These were the conditions of our meeting: We were to be locked in a room, with the privilege of using any means of defeating each other. Of course, weapons were excluded, but any other pleasantries like biting, clawing, choking, gouging, were not only allowed, but really essential. He who first begged to have the door unlocked and to be taken from the room was the loser.
I held the championship for some time. In fact, I relinquished it voluntarily not long afterward on account of several changes which occurred in my life.
I should not blame you in the least were you to feel disgust and contempt for me for writing of it and for seemingly to glory in it. Your disgust is justified, your contempt is not. I myself am disgusted with my past and its several stages of degradation, but I have pledged myself to tell you the truth, and I am doing and will do it.
Perhaps you may despise me for it, but put yourself in my place and you will be less severe. There was something brewing and fermenting within me which wanted to assert itself. I wanted to be somebody; to be successful. It is a frank confession.
Will you blame a blind man for choosing the wrong path at the crossroads? Will you not, instead, lead him in the right direction?
Was I not blind when I stood on life's highway and could not see the pointed finger which read: "To Decency, Usefulness and Manhood"?
And there was no one to lead me.
Yes, criticise, sneer, if you will, but do not forget that in my life there had been no parental love or guidance and no moral influence.
The attaining of my championship revived the interest of the "sporting set" of the Bowery in me, and several flattering offers were made to me by certain dive-keepers. I changed from place to place and left such a trail of noble deeds behind me that ere long I found myself a real, genuine celebrity and a man with a name.
I never had any difficulty in getting work at my calling—that of a "bouncer," called, for the sake of politeness, "floor manager," as my connection with any place meant additional customers. I was splendidly equipped for the position, and my fame kept steadily increasing until I thought myself on the sure road to success.