July 1-5, 1910: The Times’ Harry Carr writes from Reno: "The 'battle of the century' made me think of nothing so much as the butchery of an old bull.

"When, at the end of the 15th round, old Jeff lay, half through the ropes, smeared with blood, the light all gone out of his eyes, stricken and helpless, I half expected him to give the 'moo' of a dying bull.

"When the moving pictures are shown I think you will see a strange thing — that Jeffries lay in the exact attitude of the statue ‘The Dying Gladiator,' as he was being counted out, with this addition: The group will have another figure, a tigerish, fierce black giant standing over the bleeding gladiator, his terrible fists waiting.

"I felt sorry for poor, old Jeff, but most of my pity went out to the black man.

"I never before saw any human soul so shaken with fear.

"When the fight began Johnson was so frightened that his face was a deathly, ashen gray. His lips were dry and his eyes were staring with a sort of horrified terror. He seemed utterly friendless.

"Out of that enormous pack of humanity I saw only one face that turned up to him in sympathy. That was the drawn, tragically beautiful face of the white woman who is Johnson's wife."

Here's Johnson's 1931 account of the fight.

On the jump, stories by Jack London and Harry Carr.