On November 12, 1910, The Saturday Evening Post published a short story by Jack London, “The Benefit of the Doubt.” In itself, this was not an unusual occurrence. London had been a fixture of the magazine since their serialized publication of his novel The Call of Wild in 1903. In fact, they had just published his story “When the World Was Young” back in September.
Yet the response to “The Benefit of the Doubt” was anything but usual. Its publication stirred up quite a sensation in London’s home state of California. The newspapers published excerpts. They wrote lurid headlines. They reveled in the details. Why did this particular story, which is not much remembered now, elicit such a frenzied response in California?
Because readers knew the truth behind the tale.
And the truth, as Mark Twain said, is stranger than any fiction.
The story of “The Benefit of the Doubt” began earlier that summer, on the evening of June 22, 1910, in an Oakland dive bar. Jack London was in the city making preparations to attend the “Fight of the Century” in Reno, Nevada. Jack Johnson, the first Black heavyweight champion, was going to battle Jim Jeffries, a former champion who many saw as their “great white hope.” London was on special assignment to cover the event.
According to The Book of Jack London, he walked the Oakland streets, where he had once lived, noting how the old neighborhood had changed. He purchased several copies of Jeffries’ autobiography, planning to give them as favors in Reno. He had the books under his arm when he entered the Tavern around 6:30 p.m. Newspaper accounts refer to the Tavern as a tenderloin resort,” a colloquialism with distinctly unsavory connotations.
Exactly what transpired inside the Tavern is a matter of some un-pin-down-able controversy. What is known for certain is that the next morning, London appeared in court with a freshly blackened eye. Timothy Muldowney, proprietor of the Tavern, was in court as well, also sporting a shiner.
The two men accused each other of assault, and a pair identical charges were brought up. Police Judge George Samuels agreed to hear their cases jointly, as all the evidence and testimony would overlap. He also agreed to postpone the trial until after the Reno fight, at London’s request. A $30 bail was paid and America’s most famous novelist was released.