Joe Gans Read online

  Because Herford had previously arranged a match with Erne before he became a titleholder, Herford had his foot already in the door and he wasn’t going to let Erne’s manager forget that. Gans had defeated all of the top challengers. And so Herford, through perseverance, and Gans, with his gentlemanly conduct, had finally won a chance to take the title from Frank Erne. Erne was a fast-handed boxer-puncher and when the match was arranged, it was eagerly anticipated. On the day of the bout, the Baltimore Sun reported, “Those familiar with the game say that, barring a fight between Corbett and McCoy, no other such scientific event could be arranged as the one tonight.”9 Gans and Erne were in great company with Gentleman Jim Corbett, John L. Sullivan, and Kid McCoy, the man for whom the expression was coined “The Real McCoy.”10

  On the night of March 23, 1900, the two masters of the ring, one from Buffalo and the other from Baltimore, met under the hot lights of New York’s Broadway Athletic Club to contest the world’s lightweight championship. It would be a fight of 25 rounds at the 133-pound limit, winner-take-all.

  The method by which the fighters earned their purses is noteworthy. In Gans’ day, a boxer’s financial prospects rose and fell in direct proportion to his ability to draw crowds. That is, the live gate was the only source of revenue other than gambling. This contest was expected to draw a large crowd. Five hundred were expected from Buffalo, and at least two hundred and fifty from Philadelphia would join the throng of hometown spectators. The gate receipts were expected to draw $30,000, illustrating the popularity of the fighters. The match would be “winner take-all,” which actually meant that the winner would get 50 percent of the gate, the loser would get nothing. Betting, pari-mutuel or otherwise, was another way to make money. Since Gans was black, he was accustomed to receiving the short end of the purse or a lower percentage, although he was the better fighter in virtually all cases. Since he was the better fighter and everyone knew it, he would often have to risk several dollars of his own money to match the other fellow’s fifty cents in the betting.

  The title match between Gans and Erne promised to be a pugilistic and aesthetic gem of a bout. Both boxers were known as “scientific” boxers, that is, they came up through the ranks, studied the game, and fought thoughtfully, relying more on their brains than their brawn. The day of the fight the papers strangely foreshadowed an “accident.”

  The Baltimore Sun, “Any two men can fight, but not every pair of men can contest for mastery in a game of blows where the brain is the most potent factor that leads to a decision. Of course, accidents can happen with anybody, and they are barred from the present consideration. Both Gans and Erne are strong, healthy fellows, but neither approaches in brute strength the power that exists in many men of their weight, and yet either could go through the world mowing down men of nearly double his weight and strength, because he knows by practice, instinct, and inborn pugnacity how to move, watch, wait, attack, defend, reserve, expend, escape and strike. Both are trained to the minute and both will be in the fullest flush of health, again barring accident.”11

  A Horribly Cut Eye

  The match was recorded as one of the most furiously fought bouts through eleven rounds, with the most disputed of conclusions in the twelfth. There is no disagreement that Gans had a wicked cut to an eye in round twelve. But the severity of the wound was variously reported in different parts of the country as anything from superficial to so bad that Gans’ eye had literally fallen out of the socket, requiring a doctor to jump into the ring to put it back in place. They went at each other furiously, exchanging brutal blows to the head, but in the twelfth round Gans dropped his hands. The bout was stopped and Erne declared the winner.

  As boxing’s premier historian, Nat Fleischer’s opinion has always been recognized as the final word on turn-of-the-century boxers. His interpretation of the bout, written in the late thirties, was simply that the Gans fight with Erne “was an unsatisfactory one.”12 His conclusion about Gans would negatively affect Gans’ reputation to the present time. He says, “Erne won, but the measure of glory which victory brought to him was not so broad or so deep as the measure, pugilistically speaking, of disgust which defeat brought to Gans.” For Fleischer, there was simply no excuse for Gans’ quitting the fight. Fleischer compared Gans’ fight with Erne to the Baer-Barlund fight when Buddy Baer quit. Fleischer summarily declared that Gans was still able to fight Erne, but “decided he had had enough” and, like Baer, turned to the referee and said “I quit,” words considered to exhibit cowardice when spoken by a fighter. Unfortunately, readers of boxing history have read no other conclusion to this fight.

  Fleischer did great damage to Gans’ reputation by his account of the fight. His description is inconsistent with Gans’ behavior and gives the impression that Gans lacked courage, “didn’t like the gaff,” as Fleischer states.13 A common prejudice of the time was that black fighters lacked courage or “gameness.” For example, Jim Corbett would say of Jack Johnson, “Trust me, the colored boy has a yellow streak.”14

  As Gans would prove time and again, he was certainly not lacking in courage. But Fleischer’s words left an impression on generations of boxing fans. Some prejudices, much as the evils that men do, live on well past the men who generate them. Amateur boxers today weighing in for fights and around the gym will often hear old-timers opine, “The black boys can’t take it to the body, and they get scared when they see their own blood.”15 In fact, black fighters are just as courageous as any others. Although it is not clear where this example of character assassination of black fighters originated, Nat Fleischer’s description of the Gans-Erne fight certainly contributed to it and marred the legacy of Joe Gans.

  In fact Gans had been temporarily blinded in the ring by the injury to the eye. Blindness was a realistic fear for Gans to have. Many prize-fighters of the age went blind. One of his most famous contemporaries, Sam Langford, went blind, one eye at a time. In Ellison’s Invisible Man the narrator is taken by “The Brotherhood” to a former boxing arena where he noticed a picture of a former prizefighter who had gone blind in the ring. “It must have been right here in this arena, I thought. That had been years ago. The photograph was that of a man so dark and battered that he might have been of any nationality. Big and loose-muscled, he looked like a good man. I remembered my father’s story of how he had been beaten blind in a crooked fight, of the scandal that had been suppressed, and how the fighter had died in a home for the blind.”16

  Ellison’s frequent allusions to boxing certainly paint an ugly picture of the sport. But on the other side of the coin, the ring was one of the few places where a poor-born child like Gans or Langford could aspire to be a king. Ellison, like the existentialists of his day, offered dead-on descriptions of society’s ills, but gave little in the way of suggestions for improvements.

  As evident from reports by newsmen and spectators from Baltimore who saw the fight, Gans’ injury was severe. The Baltimore and New York press accounts printed after the fight, however, differ as to the cause of the injury. The Baltimore papers say a foul head-butt produced it, whereas the New York columns, following the round-by-round reports telegraphed from ringside, indicate that Erne’s clean punches caused it.

  The following ringside account was sent out over the wires, printed on billboards at newspaper offices or read to fight fans who showed up to hear the results live printed seconds after each round at local railroad stations:

  ERNE’S FIRST BLOW.

  Round 1—Both were careful: Erne forced Gans into his corner and tried left and right, but Gans blocked. Erne forced again and landed a straight left on the abdomen and got away cleverly. Then he tried left and right for the head, but failed to land. At the close of the round Gans landed a straight left on the face.

  Round 2—Erne opened with a rush and forced Gans into his corner again. The Buffalo lad was very quick and sent right and left to the head, cleverly blocking a left hook which Gans tried. Erne then forced Gans across the ring and landed three straight
swift left jabs on the face, and uppercut Gans under the chin with his right. Gans tried a left for the head, but Erne blocked it and sent his own left to the wind, forcing Gans to the corner once more, where Erne planted another left on the face.

  KEEPS GANS IN HIS CORNER.

  Round 3—Erne kept Gans in his corner and landed a light left on the wind. Gans shot a straight left as he jumped to the center of the ring, but Erne dodged it. Gans sent his right to the body. An exchange of lefts on the face followed, Erne leading and Gans countering. Both blocked cleverly until Gans landed a straight left on the jaw. Erne tried to send his left to the wind, but Gans stepped out of reach. At the bell the men were in a mixup in Gans’ corner.

  Round 4—Erne led his left for the head, but was blocked. Gans sent a well-directed left swing to the jaw, but Erne stepped in quickly and planted his right on the wind at close quarters. Erne swung a light right to the wind and Gans hooked a very light left to the face. Erne led his left to the face at close quarters. Gans sent his right three times rapidly over the kidneys. Gans sent right and left to the wind just before the bell.

  COLORED MAN LANDING HARD.

  Round 5—Gans landed left to face and Erne returned a straight left, which was the hardest blow landed up to the time. Erne tried a left for the abdomen and failing to land stood in an awkward position, that got well settled before Gans could take any advantage of it. Gans sent his left to the head and followed with right hard on the body and again on the head. Erne sent back left swing on the jaw to which Gans replied with a short left to face and right cross to the head.

  Round 6—There was a lot of fiddling, Gans breaking ground. The colored man stopped suddenly and swung his left to Erne’s right eye and cut it. Gans then went in, sending right and left swings to the head, and Erne surprised everybody by applying with similar blows. Erne continued to slam both hands on the colored man, reaching Gans’ head a half dozen times. He stopped Gans’ rushing and forced him to back away. Erne was bleeding from mouth and nose at bell.

  TWO STAGGERING BLOWS

  Round 7—Erne rushed and staggered Gans with a right swing on the head. He tried a left but fell short, and stepped in and shot his right up to Gans’ chin. Erne sent a hard left to the body and Gans planted a good right on the head. Gans swung his left to the jaw and Erne staggered, but quickly recovered and rushed back with left and right to the body. The bell found them sparring, with Gans on the defensive.

  Round 8—Erne jumped right to his man. He tried a left swing for the head, but Gans got inside of it. Erne then put straight left to face and hooked it again to the ear. Gans failed to counter and Erne reached the body and head with his left, forcing Gans to break ground. Gans stepped in after falling short with the left and uppercut Erne on the face with his right. He tried a left for the head, but Erne blocked it at the close of the round.

  HAMMER AND TONGS NOW.

  Round 9—Erne rushed, sending his right over to the head. Then the Buffalo champion jumped right at his man, but Gans landed right and left on the head. This started Erne and both let their arms go like windmills, Erne having the better of the mix-up. Erne hooked three lefts to the ear and Gans reached the body with left lightly. Erne had all the better of this round, keeping up his attack until the gong rang.

  Round 10—Erne resumed the attack, landing left on the wind. He tried for the head and Gans slipped and almost went through the ropes. Erne stepped in, sending a hard left to the abdomen and Gans failed to reply. Gans then swung his left to the head and Erne countered. Erne rushed his man around the ring and planted a heavy left to the wind. Then he sent a straight left to the face and swung his right to the face, but too high for a knockout at close quarters. Gans planted a left on Erne’s body.

  THE CHAMPION WHIRLWIND.

  Round 11—Erne opened with a right hook on the head, Gans countering on the ribs. Gans swung his right for the jaw, but Frank stepped back and going in quickly sent his left to the ribs. Gans landed a light right on the ear. Erne attempted right and left swings for the head, but missed, and Gans sent right and left to the body. Erne jumped in with left to body and right to jaw. Erne then came like a whirlwind, starting Gans with a left swing to the jaw, and both went at it hammer and tongs until the bell separated them, Erne having the call by long odds.17

  Here the description of the final rounds, from over the wire, differs from what was reported after the fact. Fleischer writes, years after the fight, that for the first 21 seconds of the 11th round Gans had a safe lead, but that Erne landed several punches to the abdomen that “winded him.” He says that Gans went to his corner a “disturbed gladiator,” and that he came out for the 12th round “down-hearted.” Fleischer elaborates, “It appeared that he was ready to throw up the sponge despite victory staring him in the face. He apparently didn’t like the ‘gaff’ and when, to the punches that Erne had delivered in the last round, was added Frank’s prestige as champion, Gans seemed to lose all heart.”18

  Fleischer says of the final round that it began with a lightning-quick sparring exchange. He explains the gash to the eye as a head-butt. Erne landed a body punch followed by a right uppercut to the jaw, and when “the Negro rushed to a clinch, head down, Erne’s head caught him just over the left eye and opened a gash about two inches long. The blood flowed freely filling the left eye.” Fleischer explains that Gans didn’t wait for the referee to decide, but that Gans said ‘I quit’ and walked to his corner. He reports that the referee couldn’t believe what he was hearing, that the “wound was not sufficiently dangerous to warrant the action Gans took and that the referee ordered Gans to fight.” Only in one sentence does Fleischer acknowledge out of “partisanship” that “perhaps Gans was correct in saving his eyesight at the expense of victory.”19 Fleischer’s account of the final two rounds is decidedly biased against Gans and his character.

  Below is how the final round came into Baltimore via telegraph:

  KNOCKED GANS’ EYE OUT.

  Round 12—Erne opened with a left to the eye and followed with one on the right eye. Then he smashed his right to the abdomen and Gans started toward him staggering blindly. He dropped his hands to his sides and Referee White, seeing that the negro was in distress, caught hold of Gans, who said: “I’m blind; I can’t see any more.”

  White threw up both hands and told Erne to go to his corner. He then led the colored man to his corner and for the first time saw that Gans’ left eye was out of its socket. “Erne wins!” shouted White, as Dr. Creamer jumped into the ring and replaced the injured eyeball. “My right did the trick,” said Erne as he left the ring, and the Buffalo crowd carried him to his dressing room.

  The large crowd assembled at Baltimore’s Eutaw Athletic Club at Germania Maennerchor Hall had attended the fight between Patsy Corrigan of San Francisco and Tommy West of Brooklyn that night primarily to hear the early reports of the Gans-Erne fight. Between the rounds “a dapper young man read dispatches from the Broadway Athletic Club.”20 Reactions did not appear to support the hometown athlete. “Once when the announcer stated ‘Gans staggers,’ the crowd yelled so that the finish of the sentence could not be heard.” When it was announced that Erne had beaten Gans, “the applause was deafening.” But a clue to the reaction comes in a tag that was added: “An old stager remarked: ‘There is hardly a man in that howling crowd who wanted Gans to lose. There must be some other reason.’” Certainly there were those in the crowd who had bet on Erne. As we shall see there was plenty of money to be made betting against favorites.

  Although he wisely saved his eyesight, Gans was roundly denounced for “quitting,” by displaying “the yellowstreak.” When those who were at ringside and saw what Fleischer called a “gaff” returned to Baltimore, they thought that Gans should have been declared the winner as a result of a foul, an intentional head butt by Erne. Gans had unquestionably led the rounds prior.

  Two years later in a chat among friends at the Germania Maennerchor Hall in Baltimore, Harry Lyons, one of Herford’s box
ers who attended the fight, would capture Gans’ fighting style, astutely describing Gans’ behavior that night: “On the occasion when Erne got the decision over Gans it was because of Gans’ over-cautiousness. Gans knew he could hit Erne whenever he tried. He proved it in the fight of 1900, but fought the 12 rounds like a fellow writing a letter to his best girl and afraid he would get a blot on the paper.”21

  Most observers thought that Gans was comfortably ahead when the wound to his left eye occurred. The cause of the cut, punch or head-butt, is in dispute, but the preponderance of the evidence is that the gash was caused when Erne crashed his noggin against Gans’ brow. It would be a cut he would wear the rest of his life, with a scar covering a swath of skin from his eyelashes to his eyebrow.

  The wound was still palpable when two weeks after his loss he married Madge M. Wadkins in a ceremony at the home of her uncle in New York City.22 Her background was as colorful as the times. She had been raised in Cincinnati, where her father owned a Turkish bath. At the time she met Gans, she was an actress touring with the famous vaudeville theatrical troupe of Walker and Williams. For years, white minstrels had painted their faces black to stage comedy routines. The team of George Walker and Bert Williams had met in the 1890s in San Francisco and had been the first among African Americans to play the roles in Broadway-styled plays. They were tremendously successful, popularizing the music and dance of the Cakewalk, a promenade of a high-stepping, back-bending dance where couples clasp hands and step-dance across a stage.23 (A remnant of this dance is the drum major’s strut leading a marching band.) Having its origin in the antebellum South, the Cakewalk had migrated to trendy Paris cafes by the time of the scandalous trial of Evelyn Nesbit’s husband Harry Thaw.24 The music to this dance would evolve into ragtime, the first to cross over racial lines from black to white, largely the result of the “black and tan” clubs. The Cakewalk would be a dance endearing to Gans and his close friends, and we can only surmise that it was a part of the happy nuptials, one of the few high points for Gans during the year.