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Here ia Part One of a ten part series of newspaper articles written by Robert Edgren about the life and career of Jess Willard
that had appeared in various Sunday newspapers across the country beginning April.25. 1915 .
Here is a link to PART ONE

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 7730&hl=en

Part Two of
The Story and Ring Battles of Heavyweight Champion Jess Willard
by Robert Edgren (May.2.1915)


http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 6098&hl=en

Part Three

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 5749&hl=en

Thanks for posting that, it was interesting.
Did you notice that in part 1, there was another boxing aticle in the newspaper. In it Sam Langford was getting ripped!

Yeah,these newspaper stories from 1915 are so old that they're new again.
BTW Would anyone here have a link to the other 7 installments or scan them all here for continuity ?
Were all 10 segments ever published in the newspapers?

Does anyone know if Robert Snell was able to assemble all of the installments of Jess Willard's newspaper autobiography ?

Thanks (albeit belatedly ), Caractacus, for your research and for informing us here in the BoxRec History Forum. I've created a link to that Google newspaper link you provided in Jess Willard's profile page.

Very interesting first paragraph: ". . . that he entered the ring for the sole purpose of whipping Jack Johnson and taking back the title that was lost at Reno." - Uh? it wasn't lost, Jack Johnson (a black guy) was holding on to it . . . regarding Robert Edgren I don't have to say it out loud; I guess he is just representative of the contemporaneous temperament - what was also interesting is how public opinion saw Jefferies (the Reno fight) as being the one who lost the title to Johnson, not Tommy Burns.

I guess during the period between the Burns and Jefferies fights, white America must have been working on that river Caractacus was talking about, de-Nile; after Reno they had no choice but to believe 'the title lost.' - god, that is some deep racism; Edgren (obviously) isn't writing a 'hate piece,' - this is just a biography of Willard, but he couldn't get by the first paragraph without his racial attitude unwittingly spilling out.

Caractacus wrote:Part Three

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 5749&hl=en

'
This is just proof that the Google newspaper archives has not only stopped digitizing newspapers a while back
but now its in the process of actually removing old newspapers from its archives that were previously available to viewers.
Because I had read part three just a few months ago.

You might try the Library of Congress's "Chronicling America" website.

Caractacus wrote:This is just proof that the Google newspaper archives has not only stopped digitizing newspapers a while back
but now its in the process of actually removing old newspapers from its archives that were previously available to viewers.
Because I had read part three just a few months ago.

Yes, many titles have moved their archives from Google to external (subscription-based) archives.

- And just who was Robert Edgren, 1874-1939?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Edgren

His tribute to the 1916 Brooklyn Robins NL pennant yields a signed book by him going for $1500 at this bookseller.

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDe ... t%2Bedgren

Wiki says he was an Olympic shotputter and discus thrower who was hired by Randolf Hearst where he manned up to Hearst himself over his too graphic Spanish-American War "Sketches From Death" that aroused Congressional outrage. He was also captured by the Spanish to be brought before a military tribunal as a formality to his execution, but managed to make an escape. Thus I take that he was a robust, forthright MAN of principle among men who naturally took to boxing where his caricatures became legendary and his integrity without question as can be seen in his treatment of Joe Gans, Tiger Flowers, Sam Langford, ect. Jack Johnson was not seen so sacrosanct as those fighters and got the "extra caricature" treatment. In short, Edgren was a culturally advanced man for his era who pulled no punches, something most never can be in their own era no matter the modern propensity to lash the backs of those who can no longer defend themselves while horrific depredations and injustices are occurring on their own watches. The millions of years of paleolithic history of various "isms" can be found on these and other social media forums in abundance that inform the current 3rd millennium pathetic state of the world.

A big shout for Robert Snell who did heroic work in preserving these taken from his larger archival caricatures. Robert has been too ill to post on these boards any more after battling cancer at an advanced age, God Bless.

Robert Edgren also co-written Jim J.Jeffries autobiography MY LIFE AND BATTLES
which originally appeared in 38 chapters in syndicated newspapers before being assembled
and published in book form ( softboud) a couple of months before the Johnson vrs Jeffries title fight.
I just only read the book several years ago and it is now one of my favorite Boxer's autobiographies.
It was originally supposed to have been re-published back in the early 1980's by Proteus books
which had re-printed both John L. Sullivan's and Jack Johnson's autobiographies in the late 1970's.
I sure wish Proteus books had re-printed back then,then I think there would have been a better appreciation of Jim J. Jeffries
back then other then known as a foil to Jack Johnson.
The reason I believe Proteus books did not re-print it was perhaps due to the format
8 x 12 inches with 38 chapters in 46 pages of text (with a centerfold drawing of Jeffries by Bob Edgren and several pages of photographs)
Sullivan's and Johnson autobiographies were both published in regular formats.

Caractacus wrote:Here ia Part One of a ten part series of newspaper articles written by Robert Edgren about the life and career of Jess Willard
that had appeared in various Sunday newspapers across the country beginning April.25. 1915 .
Here is a link to PART ONE

http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1 ... 7730&hl=en

Interesting how wide spread racism was in that day... The open use of the N-word in print in this newspaper article and how rotten everyone felt when Johnson knocked Jeffries out. Bear in mind that this was over 2 generations after the Civil War, so you'd think there'd be some movement by then.

BTW Was anyone here previously aware of this book ?
Jess Willard-Heavyweight CHAMPION OF THE wORLD (1915-1919)
by Arly Allen
It was published just last December .I just found out about it last week myself.


https://www.amazon.com/Jess-Willard-Hea ... 1915-1919/

hey Mr. Snell,were you able to locate all of this newspaper series published in 1915 ?
were they (all the 10 of the installments mentioned ) ever actually published ?