Aurelio Herrera - Gilbertgia.com

so, I command a certain respect as a scion of an ancient race. I
am not ‘low-brow.’ Perhaps I paid too much attention to …
what my manager advised. I have been accused of cowardice
and of being afraid to meet Nelson at his weight. I will … fight
Nelson anywhere, from the back parlor to the neck of the
woods, at any time he names.” 171
Other Hands In The Pie
Herrera’s letter didn’t melt any hearts at the Los Angles
Times, and a week later the paper offered its readers an
imaginative story about Tommy Jacobs working as a waiter at a
“Spring Street ‘booze’ café.” In the story Jacobs was taking an
order from Battling Nelson and manager Billy Nolan when Nolan
sniffs the air and remarks, “What’s that dead smell around here?”
to which Jacobs answers, “I beg your pardon, sir; it ain’t Aurelio,
sir. He’s been buried, sir-- long ago, sir.” 172
171 Los Angeles Times, Jul 4, 1906, II5. Herrera’s attorney in Bakersfield was
George E. Whitaker who was also attorney for Madame Marie T. Brignaudy and
saloon owner and investor Carlie Withington, both of the Bakersfield tenderloin.
Daily Californian, Jun 1, 1906 (from Los Angeles): “Frankly he should be barred
from [boxing], but the fact that he is illiterate and was acting under advice of his
manager is a little excuse for him…”
172 Los Angeles Times, Jul 6, 1906. Although the pugilistic life was
unpredictable, boxers admired Herrera’s success: In Jan 1907, a few weeks after
the canceled Nelson-Herrera fight, a Los Angeles pugilist was dying at Los
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