[Cap]

From The Tacoma Western Courier October 8, 1904...Supporters of Gunboat Smith are stunned to see their man go down to defeat without giving himself a chance to show his mettle...Experts feel he threw away his best chance to win by deciding not to use his ring science against the mighty gnome-like champion, instead looking to surprise him by attacking right out of the gate...Sam Langford reacted like the true warrior he is, avoiding his opponent's rush and countering with explosive power, dropping Smith to his knees for a count of six...The rest seemed a foregone conclusion as the Californian fought mostly on retreat from that point on...The end came in the eleventh round when Smith, one eye closed and his nose and mouth bloody, visited the canvas three times in quick succession, forcing the referee to halt the contest and award a technical knockout to Langford...Amazingly, a check of the one official scorecard showed Francis had scored it 5 to 2 for Langford with three rounds even...No one, except maybe Smith's manager, saw it anywhere near that....