Distinctly Montana Magazine

37 w w w. d i s t i n c t l y m o n t a n a . c o m If Shelby were unable to host the match for any reason, the initial $100,000 would be paid to Kearns. Then Kearns sent the telegrams asking Dempsey to fight in Shelby to the As- sociated Press. Soon newspapers all over the country were writing about the event. A Great Falls American Legion represen- tative named Loy Molumby was dispatched to New York, where he found himself in way over his head. Somehow, he returned to Montana having promised Kearns and Dempsey another $100,000. And until he got this third $100,000, Kearns wouldn't an- nounce publicly that Dempsey had committed to fighting, even as hundreds of carpenters were working on building a 40,000- seat stadium made entirely of wood in relatively treeless Shelby. The stadium would end up costing another $82,000. If Kearns wouldn't publicly speak about the fight, then the trains were reluctant to sell tickets to Shelby. Yet if thousands and thousands of people actually did attend the match, much more rail passage would be needed. Body Johnson concocted a plan to sell help pay for the second $100,000. He would sell that amount in tickets at American Legions throughout the state, so he chartered a plane to take him to every post. After his third stop, his plane flew into a power line and crashed. Johnson was injured, but not mortally. In the end, they were able to make the second payment only after James Johnson agreed to put up half. On July 1st, three days before the fight, Kearns still hadn't gotten his money yet. So he canceled the fight. Shelby pan- icked. By then, they had already offered Ke- arns almost everything they had. They had even asked him to take 50,000 sheep instead of the money. Kearns declined with savor. "What the hell am I going to do with 50,000 sheep in New York?" he asked at a Great Falls press event. James Johnson resorted to desperate mea- sures, leasing his properties and businesses, and borrowing what he could. He came up with the third $100,000, but if the scheme failed he'd be more or less ruined. Kearns was satisfied. The fight would go on after all. Of course, lots of folks had just canceled their tickets when they heard that the fight was off. On the day of the fight, the projected 40,000 people swarming the town was more like 12,000. SHELBY Dempsey and his manager, Doc Kearns

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