C kapi e r Eig f

As the dramatic events of 1916 unfolded, Darcy began to regret hisdecision,to rebuff Kearns and stay in . He was subjected to mounting pressure to enlist and his instinct was to follow the example of his good mate Eric Newton and other friends who had volunteered for active service. But his top priorities remained steady. His earning power depended on a steady supply of top quality opponents, a supply which almost dried up during 1916. As for the world title, neither the titular champion (McCoy) nor the generally recognised master (Gibbons) could be lured to Australia. Clearly, the answer to both problems lay in the United States. A handful of lucrative fights with well-selected opponents, including McCoy and Gibbons, would yield the money that his family required, as well as the undisputed mid- dleweight championship. Perhaps he could even claim the heavyweight title if the giant Willard could be per- suaded to meet him. During the year H.D. McIntosh offered Darcy a con- tract for a number of fights and a vaudeville tour in the US. Dave Smith describes the offer tersely, not giving a date. Hawkins places the McIntosh proposal `just after the George Chip fight' which was on 30 September. In reality the approach must have been earlier in the year because by this time Darcy had made up his mind to go

203 to America and was desperately trying to get a passport. scrubbed the contract as soon as I read it. McIntosh Unluckily the one detailed account of this episode comes was as mad as a hornet. Very few people bucked from Mick Hawkins, whose stories are inconsistent and H.D. and he was sore. He threatened to stop Les unreliable. In his memoirs Dave Smith makes a brief ref- there and then. Said he'd move heaven and earth erence; the bare facts seem to accord with Mick's. to stop Les getting fights if he went to America This is Mick's story, trimmed to the bone: under his own steam. Mick Hawkins At this stage of his career H.D. McIntosh was blow- ing in Darcy's ear about going to America. H.D. was This is an unlikely story on several counts. Mick running the Tivoli shows and the Sunday Times in Hawkins had no authority to scrub the contract, and . He had been working on a scheme to spon- McIntosh had no reason to make wild threats at that sor Les in America and earn a few shekels for himself stage. It is much more likely that he would come back at the same time. Just after the [Chip] fight, H.D. pro- later with another offer, especially if he were confident duced a contract for Les to go to America. It provided that Darcy would be able to leave the country only if a guarantee of £6000 for a six months vaudeville tour strings were pulled by himself, `Huge Deal' McIntosh. and three fights. I took one gander at the contract. Five weeks after the bout with Hardwick, Darcy was It was chicken feed in my book. I wanted £6000 for matched with his old friend, Les O'Donnell. The older one title fight and would have got it. Les tried valiantly to come to grips with Darcy but Mick Hawkins could not last beyond seven rounds. Darcy then had two weeks to prepare for the return bout with K.O. This is Mick being interviewed. by Merv Williams for Brown on 8 April. the Sporting Globe in 1954. Mick being in his late sixties, he speaks as though he was Darcy's manager, which he During March, Australian troops began to move to the never was. Tommy Hanley, who gave a cutting of this Western Front. They took their position in the line near interview to D'Arcy Niland, commented: Armentieres in Northern France. `Madamoiselle from Armenteers, parley voo' entered the Anzac folklore. Mick's the last person on earth anyone "would take to a business conference. There must have been This was an upsetting time for Les. I'd never seen him someone else there, maybe Freddie [Gilmore]. Knew so depressed. Mrs Darcy was seriously ill again. He Mick well. He's up in heaven now. He was one of the said, `Pearl is only fifteen; she can't look after Mum whitest men who ever lived. and the baby too.' And away he went, breaking train- Tommy Hanley ing, the first time he ever did. Winnie O'Sullivan Les had beaten every middleweight in the world barring McCoy who held the title [not true]. I Darcy had been psychologically `down' for the first

204 205 Brown fight, after the build-up for the McGoorty Australian inexperience produced a series of disasters at contest and the exhilaration of victory. For the second .Fromelles, Pozieres and Mouquet Farm. A daylight attack Brown match he was `down' physically and mentally. after prolonged bombardment virtually amounted to a He had lost weight and his stamina was not as robust suicide mission; Australian forces advanced, bogged as usual. The fight again lasted the full twenty rounds down, were surrounded and fought their way back. More with no knockdowns on either side. Many regarded it than 5000 casualties resulted in a single night at Fromelles as a training canter for Darcy but in his weaker and and the 5th Division was out of action for several months. worried condition he made heavy weather of it. Then it was the turn of three other divisions. The next two bouts, in May and June, were against Piecemeal advances on narrow fronts played into the second-raters.- The Rumanian Costica was completely hands of the German defenders. Artillery barrages overawed and outclassed. He managed to grapple for churned the soil from No Man's Land to the aid stations three rounds, until Darcy landed some telling blows, and the reinforcements in the rear. Hundreds perished whereupon a police inspector stopped the fight. without firing a shot, on the way to their positions or waiting in the trenches for the whistle to signal the I go by boat now, Crouse he soon follow. Darcy `Hop Over'. On the attack, machine guns cut swathes knock him out quick, you see. through the advancing lines, men were trapped in wire, Costica drowned in shell holes, buried by the explosion of heavy shells or simply blasted out of existence. Waves True to this prediction, Darcy knocked out Crouse of troops were thrown forward through mud, forests early in the second round. reduced to matchwood, townships turned into smoking Desperate for quality opposition, Snowy reverted to rubble and carpets of dead and wounded to make gains Dave Smith. Finding, as usual, that his business enter- of a hundred or two hundred metres. Then the line on prises did not prosper Gentleman Dave returned to the the map could move forward and the War Cabinet and ring. They fought in Sydney in late June; the return the press could give out the good news. Repatriation match was to be in Brisbane in August. Smith showed hospitals in Australia from then to the present day all his skills and battled gamely^_but could not hold his became repositories for men reduced to physical or brilliant protege beyond twelve rounds. mental husks by that descent into hell on earth. At this stage of his career Les had few problems in the ring. However, events in the wider world began Even before these losses became known in Australia, to create problems far beyond his control. Between his the pressure for conscription had intensified. At the two fights with Dave Smith, the Allies launched the same time the patriotic reaction to the anti-conscrip- disastrous campaign on the Somme, partly designed to tionists became more heavy handed, both through take pressure off the hard-pressed French at Verdun. official censorship and direct action at public meetings. The Anzacs were thrown into a cauldron of fire. Various combinations of English incompetence and

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ANGRY CROWD From the war cemetery 70,000 PEOPLE IN THE DOMAIN Fog quiet Another attempt in the Sydney Domain yesterday Comes no hint afternoon to hold a meeting in favour of anti- that men died conscription proved futile. With curses and mud A crowd of 70,000 people, led by a contingent in their mouths .... of men in khaki, showed clearly that they were not M.E. Bertram going to tolerate any such utterances as those usually given birth by the representatives of the Both the conscriptionists and some anti-conscription- [anti-conscription] league. ists had hopes that the Prime Minister would support The police fought to keep the thousands back, their cause upon his return. Everything depended on but they were powerless. In a moment the soldiers Hughes and his message from the War Cabinet. He had had seized the table and trestles and overturned the made a huge splash in Britain, being lionised up and speakers. down the country as he gave rousing speeches on the It was a noisy, swaying crowd, angry in the theme `Wake Up and Win the War'. He also performed extreme, and for a moment or two matters looked less spectacular but significant work to build up a fleet very ugly. of Australian ships to carry primary produce for the war Sydney Morning Herald, 24 July 1916 effort. Scandalised by the duchessing of the leader of the working classes, the radical newspaper, the Worker, Patriotic fervor stirred on 5 August for the anniver- warned Hughes not to mistake the popping of cham- sary of the declaration of war. Premier Holman pagne corks for applause from Labor supporters at appeared at a Town Hall meeting, the Empire League home. Sections of the labour movement and especially met at St James Hall, with the President, H.D. McIntosh the trade unions were mobilising opposition against in the chair. At St Andrews Cathedral the Archbishop conscription. Hatred of Hughes and war effort ran so delivered a fiery `Fight On' speech-'Spare no men, high in some circles that the topic of debate was not so spare no cost. Men and more men,°-munitions and more much the rights and wrongs of conscription, but how munitions.' much violence should be used to resist it. Dave Smith remarks that the loudest calls to duty Hughes arrived in Perth at the end of July 1916 and came from those ardent patriots who were not expected received a hero's welcome as he travelled east. Urgent to enlist and could never be conscripted. The dead sol- telegrams followed him from London demanding diers offered comment of another kind: further raw materials for the factory of war, the `human sump-pit' on the banks of the River Somme. Gallipoli had been a shock; the Somme was far worse with 28,000 Australian casualties in a matter of weeks. Eager to provide extra men, the Australian Prime Minister was

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frustrated by the pace of voluntary enlistment, though London that very morning, making urgent demands for it was running near 10,000 per month. Hughes did not large numbers of reinforcements. The call to the people check whether the generals were making proper use of almost died inside the party room. Cabinet accepted his the men, whether the flow of volunteers would satisfy proposal by five to four. Then in caucus after four days reasonable demands and whether conscription would of debate Hughes finally forced a two-vote majority indeed solve the problem. In this tragic lack of proper among the survivors at 2.30 in the morning. In the consideration Hughes was matched by William Hol- House on 30 August he announced that the people man. He also accepted the official view that the flow of would have their say on the matter in October. Strictly volunteers was inadequate. As the Premier of the most speaking this would be a plebiscite, not a referendum, populous state, and the only politician in Australia of as no Constitutional matter was at stake. comparable stature to Hughes, Holman's counsel was probably crucial in Hughes's decision to push for con- scription by way of a popular vote. With Darcy turning twenty-one in October the prospect Hughes spent the month of August crossing the of conscription obviously threatened his boxing future. country, sniffing the political wind but giving no clear More immediately, his interests faced a significant threat indication of his intentions. Previously, Labor confer- on another front. More groups of patriots turned their ences in Victoria and NSW had overwhelmingly passed attention to boxing and especially to the activities of the resolutions against conscription, as did the Melbourne Sydney Stadium. The middle-class Roman Catholic Trade Union Congress. To overcome implacable Labor weekly Freemans Journal sharply criticised the practice of opposition to conscription in the Senate, Hughes re- importing pugilists `To Amuse Australian Shirkers'. Pro- solved to seek a mandate from the people. in the hope fessional pugilists were labelled social parasites `who toil that the Upper House would not stand in the way of not and wholly fail to spin'. The 27 July editorial shouted: the popular will. It seemed obvious to him, and to most of his patriotic advisors, that the almost universal SHUT THE STADIUMS support for the war effort would be manifest in support A GROWING DEMAND FROM THE PUBLIC for conscription. Thousands of youths of military age are flocking to bruising matches between young athletes-who The man who for more than twenty years had have also shirked military duty. thrilled to the power of his voice ... was entranced Freemans Journal by the view of himself speaking over the heads of the Labor movement to ' the people of Australia. In July a deputation of senior clergymen, academics Donald Horne, In Search of Billy Hughes and public figures from the Council for Civil and Moral Advancement approached the Chief Secretary of NSW On 24 August Hughes confronted the Cabinet with to close down boxing for the duration of the war. his referendum proposal, fortified by a cable from Snowy Baker was under acute pressure, though he had

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toiled mightily to put himself and the stadiums. at the He made the most godawful fuss, raved up and service of the war effort. He umpired boxing matches down like a madman. Dave had bad sinus trouble, in army camps, used the stadiums for recruiting drives he was always trying to cure it, squirting salt water and fund-raising matinee sessions, and took a leading up his beak and that. Ah, he was a card. role in the effort to raise a `Sportsman's Thousand' of Mick Hawkins, trainer volunteers. It is not known whether Dave Smith spoke to Darcy My word, didn't Snowy Baker cop it at this time. on the voyage about the possibility of his enlistment. Why don't you enlist, people were saying, you're He was so proper a man that the subject would most so keen on everyone else joining up? Baker gave as likely not have been broached by him unless the good as he got. He had courage, I have to give him beleaguered Darcy had asked for advice. It is well that. His story was that he had tried to enlist. Only known that Dave Smith believed Darcy should accept a bad back kept him away from the Front. But it one of the attractive offers the Army had made to him. didn't keep him out of movies, we all noticed. His Dave had it in mind that if Darcy could get overseas he athletic stunts were as hair raising as ever. He would certainly have an opportunity to box Georges didn't use a stunt man. Harald Baker too. He joined Carpentier, who would not leave his own embattled up for a couple of months and was discharged. country. Another bad back. Well, we have to be charitable, It is easy to empathise with Darcy. He had spent I expect. seven or eight months bedevilled by rowdy persecution. Eric Pearce His mother had been ill for months. He was bombarded by rich American offers and yet he was not allowed to Unwillingly, Les Darcy had agreed to meet Dave go to America. He had offered a bond of £1000 which Smith in a return match at the Brisbane Stadium. He he would forfeit if he had not returned within six was aware that he far outclassed his old master, and months. The offer was refused. But other boxers, actors, he still had reservations about the propriety of match- and businessmen were allowed to leave Australia with- ing a pupil with his teacher. But-',.Dave was in need of out a bond. money, and pressed for the bout. It was "scl eduled for 16 August 1916. Dave, Mick Hawkins and Darcy trav- It must have been in sheer desperation that he decided elled by coastal boat to Brisbane. to enlist. During a recruiting rally before the fight with Dave Smith was notoriously accident-prone. He hated Dave at Brisbane Stadium he promised to sign up for travelling overnight in a train because he always fell out military service, preferably in the Flying Corps, in which of the sleeper. Once in a train he stood up to stretch and he had become interested. put a fist through the window. On the Brisbane boat he felt queasy, bolted for the side, slipped on the wet deck I gave the recruiting sergeant my name and said I and banged his nose on the rail. would go up to the Barracks on the Friday. You

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know I've always had an inclination that way. I The Dave Smith contest was, as they say, a boxing tried to enlist two years ago in Maitland after the exhibition, with Darcy holding his punches and Smith Fritz Holland fight, but they wouldn't have me demonstrating his still admirable agility and grace. Once because I was too young. I will still have to get my Darcy hit his old, mentor on the damaged nose. He parents' consent in writing. stepped back, holding up his gloves, saying, `I'm sorry, Les Darcy Dave.' Ringside patrons also heard him say repeatedly, `Give in, Dave, please give in.' He stopped Dave Smith in Are you mad? the eleventh round. Telegram from Mrs Darcy On Sunday, Darcy travelled to Sydney by train, un- accompanied by Mick, whom he met later. Here enters When Les Darcy's mother heard from Brisbane of the wildcard, playing his own game, quite separate her son's intention, she was so badly affected' she from that of Darcy's powerful enemies in Sydney and had to consult a doctor. This information was Melbourne, the dark, supple, plausible young man imparted by Mick Hawkins, trainer of the cham- featuring in the Darcy story as Sully. He is known pion, shortly after his arrival from Newcastle. He variously as O'Sullivan or Sullivan; most of Darcy's was accompanied by Darcy who has come down acquaintances thought he was Sullivan, but one of the to get ready for his fight with Jimmy Clabby. writers of this book heard from his own mouth that he Hawkins saw Mrs Darcy. He said there is no doubt was `always O'Sullivan'. His given names were Edward the news had shocked her and put her back in Timothy, and he was also known as Ted, Ed, Tim, and health. Her health is very poor. Tom. Melbourne Herald, 24 August 1916 One cannot imagine that Sully boarded the same train as Les by coincidence. Without doubt there was family pressure on Les. The entire Darcy legend is so archetypically plotted Mrs Darcy was terrified of Les's or Frank's enlist- by destiny that as Sully slips gracefully into the ment. Almost hysterical if it was ri entioned. And she storyline, the professional writer thinks: `But he wasn't a hysterical woman but a very strong one. should have had an earlier reference, however Winnie O'Sullivan slight, a pointer to the reader that this mysterious Judas is waiting in the wings.' But in fact in the Mrs Darcy had a horror of war, perhaps some Darcy history Sully is never mentioned until that moral reservation. She couldn't even speak of it. train journey to Sydney. And she feared losing Les. He was her life. But all D'Arcy Niland, writer mothers felt that way in their hearts, how could it be otherwise? It is impossible to believe that Darcy and Sully had Father Coady not met before, however glancingly. O'Sullivan was a

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hanger-on, a frequenter of racecourses and bookies, a Sully had been a stable boy with Fred Cush's dad. part-time organiser of bicycle and foot races, a young But he ended up owning racehorses. man who was one of that 'idle, often somewhat ambig- Leo FitzPatrick, boxer uous crowd who drift around in the boxing and racing worlds, haunting dressing rooms, running errands, O'Sullivan did indeed train some boxers, the best placing bets, doing a bit of rubbing, picking up a dollar known of whom was the tiny bantamweight, Jimmy here and there. He was, in his way, a small entrepre- Hill, whom he had taken to Brisbane to fight and beat neur who did not lack audacity, and was not necessarily Frank Thorn that August. On the long journey back to untrustworthy. In later years Mick Hawkins maintained Sydney he and Darcy talked for hours. everyone knew Sully was a twicer, a shonk, a two-bob bigshot, but that was probably hindsight and chagrin I can quite see that happening. I think Darcy was that his counsels to his dead friend had not prevailed at the end of his tether. He was blocked on every against Sully's convincing charm. side. He could see no legal way out of a predica- ment that was outrageously unjust and none of his I interviewed him by phone in 1963. His voice was making. And here was this young fellow, sympa- old and thin, yet it had a certain sweet succulence. thetic, charming, very Irish, which might seem He said he was seventy-three. He was born in 1888 familiar and disarming to Darcy, willing to listen at Newcastle. Therefore he was twenty-eight when and agree with the boy's ambitions. To me, Sully he met Les. He was very forgiving about Darcy, to told a most plausible story. Though I had on my whom he referred as a poor misled boy. He said desk direct contradiction of much of it, I found half he'd been a footrunner and footballer and had my mind agreeing with it. Of course this must have played for against New Zealand. been the way it was. He was a con man by instinct. He ran a second in the Stawell Gift. Later I told this D'Arcy Niland to Tom Cubitt, the old trainer, who said `Bull!' D'Arcy Niland, writer Darcy told me he had been trying for six months to get to America. He had failed in all his plans. He Sully wasn't well regarded. `What the " heH ' you as much as told me he had offered £1000 to two doing with him?' Mick Hawkins said once in my or three different parties to get a passport. In the 'hearing. No matter what he said, Sully was never event of his lawyer failing to get a. passport on his mixed up much with fighters. Yes, he managed return to Sydney, I could go ahead and make Jimmy Hill. Yes, it was him at the bottom of Darcy arrangements for our departure. He said he would skipping the country. Got his money, of course. pay me one-third of his earnings while in America Who was paying for him but Darcy? Got his and also I could manage him. I can honestly say no money and left the poor little bugger to fight it out. one else assisted us in any way to leave Australia. Tom Cubitt, trainer E. T. O'Sullivan

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Some of this is true. Darcy's solicitor, or more likely Darcy was the great drawcard for Stadiums Ltd and the solicitor of the Lord Dudley O'Sullivans, presently they could ill afford to lose him. Indeed, the effective visited Melbourne in an attempt to obtain a passport. conscription of Darcy so enraged the anti-conscription- ists that they blackballed the Stadium. Only the final It was a large sum of money for those times. I don't Darcy fight, with George Chip of America, brought a know whether it was meant as a bribe or for the full house. guarantee for his return to Australia. The solicitor's As for Darcy, he could not fulfil his mission for his name was Mr McLaughlin, and Les gave him £100 family if he could not fight at the Stadium. His decision to cover his expenses. My brothers saw him do it. only makes sense if he had already made up his mind Well, Mr McLaughlin didn't get the passport, and to travel to America. But how? His own attempts to after Les's death he sued the Darcy estate for his obtain a passport, and those of his solicitor, had so far expenses. Won, too. failed. O'Sullivan had broached the possibility of a clan- Winnie O'Sullivan destine departure. And a tantalising glimpse of another avenue is furnished by a press report in the Sydney Sun Until the present day, many people have believed on 19 November 1916. A feature of this report is the that the enlistment at Brisbane was a publicity stunt. extremely careful phrasing which was quite likely sub- Given Darcy's honest and non-manipulative character jected to a legal opinion before publication. one sees it rather as an act of frustration. Ironically, at the time, it was not Darcy but the unfortunate Snowy LES DARCY Baker who was accused of engineering the entire thing OFFERS MADE TO HIM to hype up interest in the Smith contest. Mr Baker, FOUR SEPARATE NEGOTIATIONS aghast, confronted as severe an attack on his integrity GOLD BOUGHT IN SYDNEY as Darcy had in previous months. Baker was assailed by both conscriptionists and anti- The article notes that Darcy's prospects for making conscriptionists. To counter the bitter hostility from the money in the US are highly favourable in view of the first party, his solicitor advised that an announcement extensive publicity he had received in the US press by should be issued that at the conclusion of DDarcy's con- way of Snowy Baker's newsletter. The author refers to tract, no more fights would be arranged for the cham- the failed attempt by Kearns to coax Les to the land of pion unless he enlisted. On 24 August (the day that the free, then proceeds: Hughes fought Cabinet for his referendum) Darcy met Stadiums Ltd and issued a statement to that effect. A few months ago a second offer was made to Snowy Baker claimed that this was Darcy's own sug- Darcy to go to America to fight a stated number of gestion, a claim supported by several of Darcy's friends. bouts for a sum of about £6000. The proposition This was a very significant decision, and one that was thought out by a prominent city business man. seemed to run counter to the interests of both parties. The person who had undertaken to finance the

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venture flooded the American sporting papers with rendered valuable services and the incident was matter concerning the Australian's doings. Darcy, closed. however, refused to sign papers and pack his bag Sydney Sun, 19 November 1916 unless more money was offered. A conference was held one afternoon not many This account raises far more questions than it weeks ago in an office in the city, when pugilism answers but there is little prospect that the questions in the United States was the subject under discus- will be answered. Fragments of information provide sion. There were present four or five persons. some clues to the identities of the interested parties. Matters were only verbally agreed upon and a No doubt Snowy Baker was involved. He had been move was made to get passports. Certain persons negotiating with various contacts in the US for a undertook to pave the way for the departure of Darcy tour even while he locked Darcy into a con- Darcy from Australia and a large sum of money tract to keep him in Australia until the end of 1916. was mentioned in consideration of the work to be These negotiations, of course, make a mockery of done. For a few weeks everything appeared to be Baker's later vilification of Darcy as a man who ran working satisfactorily in connection with the get- away from his responsibilities to his native land. As away. described in the next chapter, various people in the But someone else wanted a finger in the pie, and US expected Corbett, editor of the Referee, to arrive there arose certain complications. He determined in America as Darcy's manager. to play a part, and lost no time in approaching Presumably McIntosh was one of the parties, if not Federal Ministers, but they were unable to grant the prime mover. A press report in the US even certain requests. He returned to Sydney. Interna- named him as the prospective manager for Darcy's tional law was well studied. Chile is a neutral tour. When the story was repeated in the Sydney Sun country, and anyone landing there has a right to (and reprinted in the Maitland Mercury) McIntosh travel where he likes without passports. The com- launched massive law suits against both papers, bination who had the negotiations in hand for the prompting the retraction of the stories with apologies departure were treated coldly. A pressman was told to McIntosh. he would not be taken away as manager. The latest Further speculation as to, the personnel and plans man in the negotiations became a very busy indi- of this business combination will serve little purpose vidual. For days men had been buying sovereigns unless fresh evidence can be found. However, a great from bookmakers and other sources. attraction of the `combination' theory is the explana- About three weeks ago there was a heated tion which it provides for the violent and prolonged argument in the office where plans had been anti-Darcy campaign waged in the press on two or made for the departure, and everything was more continents until the day he died and beyond. If declared off between the parties. The person Baker and McIntosh had spent time and money pre- who had been working in Melbourne and Sydney paring the ground for a Darcy tour then clearly they

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would feel themselves to be cheated if Darcy threat- Public meetings in parks and halls were broken up ened to reap where they had sown. Without an by rival partisans. In the early stages returned sol- explanation of this kind, the campaign against Darcy diers in uniform took the lead in disrupting anti-con- is hard to comprehend. Certainly the simple rejection scription rallies. Later the tide shifted towards the of the McIntosh offer by itself (as described by Mick anti-conscription movement and it was the pro-con- Hawkins) hardly justified a campaign of revenge. scriptionist meetings which were more likely to be Soon after the second Dave Smith match came the disturbed. return bout with Jimmy Clabby, by now a warm Workplaces, townships, families, even schoolyards friend of young Darcy. The champion did not show were divided. his best form, though he loosened some of Clabby's teeth. The match lasted twenty rounds but the Around 1916 when I was eight years old, in a crowd became impatient and the two men were country school at old Junee, I recall wars in the counted out several times. playground. Conscripts against Anti-conscripts. Possibly the most interested spectator was George The opposing combatants of course reflected Chip, previously world middleweight champion, vis- home opinions. iting Australia under the management of Jimmy Letter to John Barrett, published in his book Dime. He hoped to rejuvenate his career for another Falling In: Australians and `Boy Conscription' shot at the title which he lost to Al McCoy. 1941-1915

Jimmy Dime and George Chip were as merry as The pro-conscription forces appeared to have the sandboys after the Darcy-Clabby fight. They big guns on their side-all the conservative politicians both agreed that Darcy would have to improve and organisations, the major newspapers, the Angli- considerably to have any chance against Chip. can church leaders, Roman Catholic leaders in Perth Will Lawless and Sydney, even a significant section of the Labor Party including the State Premiers in Western Lacking film cover of previous fights, or reliable Australia and New South Wales. For the opposition reports, Chip and Dime could not realise how far were the trade-union movement and associated radi- Darcy's performance on the night fell short of his cals. Poets and cartoonists weighed in on both sides best. with wall posters a major feature of the campaign. The resistance created legends, such as the efforts of While Darcy faced his own agonising decisions, the Henry Boote, editor of the Worker, which sustained fabric of Australian society began to unravel. The an avalanche of pamphlets and posters despite the supporters and opponents of conscription turned the best efforts of censors and patriots to disrupt produc- country into a battlefield in the most sustained, tion and distribution. tumultuous and divisive episode in Australian history. Hughes set the tone for a dirty campaign, heaping

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abuse and scorn on those who did not support him Darcy did an exhibition with Jimmy Clabby. Darcy -'if you are not with me in this, I want nothing was supple, lightfooted, boyish-looking and solid more to do with you.' He even maligned previous as a wall. Street organs used to be played in those colleagues in the Labor movement who did not days and one `grinder' parked his music-box approve of compulsion but had their own sons in outside the main doorway of the Stadium. Just as the trenches. Clabby and Darcy got going on their exhibition While Darcy prepared for the Chip fight, the NSW stint, the organ-grinder got going on `Swanee', then executive of the Political Labor League expelled Prime a popular hit number. As the tapping, popping, Minister Hughes and withheld endorsement of feinting and mock slangwanging of the first round Premier Holman for the next State election. Hughes ended, Darcy caught the swing of the tune. Shrug- was then expelled from. the Trolley, Draymen and ging his muscled shoulders and tensing his slim Carters Union as well as the Sydney Wharf Labour- hips, he swayed about as his feet shuffled to the ers Union combinations which he had crafted and tune `How I love you, how I love you, my dear old led through many grim campaigns. Finally he was Swanee'. expelled by the electoral council of West Sydney, his James Vance Marshall political base since 1894. The Military Conscription Referendum Act passed, pro- After all the American talk of being `chipped', Darcy viding for compulsory voting for the first time in a was always in control when he met Chip. The Ameri- Federal poll. And on 29 September 1916 the citizens can started confidently and, to his credit, remained on of Australia were shocked to read in the morning the attack as best he could, throughout the match. papers a proclamation from the Governor-General that eligible men between the age of twenty-one and Darcy could have won in the first round. He carried thirty-five should report forthwith to recruiting sta- Chip into the ninth. He permitted Chip to hit him tions, to enter camp for military training. Certain of a whenever the fancy took the American. The `Yes' victory in the poll, Hughes had jumped the gun vaunted right that was to knock chips off Darcy to start training early. Exemptions, were available for was as ineffective as a lightly tossed eggshell. In many reasons but this relief was tempered by the the ninth round Les tired of the toying. Heeding requirement for successful applicants to be finger- the impatient exhortations of the customers, he printed to avoid a trade in exemption certificates. raked Chip. with lefts and rights, back-moved and from perfect poise timed a right to the jaw inside Whatever problems Darcy faced outside the ring, he Chip's left and the American sprawled in a heap of could still relax as the master of his realm within it. `chips'. That was that. The novelist James Vance Marshall attended a matinee Bill Corbett, journalist session at the Stadium prior to the Chip contest. Despite his confidence before the fight, and the

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burden of American hopes that he carried, Chip was conversation with Les at the Sydney Stadium on Sat- generous in defeat. On his departure in the following urday, 21 October. Les was present in support of his year he had nothing but praise for Darcy. friend Jim Tracey who boxed an American, Tom McMahon. Sully checked that Darcy was still defi- Other men have been unnerved when they got into nitely interested in leaving the country. He maintains the ring with Darcy but I went in and deliberately he then went to Newcastle, carrying a letter of intro- forced the fighting. No man can take Darcy's punch duction from the Minister for Agriculture to the owner and stand up. Willard? Say, Darcy would lick Jess of a pub much frequented by officers and crew from sure - if they let Les use stilts. vessels in port. There he made arrangements with the Freemans Journal, 1 March 1917 captain and chief steward of the Hattie Luckenbach. He returned to Sydney to pack and exchange banknotes The referendum was four weeks off and the return for gold, using his contacts with bookmakers. match with Chip in Melbourne was five weeks away On Monday 23 Les gave an interview for the Sydney on 6 November 1916. Other events began to accelerate Sun, a newspaper which was very much `on his case' with the reappearance of the Brisbane `wild card'. at this time. At this stage it seems that he was unaware of the arrangements that O'Sullivan had made. He cat- A month after the August trip back from Brisbane, egorically denied any plan to travel overseas, though he Sully rang me up at The Spit and asked me to come joked about a sea voyage to Newcastle on his way out to Randwick where he boarded. I went out to home to Maitland. He then proceeded to the Stadium see him and he told me he knew of a boat in New- to collect his fare for a train trip to Melbourne, also to castle. He said how much would you give to get arrange for a trainer and a rubber in Melbourne for the away. I said £100 and he said I can get the two of second Chip fight. us away for £75 each. I agreed. Sully claimed the According to Darcy, on the afternoon of Tuesday 24 Minister for Agriculture worked it for him with the he went to Randwick and was told that the passage was captain of the boat but I don't think so. Sully arranged. Wednesday was spent in final preparations arranged with Giro Gallaglerkfor £30 to take our before the pair travelled with the Buick on the steamer trunks aboard. to Newcastle. Les Darcy to Father Coady, 12 April 1917 Darcy wrote numerous letters recounting events from Wednesday evening, and part of his published letter to There is no full account of Darcy's last weeks in Will Lawless is reproduced below. Father Coady also Australia. Our most reliable informant, Darcy himself, provided a memoir of the last evening when Mrs Darcy described only the September meeting with Sully and was told of the plan. the last two days in Australia. Events between must On Wednesday evening Les faced the agonising task be pieced together from disparate fragments. Sully of bidding farewell to the Lord Dudley O'Sullivans, provided a story of the last week, starting with a especially Winnie, and to his friends at The Spit, Eric,

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Harry and his `second mum', Lily Pearce. On this latter more to forget America and stay in Australia but mission he was accompanied by Les Fletcher who tells he was adamant. He was so sure that he would be the story. After an initial farewell, Les and his compan- back in Australia in six months time and would ion left in the car. Les, perhaps pleading some forgotten then enlist, that he was quite happy at the prospect item, returned, no doubt to the surprise of Lily for before him. He saw no dangers ahead, and laughed another goodbye, a process which was repeated no and joked at every argument I used in that charm- fewer than seven times. Lily was casual at first and ing, cheerful, boyish manner so characteristic of simply laughed as the pantomime continued. Clearly Les. He left me at 6 p.m. that evening. He caught the lad was unwilling to tear himself from the peace the 9.30 train for Newcastle that night, and on and security of his second home at The Spit, and arrival, went straight and stowed away on board unhappy to leave such a dear and trusted friend without the Hattie Luckenbach, and next day, 27 October a proper explanation. When the news broke that Les 1916, he was well out on the high seas. had gone overseas, Lily was distressed and wailed, `He His mother and I might have apprised the could have told me.' authorities to intercept his leaving, but we argued From The Spit Les drove to the Newcastle ferry for that it was in confidence he spoke to us, and we the trip to East Maitland and the inevitable protests could not well betray him. We just kept our grim when his mother learned of his fateful decision. secret and began hoping and praying for the best. They arrived early on the morning of Thursday 26, Father Joe Coady with only that day to spare before boarding late on Thursday evening for a dawn sailing on Friday 27. Les takes up the tale which he told in many letters.

Les told his mother of his leaving for America on I left by the 10 o'clock train for Newcastle, and, the afternoon of the day on which he sailed [actu- after meeting Sullivan, we took a taxi and drove to ally on the day he_ went on board, Thursday, to sail Stockton. On arrival at the wharf we were met by next morning]. She rang me immediately to come an individual who smuggled us on board without over to see her. I was stationed at West Maitland any trouble. then. Les interrupted her on the phone and said to He stowed us away in the hold under a ton of me: `Don't come over, Father, I'm going over to see sails which almost crushed the life out of us. All you.' He came and told me all about it. through the night we lay in these unsavoury quar- He said his mother was greatly disturbed and ters, but I was tired out and slept well. worried and begged of him to remain in Australia. Les Darcy I supported his mother in all her arguments and pointed out the danger of going abroad without his Next morning, with the vessel on the open sea, the friends and condemned his trust in absolute strang- stowaways moved from the hold to a pantry. ers. I begged and pleaded with him for an hour and

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The place didn't look too inviting, as there was no when we fixed up with the agent for a big oil air, and the heat was intense. However we were company vessel to take us to New York for £52. scarcely in a position to complain, and there was There was not much chance of doing any work nothing for it but to grin and bear it. on board, but we walked nearly all day, and that We were both horribly seasick and at times we did me a lot of good. I went up to 13 stone 4 lb thought we had reached the end of the section. Sul- stripped, but after a week in New York I was back livan looked awful and once or twice I really around 12 stone again. thought he would die. We arrived at the mouth of the Hudson on He groaned all the time and occasionally December 14. screamed out, `I am going to die.' I was so sick I Les Darcy could scarcely hold my head up, but I simply roared with laughter at him. After we had been a few hours at sea, one of the crew came down, opened the door, and we walked upon deck. I can tell you I have never been more pleased to see God's own sunshine. I took in great gulps of fresh air and soon felt myself again. We had to toe the mark before the captain, who asked us all sorts of questions, and then sent for the first mate and gave him a dressing down for not searching the ship properly. In a couple of days we recovered from our sea- sickness. We chummed up with the crew and the rest of the voyage was enjoyable enough. I gave my name as James Dawson. Les Darcy I A few days later, the captain of the Luckenbach received a wireless message that the referendum of 28 October had resulted in a slender 'NO' majority.

We had a little trouble at Taltal, as the captain is supposed to put off stowaways at the first port of call and, of course, he had to do so with us. However we were only there for a day and a half

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