists suspecting for an instant a prize fight was going on right below them.

Years ago there were "runners up" to the champions who were "classy." Many of them just missed being champions. Some lacked a pound or two in weight, while others couldn't train within a half pound of the limit in their classes and be strong. I shall tell them in the following stories, because many of them were wonderful men.

I want the readers to understand that a man must have "class" in order to be a champion, and there has never been a champion who was not "classy." Some of them lacked perfection at the art of self defense, but they made up for that in fighting spirit and mighty strength.

I will first take up the lightweight division and write of their different qualities and how they classed and compared with one another.