The third round was a hot mill, lasting from seven to eight minutes. Some twenty blows were exchanged on each side, and then Allen again began his attempt at fouls. The crowd was quick to detect this, and equally quick to discountenance it.
"Foul! foul!" was the cry on all sides. In another moment the ropes were cut, and the spectators pressed into the ring. Addressing Allen, some of them said:
"If you can't lick this man by fair means, you can't lick him at all!"
Talk became loud and furious, and some pistols were drawn, but without any serious results.
Meantime, in the midst of the intense excitement which prevailed, Ben was eager to go on with the fight. The referee, however, decided that it should stop, and as there was no appealing from this decision, the party made its way back to the train. On the way back Hogan fell into conversation with the referee, and asked him point blank what his final decision on the fight was to be. Ryan answered that he thought he should call it a draw. Ben insisted that the stakes ought to be given to him, inasmuch as he had won the first round, while in both the others Allen had been clearly guilty of a foul.
Eagan, the stake-holder, made his brags on the train that whatever the referee's decision might be, whether for or against Hogan, he, Eagan, had got the money in his possession, and should keep it.
Some of the party who were disposed to be friendly to Ben, suggested that he might secure Eagan's arrest for embezzlement, and accordingly upon their arrival in Omaha, the stake-holder found himself in the clutches of the law.
Three days after his arrest, Eagan gave up the money. He said before trustworthy witnesses that if he had had his own way about the matter, he should have paid over the entire stakes to Hogan, because, in Eagan's opinion, he was justly entitled to them. It may be added that, when Eagan got back to St. Louis, he stoutly denied ever having made any such assertion as this. But perhaps there were some strong influences brought to bear to induce the stake-holder to forget what he had previously said.
Ben remained in Omaha for some days after the fight. During that time he received a telegram from St. Louis informing him that, as soon as he made his appearance in that city, he would be shot on sight. In answer to this threatening communication, Ben simply telegraphed back to secure a hall for the purpose of a benefit. From which it would appear that he was not very much frightened at the threatening message.