Baltimore Evening Sun (28 September 1912): 6.

Salisbury, Md., Sept. 28.

Salisbury’s greatest ring battle, and perhaps the greatest in all the history of the Eastern Shore, ended just at dusk yesterday in a draw. After 15 rounds of terrific fighting, Young Anderson and Kid Price knocked each other out. The agreement was that the referee was to render no decision, but leave it to the crowd. There was, however, no chance for a dispute. The partisans of the two boys, immediately after the battle, cheered their respective favorites, but in the cold gray dawn of the morning after, everybody admits that it was a drawn battle. The boys themselves, lying upon adjoining cots in the Salisbury City Hospital, already make plains for a return engagement.

In the Price corner were Young Bellis, Battling Speicher, Jim Dawkins and Young Trippe, while Anderson was handled by Kid Mills, Doc Levister, Cy Keen and Young Clift. The clock was held for Price by Young Andrew and for Anderson by Kid Cochran. Both boys reached the ringside before the time set for the beginning of the day’s butchery, but Price was delayed in his dressing room by a nail in one of his slippers, and so it was a few minutes after 2 before he appeared. The introductions by Young Disharoon, the referee, quickly followed, and in a few minutes the gladiators were at each other hammer and tongs. The fight by rounds:

• Round 1—Light sparring to begin. Anderson trips for the head, but Price sees it coming and deftly dodges. In getting away Price lands a soft left to the neck. Anderson smiles. Anderson again tries for the head and misses again. A moment of sparring ends in a clinch. In the breakaway Price plants a good one on the neck. Anderson replies with vicious left jab to the body. The boys back off and try some footwork. Anderson finally throws out a long left swing to the head, which shakes up the lad a good deal. But he comes back in an instant and mixes it. Many blows, but no apparent damage. The boys clinch and the referee has to shove them apart. Price makes a savage rush, but is stopped by the gong. No advantage.
• Round 2—Price sets the pace by landing two or three right jolts to the body. He tries for a left uppercut, but Anderson gets him with a terrific swing to the neck. It misses the angle of the jaw by no more than an inch. Price is stopped for an instant, but soon comes back with a short, hard one over the heart. Both boys begin to show signs that a fight is going on. Speicher and Bellis shout orders to the Kid, and Young Clift makes signals to Anderson. Anderson tries four left hooks in quick succession, only two of which land. The Kid clinches. Cries of “Let go!” The referee tries to push the boys apart, but Price gets his right over Anderson’s shoulder and does some loud thumping. In the breakaway Anderson lands a beautiful swing to the Adam’s apple. A gurgle from the Kid. Another clinch. Then the gong. Anderson’s round.
• Round 3—The first blow struck drops Anderson to his knees. It is a left to the eye and has steam behind it. The crowd is on its feet in a flash and there is wild tumult, many unsophisticated peasants thinking that the bout is over. But Anderson is on his legs again at the count of three and quickly retaliates with a hard right swing to the ear. The Kid rolls his eyes. Light sparring is followed by a clinch. A second clinch. The referee shouts to the boys and the crowd is in a frenzy. In the breakaway the Kid lands two hard ones to the body and takes two light ones himself. Anderson to the head. Price to the neck. No harm done. Price’s round.
• Round 4—Anderson brings first blood by slamming his knuckles against the Kid’s mouth. The lower hemisphere of an incisor rolls in the rosin. The Kid replies with a short one about three-sixteeths of an inch above the belt. Cries of “Foul!” Sheriff Smith and his special deputies throw out half a dozen disorderly spectators. Anderson lands a left to the neck. A clinch. In the breakaway Price gets in a short jab to the chest. No damage. Another clinch. The referee warns the boys. Ineffective sparring to the gong.
• Round 5—Anderson forces the fighting, landing five goodish blows before the Kid gets fairly going. A clinch. The Kid does some effective work on the ribs. Young Bellis shouts orders to play for the jaw in the breakaway. The Kid tries, but fails to land. Anderson feints with his right and then plants a hard left to the neck. It knocks the Kid off his feet and he hits the ropes above the press stand. A womam member of the sob squad screams and many spectators think that she has been hurt. Kid Mills reaches down from Anderson’s corner and gives her the bottle of smelling salts. Anderson tries for the solar plexis, but misses by eight inches. The Kid retaliates with two hot ones to the head, but has to take a nasty body jolt in return. A clinch. The Kid seems to be holding on. When the referee separates the boys they clinch again, going to the gong inextricably commingled. Anderson’s round.
• Round 6—Anderson’s superior reach begins to make itself apparent. Price is plainly the stronger of the two, but he is often stopped by the mere length of Anderson’s arm. He tries for the head three or four times, but fails to land. Anderson plants a hot one at the angle of the ribs, leaving a palpable dent. A Voice: “Is there a doctor in the house?” [Laughter.] [Cheers for Price.] Anderson feints with his left and lamds a hard right to the ear. A left to the mouth, bringing more blood. Anderson feints again, and then delivers a 10-mule power swing to the jaw, knocking the Kid flat. The Kid gets up at the count of seven, but has to clinch to save himself. He hangs on until the gong. Anderson’s round.
• Round 7—Despite his hard going in round 6, the Kid shows a lot of enterprise. His first hook takes Anderson in the vitals and apparently gives the Baltimore boy pause. The crowd jumps to its feet and begins cheering wildly. Price follows this blow with a hard swing to the side of the head and Anderson seems about to go over. A clinch. Anderson’s arms are pinned and Price gets in some telling wallops on his back. The crowd is frantic and the handlers of both boys add to the din by shouting conflicting orders. The Kid tries for the jaw and fails, but manages to reach the nose, drawing the sarsaparilla. Anderson replies with a rain of thwacks, perhaps 10 in all, to the ribs. Light sparring to the gong. Price’s round.
• Round 8—Both boys begin to show signs of fatigue. They clinch two or three times and the referee has a hard time separating them. In the last breakaway Price lands on the nose again. Anderson counters to the ribs. Another clinch. Cries of “Go to it!” and “Cut out the brother stuff!” Still another clinch. The referee angrily pushes the boys apart. Several citizens call upon Mayor Kennerly to stop the fight. Anderson to the eye. Price feints and tries for the nose again, but misses.
• Round 9—Price shoots four lefts to the face in quick succession, but barely reaches and so they seem to do little damage. Anderson tries an uppercut to the jaw and misses by about two feet. The crowd laughs. Both boys show greatly diminished pressure in their steam gauges. Price shakes Anderson a bit with a few taps to the equator. Anderson replies with a hot one to the head. Price jumps back to protect himself, and when Anderson rushes, clinches. Both boys get in a dozen or two short ones to the ribs. Another clinch. Price pushes Anderson across the ring to the ropes. Cries of “Take ’em out!” Anderson, recovering himself, gives Price a shove which sends him clear across the ring. The crowd rocks with mirth. Light sparring to the gong. Nobody’s round.
• Round 10—After half a minute of Y. M. C. A. sparring, Anderson closes in and plants a pretty hook to the neck. Price falls back and in trying to recover himself trips over his own feet and goes to the mat. Young Bellis shouts to him to take nine, but he is up at seven and tries a rush. Anderson stops it with a swing to the ear. A clinch. In the breakaway Price lands a hard, short one not two inches from the heart and Anderson grows very wabbly. Cries of “Tie them together!” Price puts an uppercut to the jaw and Anderson drops. The gong comes at the count of four. A standoff.
• Round 11—Both boys look sick as they come from their corners. Young Bellis throws water over Price and is warned by the referee. One clinch follows another. In the third or fourth Anderson gets in a hook to the ribs, but has to take a nasty swing to the jaw. Anderson protests to the referee that Price is butting. The referre: “Shut up. It was his fist.” Price says he thinks he has broken his left hand. The referee: “Give up or shut up.” Price lands a light one to the nose, renewing the sunset. Anderson tries a right swing to the angle of the jaw, but hits the neck, and with his wrist. Another clinch. Still another. Nobody’s round.
• Round 12—Both boys are stalling. Anderson tries an uppercut to the jaw, but lands on the tip of Price’s nose, drawing the aniline. Price falls forward and crashes into Anderson, who goes over backward. The referee drags the two to their feet and orders them to proceed. Anderson tries for the jaw, reaches the ear, and sends Price down for the count of eight. Price, on arising, plants a left hook on Anderson’s chest and sends him down for the count of seven. Anderson, on arising, aims a right swing at Price’s ear, misses his balance and goes down full length. The gong. The coroner’s round.
• Round 13—Both boys have to be helped from the mourners’ bench. Anderson’s face is badly swollen and the Kid has only one eye. Anderson feints with the left and lands a feeble right swing on the esophagus. The Kid drops to his knees and takes nine. Parlor sparring for a full minute. Anderson tries to clinch, but his weight knocks the Kid over. The crowd is on its feet and yelling wildly. The partisans of Price demand that the decision be given to him; Anderson’s followers ask the opposite. The referee makes a megaphone with his hands and announces that the agreement is that no decision is to be given. Kid Mills jumps up with a towel in his hand and makes as if to throw it in the ring, but is held back by Young Clift. The referee finally gets the boys on their legs again and they clinch. In the breakaway Anderson lands on the neck. Price retaliates with a straight to the left shoulder and Anderson spins around and goes down, his back to the Kid. Cries of “Put them out or their misery!” The boys are clinching at the gong.
• Round 14—Young Bellis and Battling Trippe carry Price to the middle of the ring, stand him up and then run. Anderson is pushed forward by Kid Mills. Price falls over and knocks him down. Both take the count of nine. A clinch. Anderson gets in a few puerile slams to the ribs. Price replies with a jejune wallop to the neck. Anderson tries a right swing, misses by four feet, loses his balance and falls over the ropes, bent double like a jack-knife. His head reaches below the level of the ring. Cries of ‘Take him out!” Restored to his legs, Anderson belts the Kid over the head with his open glove. The Kid goes down like a felled oak, striking and knocking down the referee. The gong saves him at the count of eight.
• Round 15–Bellis and the Battler, aided by Pete Campbell and Pat Maloy, drag the Kid from his corner and hold him up until Anderson can be brought forward by Kid Mills and Cy Keen. The referee counts three and the handlers jump back. As they do Anderson and Price fall into each other and go to the mat together. The referee counts 10, but they do not move. He counts 10 again. Still they stick to the rosin. Anderson has began to snore, but the Kid is sleeping as peacefully as a baby. Chief Serman, of the Salisbury Fire Department, hands up a bucket of water, and the referee sloshes it over the boys. The crowd begins cheering. One side yells “Price wins!” The oherr side makes it “Anderson wins!” The referee: “Ladies and Gentlemen—The agreement is that I don’t make no decision, but if you was to ask me, I would say it was a dog fall.” [Cheers and laughter.] At the gong the Kid is carried out of the ring by Kid Beck, Young Bellis and the Battler. A few moments later the remnants of Young Anderson are removed by Kid Mills, Doc Levister and Cy Keen, with half a dozen clergymen acting as honorary pallbearers. No decision.

After the bout Anderson was taken to the Peninsula Hotel and Price was removed to his training quarters. Later in the day Price revived sufficiently to show himself to the cheering crowd, but his handlers decided that it would be wiser for him to spend a few days in retirement, and he is now at the Salisbury City Hospital. Anderson was also taken there during the night. Both boys are badly battered, but it is not thought that either has suffered serious injury. Arrangements for a return bout are already under way, and Anderson has proposed that it be held at the Lyric Theatre, in Baltimore, in order that sports from the upper parts of the State may have a chance to attend. To this proposal, it is reported, Young Bellis and other backers of Price are disposed to agree. But so far no date has been set.

In the meantime Salisbury is jubilant over the success of yesterday’s encounter. The Greater Salisbury Committee sent out photographs of both gladiators to a selected list of 2,000 American and foreign papers and made a gallant effort to boom the town as a sporting centre. The result is shown by the clippings which pour in. All the New York papers carry long reports of the bout this morning, and the Telegraph gives a whole page to it. More than 150 newspaper correspondents were present at the ringisde, including all the ladies of the New York sob squad.

The telegraph facilities were excellent. Both the Western Union and the Postal had direct wires to the ringside, and rapid operators were brought here from Baltimore, Philadelphia, Washington and New York. The running bulletins were dispatched instantaneously, and the more philosophical reports, written at leisure later on, were handled in a masterly manner. Altogether, more than 40,000 words of matter were sent out between 6 A. M. and midnight. In addition the Bell Telephone Company transmitted thousands of words.

Kid Mills and Young Bellis, who were in charge of the financial arrangements, report that the gate receipts were $8,358. From the peanut and pink lemonade privilege a revenue of $1,800 was derived and the moving-picture men paid the lump sum of $3,000 for their franchise. Thus the change taken in came to $18,158 in all. Deduct the expenses–$35 for the tent, $500 for the fight permit, $500 for the ring officials and $1,000 for sundries—and it appears that more $11,000 remains to be divided between the boys. Each will get half.

The sports assembled here are much interested in the coming bout between Young Rayner and Kid Cockran, and Young Hanna and Knockout Carrington. The prevailing opinion is that Kid Cochran, who has taken on a lot of weight of late, is due for a terrific drubbing. Regarding the other bout opinion is somewhat divided, but the Carrington fanciers seem the more eager to put down their money. Two bets, one of $1,000 to $850 on Carrington, and one of $400 to $350, were recorded this morning. Plenty of Rayner money is being offered at 2 to 1, but the more crafty sports are holding back for better information.

Both Anderson and Price are confident of victory in their next encounter. “I ate a table- de-hotey dinner coming down in the train,” said Anderson today, “and it gave me the fan-tods. In perfect condition, I could have put the Kid out in four rounds.” Said Price: “I ran a nail in my foot just before the bout and broke my hand in the third round. In good condition, I could have Anderson ready for the embalmers in four rounds.”

Incidentally, Young Anderson pulled himself together this morning and began issuing challenges by the dozen. He offers to meet Pat Maloy for half the gate and a side bet of $2,000, and Young Pete Campbell on any terms offered. He is also hot on the trail of Kid Coady, of Baltimore, and says he will meet either Bob Crain or Knockout Preston before any recognized club in Baltimore any time before Thanksgiving Day.