Life and reminiscences of a 19th century gladiator

Front matter

JOy)H i...euLu)vAKt

IN THE DAYS OP TOM SAYERS^

if^

Chapter I. Boyhood And Boxing Beginnings

Is IT Him?" — A Sample Case of Curiosity — Family Reminiscences — Sullivans in the Revolution — A Proud Mother of Two Governors — School-days and Youthful Battles — Woods, Dwyer, Chandler, Hogan, and Donovan Overcome — First Collision with an English Champion — Joe Goss dazed — Names and Dates in the Championship Succession of England .... 19

Chapter II. Rounds Of The Pugilistic Ladder

Young Ambitions and Old Battles — Anecdote of Heenan and Sayers — Yankee Sullivan's 'Heel as a Talisman — Strong where Achilles was Weak — Double Victory over the " Champion of the West " — "I 've seen a Foot Race " — Ryan says, " Go and get a Reputation " — The Sporting World Surprised — Steve Taylor, Geo. Rooke, and Flood — The Champion Rank in Sight — A Glance along the Line 36

VI CONTENTS.

Chapter III. The Championship Reached

Incidents of Training for the Big Affair — The Mississippi Legislature calls, " Break Away ! " — " It is a Snap Game " — Newspaper Drolleries — Two Dusky Sisters personate Ryan and Sullivan — A Lively Drama, with Climax in less than Eleven Minutes — Champion Ryan Supplanted — The Top Round of the Ladder . . 59

Chapter IV. A Series Of Picnics

The Combatants Interviewed at New Orleans — Ryan says, " I am Through " — Funny Comments on the Fight — Old Deaf Burke Escapes with a Bowie Knife — How THE News was received at the Home of Winthrop and Adams — An Ovation to the New Champion as he Journeyed — How a Reputation for Oratory was Won — Jimmy Elliott, a Fireman and a Blacksmith, Downed with Gloves 87

CHAPTEP V.

TWO "ARTFUL DODGERS" FROM ENGLAND.

Tug Wilson gets Seven Thousand Dollars for Floor-Crawling — Under Manager Harry Sargent — Some Funny Knock-Outs — With Coburn — " Splendid Sparring " Delights Spectators — Boston Benefit, the Greatest ever • IN New England — The "Sprinter "-Sparrer Mitchell Saved by the Police — Comments of Senator Conkling. 99

CONTENTS. Vll

Chapter VI. Victories With The Gloves

Am Antagonist from the Antipodes — "Mace's Maori," the Half-breed Slade, brought from Australia "to beat Sullivan " — A Conquered Foeman, he becomes an Active Ally — Enlists in the "Sullivan Combination" — Mace Challenges and then Begs to be Let Off Easy — "It would Break My Heart to be Knocked Out" — Who has Elevated Boxing, and How . . . .118

CHAPTER Vn.

GREATEST " KNOCK-OUT " TOUR ON RECORD.

How it Feels to be Knocked Out — Curious Effect of a Blow on the Chin — "Did I Win?" asks One on Becoming Conscious — The Poet Moore's Witty Epigram on a Pugilist in Parliament — The Puddler says, " Holy Murder ! I Never Thought a Man could hit so Hard" — "No Man on Earth can knock me out in Twelve Minutes " says Gipsy Brady — " Don't Hit Him ANY more, Sully"; "He's Crazy," cries the Crowd — How THE " Battery " played on the Hoosier — A Joker's Grotesque Collapse — A Burly Engineer says,

" Do You WANT TO be STRUCK BY LIGHTNING ? " — ShE WAS AFRAID HER HUSBAND WOULD KILL SULLIVAN — ThE

Frenchman's Antics — The Tragic and Comic Curiously Commingled 132

VlU CONTENTS.

Chapter VIII. Big Glove Engagements

Prof. Laflin defeated Despite his Crawling and Hugging — Strange Visitors at Monico Villa — Ambitious Boys Drink Blood — " Lord Bless You, Hi don't Hintend 'Im Hany 'Arm ! " says Cockney Greenfield — No Need OF his Assurance — McCaffrey Vanquished — An Exciting Moment — "A Woman Overboard ! " — Frank Herald challenges, but gets "Enough" — Ryan again Vanquished — A Mishap with Cardiff — Painful Delay WITH Surgery 157

Chapter IX. In The Land Of Tom Cribb And Tom Sayers

From New England to Old England — Immense Receptions in London and Other Places — Made a Member of the Pelican Club in the Presence of Nineteen British Peers — Invited by the Prince of Wales — A Pleasant Meeting — "Sullivan is the Quickest Heavy Man I Ever Saw," said His Royal Highness — A Handshake Recorded in Verse — Very Successful Tour of Great Britain and Ireland . .... 177

Chapter X. Battles Both Sides Of The Atlantic

With Sprinter Mitchell in France — He Turns the Match into a Race — Arrest and Escape — Home Again — Hearty Reception in Boston — A Dreadful Sickness — Challenge Accepted to Fight Kilrain for the Cham-

CONTENTS. tX

PTONSHip — An Old fashioned Victory — Kilrain Vainly Vies vvirii the Sprinter— Pursuit and Prosecution by THE Governor of Mississippi — Enormous Legal Costs — First Appearance as an Actor 197

Chapter XI. Pacific Ocean Voyage — Home Conclusions

Visit to the Antipodes — Sandwich and Samoa Islands, New Zealand and Australia — Entertained py Royalty — Admired by Aborigines — Return, and Theatrical Tour in the United States — Home Again — Estimates of Fighters Met — The Gamest Group — The Sprinter Set — Summary of Objections to London Prize- Ring Rules — Superiority of the Marquis of Queensbury Rules 229

Chapter XII. Training And Divers Topics

Advice and Exercises for Health, Strength, and Agility, Based on Long and Varied Experience — A Prominent ^ Physician's Examination — Ancient and Modern Appreciation of Boxing — The Match with Corbett the Closing Contest of a Championship Career — Future Farewell to the Arena — A Hint from the Heroic Form of Hercules at Training Quarters — The Captured Lion's Skin to be a Mantle of Peace . . . 254

REPORT OF DR. D. A. SARGENT'S EXAMINATION.

Anthropometrical Charts and Plates — Also Special Measurements of John L. Sullivan, Taken while in Training for the Contest with James Corbett, Showing Physical Record and Muscular Development . . 283

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

JOHN L. SULLIVAN.

PADDY RYAN.

CHARLEY MITCHELL JOE GOSS.

TUG WILSON.

JACK KILRAIN.

JOHN T. FLOOD.

DOMINICK McCAFFERY.

STEVE TAYLOR.

HERBERT SLADE.

JEM MACE.

ALF. GREENFIELD.

JEM CORBETT.

THE BELT.

PLATES OF JOHN L SULLIVAN,

Taken August 13, 1892, while in Training for the Contest with corbett.

1. Pull Back, showing natural poise.

2. Back, showing muscular development of arms and shoulders.

3. Side Vie^w, showing depth of chest during extreme inflation.

4. Half Back.

5. Anthropometrical Chart.

PRELIMINARY.

" You are a writer and I am a fighter, but here is a man that could both write and fight."

^HEN that plucky fighter, Miles Standish, said this to John Alden in the old Puritan days, he showed that men who could do these two things were prized by the people then as they are to-day. We know that the makers of histories are glad to get an account of deeds by a man who did them ; such as one by John Sullivan, who struck the first blow of the Revolution in capturing from the British fort the powder that was afterwards used at Bunker Hill. The man who is both the author and the subject of this book does not want to compare with his namesakes among the generals and governors that fought and wrote to make the Republic, except as far as to remark that their father came from the same spot in Ireland as his father; but he cannot be blamed for wanting to finish his own record of fighting with one bold round of writing.

*' There never was, in the whole histor}^ of the art, a more remarkable or interesting boxer than Sullivan,'* was what John Boyle O'Reilly said in his work on '' Athletics." He had, like Byron, a hand and eye for boxing as well as poetizing, and whether he was right or not in this decision, let every reader in the arena of this book be the referee.

Here it will be seen that the author in his career on three continents and the islands of the ocean has had more encounters, with swifter victories, has won larger sums, and held the championship longer against a greater variety of contestants, than any in the world. It will be seen, too, that in his tours extending from the Pacific coast to the coast of France, from British Columbia to the Sandwich and Samoa islands and the shores of Australia and New Zealand, he has met the greatest popular demonstrations and has come into novel contact with all sorts and conditions of men from the royal to the savage.

A prominent paper says : " Excepting Gen. Grant, no American has received such ovations as Sullivan."

As to the length of time in which the championship has been held, if we look back through records of Goss and Mace, of Hurst, ** the Staleybridge Infant," of Sayers, who was the pride of England, of Perry, " the Tipton Slasher," and of the other famous fighters, to the opening of the century, when the praises of Tom Cribb were sung, we find that their hold ranged from three or four months to as many years ; and yet more than a dozen years have passed since the author, then only a youth, knocked out Goss, vanquished Ryan, and received the submission of Mace ; so that he became a connecting Hnk between the championship of England and America.

The championship of America has, therefore, been held a greater number of years than there were minutes in the winning of it. While the victories of other champions were often measured by hours, those of the present one were won within the range of a few minutes and sometimes even a few seconds.

As regards the esteem in which the champions have been held in England, in old contests, we read that they were patronized by the great men and even princes and kings.-

** There is nothing that interests me like good boxing," said Sir Robert Peel. " It asks more steadiness, self-control, ay, and manly courage, than any other exercise."

Lord Althorp went further, and said in an eloquent address : —

** As to the advantages of pugilism, I have seriously been considering whether it was not a duty that I owed to the public to attend every prize fight which takes place."

** Amid the confusion presented by the fiercest and closest cavalry fight which had ever been seen," says Sir Walter Scott, writing of Waterloo, " many individuals distinguished themselves by feats of personal strength and valor. Among these should not be forgotten Shaw, a corporal of the Life Guards, well known as a pugilistic champion."

In his poem on the Heenan and Sayers fight, which aroused national pride in England and America, Thackeray wrote : —

" Ah, me ! that I have lived to hear, Such men as ruffians scorned; Such deeds of valor * brutal * called. Canted, preached down and mourned."

But the present champion does not feel that it Is his part to defend the old-fashioned prize fighting, because his record shows that he has protested against the ring rules and the system of using the bare fists, which were the cause of the abuses that turned public opinion against it. In the course of a hundred contests during his career, he has consented to the London Prize Ring Rules and given up the use of soft gloves only in the few cases connected with the championship where it was made a necessary condition for winning the title. In fact, his persistency in this direction has been the source of much of the criticism that has been made upon him.

'^ The popularity of the Marquis of Queensbury Rules in this country," says an article in the Philadelphia Times, " only dates back to the advent of Sullivan as a fistic champion."

As to what he has accomplished with gloves, the same article says : —

'* Some very clever men have been produced since the four-round glove contest came into vogue, but the master of them all, and the greatest glove fighter of this or any other time, is the founder of the school, Sullivan."

PKKTJMINARY. 1 7

The ancient Athenians who so prized the profession of boxing that they would not admit to it any but free and reputable citizens, covered their hands with leather and metal in order to make murderous blows. It is hard to see how our modern critics can admire them, and yet withhold appreciation from a native of the ^' modern Athens " who covers his hands with soft gloves to temper the blows.

His claims are not introduced in the spirit of boasting, unless the telling of the plain, admitted facts can be called such, but in order that he may give his patrons the honest return for their money in his book, as he has always endeavored to do in the ring.

With the same idea he has taken advantage of his varied experiences to give his readers interesting comments and episodes on divers personages and localities, and has sought to add to his book a permanent value for the amateur, as well as the professional, by embracing the records and rules of the ring, the best methods of training, and general advice on athletics.

With these additions to his record he trusts that the book will prove its own apology for challenging public attention, and that the *' fighter and writer " will not be thought to have forsaken his colors, for leaping over the ropes, just this once, from the ring of the athletes into that of the authors. * * *

Chapter I. Boy?iood And Boxing Beginnings

Is IT Him ? " — A Sample Case of Curiosity — Family Reminiscences — SULLIVANS in the REVOLUTION — A PrOUD MoTHER OF

Two Governors — School-days and Youthful Battles — Woods, Dw'YER, Chandler, Hogan, and Donovan Overcome — First Collision with an English Champion — Joe Goss dazed — Names and Dates in the Championship Succession of England.

RE you going to stay caged up here all day? "

''Yes; rather than run the gauntlet of the gang laying for me in front of your hotel. Do you know if I ventured out there now I would be grabbed by the arms and legs and almost pulled to pieces by fellows that want to feel my muscle ? "

The scene was in a Western city, and was one of many encountered by the speaker.

''That's him sure." "No." " I tell you he went up that way." "Big?" "You bet. Hold on till he comes down," — were some of the ejaculations heard from the crowd that s\/ayed in the office and surged in the street.

" Why, I am not safe even in this private room. Only a little while ago the door was opened with a bang and a chap with a tragic stride and stagy voice " —

" Is it him? " was the interruption just at that moment from a gawky looking Paul Pry, who peered through the door. *' Is it him?"

The bent of his curiosity seemed to have turned his nose into a corkscrew and his neck into an interrogation mark.

*' It is him — now go."

In spite of this assurance he continued in a kind of litany, with ''Is it him?" until, in a moment when he had just reached *' Is it" — the "him" rose with the rage of Hercules crushing the hydra and hurled the animated question from the room.

" It is him ! " was heard in the hallway, and between the sounds of halting steps, and as he stumbled down the stairs his words arose like the '' Excelsior " of the Alpine youth, '' It is him ! "

This is the style in which they tell of the curiosity to see the champion out West, and it may be taken as a sample of what has met him during his career with all degrees of dignity, from that of the Prince in England to the native in Samoa.

The author, now that he has decided to round out the career which gave rise to it, does not desire to remain any longer " caged up," but to present himself as far as he may be of interest on the printed page.

" Oh, that my adversary would write a book," was the saying of one who beHeved that an author ahvays makes himself a mark for attack. In spite of this I am willing for once to drop my guard, ceasing to lead off, to feint, to fib, to duck or ward, allowing my head to be held in chancery between the covers of a book, and yet looking for lively cross-counter dealings.

I WAS born on the 15th of October, 1858, in Boston, my parents then occupying a house on Harrison Avenue, nearly opposite Boston College, the location being about that of the new Homoeopathic Dispensary. Here we lived until I was ten years of age, when we moved, successively, to Parnell and Lenox streets and Boston Highlands.

My father was a native of the town of Tralee, in County Kerry, Ireland, and my mother of, Athlone, iu County Roscommon. Both are now dead. The remainder of the family are a sister and a younger brother.

As I am the only one who has been noticed for size or strength, people have sometimes been curious to know from whom mine came, particularly as my father was a small man, being only five feet three and one half inches, and never weighing more than one hundred and thirty pounds. My mother was of fair size, weighing about one hundred and eighty pounds, and some have given the credit to her. One writer, after I had grown in reputation as an athlete, said : *' Sullivan derived all his great physical strength from his mother,

22 LIP^E AND REMINISCENCES.

who in her youth was considered a woman of remarkable physical and mental powers." Whatever there may be in this, it should be borne in mind that my uncles and the other relatives of my father in Ireland were all large men, and were known in their section of the county by a Celtic word which might be translated as " the big Sullivans."

Here it may not be improper to mention the great family of Sullivans known in American history, as their father came from the same spot as mine, to settle in the same part of this country, and as they were remarkable for size and muscular strength, in addition to their powers as governors, generals and judges. John Sullivan was in 1774 a member of the first General Congress. In December of that year he took a leading part in the daring achievement of a party of American patriots who rowed by moonlight to the British fort, William and Mary, near Portsmouth, overpowered the force, and captured a hundred barrels of powder that were afterwards used at Bunker Hill. In this way a Sullivan has received the honor of striking the very first blow of the Revolution.

During the Revolution he was regarded as one of the most trusty officers in the service of Washington and was by his side on the Christmas Eve of 1776 when he crossed the Delaware and routed the British. After the success had been gained he was made Governor of New Hampshire.

Governor James Sullivan of Massachusetts, his brother, was one of the commissioners appointed by Washington, to settle the boundary lines between the United States and the British Provinces. His son of the same name was a man of physical as well as mental strength, and won reputation as a judge.

John L. Sullivan, another son of the governor of Macsachusetts, possessed high ability, especially in science and engineering. He constructed the great Middlesex canal, which was the connection between Massachusetts and New Hampshire before railroads ; and he also invented the first steam tow-boat, for which he was awarded a patent in preference to the famous Fulton.

The mother of the two Governor SuUivans, as might be expected, was a woman of much spirit. There is a story told of a visit which she paid to the governor of Massachusetts when he had as his guest his brother, John, of New Hampshire. The servant, not knowing her, informed her coldly that she could not see the governor — he was engaged.

" But I must see him," exclaimed the old lady.

*' Then, madam, you will please wait in the anteroom."

" Tell your master," said she, sweeping out of the hall, *' that the mother of two of the greatest men in America will not wait in anybody's anteroom."

The Governor having called his servant, on hearing the report said to his brother, *' Let us run after her; it's mother for certain.'^ Accordingly the two governors sallied out, and soon made amends for her offended dignity.

Like almost all Boston boys I was given good oppor-> tunities for education. I was first sent to the Primary School on Concord Street. My teacher there was Miss Blanchard, a lady that stood no nonsense from any of the boys. But she was good hearted and had as much interest in the poorer class of children as she had in the upper ten. After going through the primary school I went to the Dwight Grammar School on Springfield Street and graduated. I attended night school at the old Bath House, Cabot Street, which was afterwards turned into a voting place election house. I never had much trouble with the teachers in any of my school experience.

Miss Jones, of the grammar school, sent me one day for my medicine which I received at the hands of my old friend, Jimmy Page, who was principal or head master of the school. That was the only time that I ever had to take the rattan, which I did like a little man. It was commonly taken for granted that if a boy cried he was a weak one. I guess I wanted to cry but I couldn't,-although he gave me what I deserved; and I was quite a hero after that among the other boys'. During my school years in spare time and after school I played ball, marbles, spun tops, and did everything of the kind that boys do. I had no occupation to take up my attention after school hours, and of course went through all the sports that boys go through at that time of life.

As to my studies I took better to mathematics than I did to anything else, and I was always on the lookout to avoid geography when it was geography day. My travelling experience has since given me more real facts about geography than I could have learned in a book in ten years. In school days I had many a fracas with the other fellows, and I always came out on top.

After leaving the Public School I went to Comer's Commercial College, and attended about one year. From that I went to Boston College, Harrison Avenue, where I studied about sixteen months. It was the desire of my parents to have me study for the priesthood, but it was not mine.

My first work was in the plumbing trade with the firm of Moffat & Perry. In those days it was the custom with boys, generally, when they wanted to become apprentices, to be bound to a trade by their father; in other words a man signed a written contract to teach the trade so that the boy would become a master mechanic after learning the business. I had gone for a situation, and as I thought I would like plumbing, I got a position for myself I worked at the plumbing trade for six months. When the water pipes in the old Williams Market, which had an armory overhead, at the corner of Dover and Washington streets, were frozen, a journeymen and myself were sent there. We went with all the necessary appliances which were used for thawing out pipes in the plumbing business, including a lighted torch and hot water, and after a half day's work at that, the journeyman and myself had some words, in which I told him that I thought I had carried water enough and that he could have a few hours at that work himself. This caused some feeling between us and resulted in our having a scrap over the affair, and he made his escape to the shop, which was only a few doors from where we were working. I was paid $4.00 a week for being an apprentice. The journeymen at that time were paid all the way from three to six dollars a day.

Naturally, after I left school, I joined base-ball nines, among which were the Tremonts, Etnas, Our Boys, and several other clubs. As I was considered a pretty good base-ball player, I had been offered $1,300 if I would play ball for the Cincinnati Club in the years 1879 and 1880.

I left the plumbing to learn the trade of a tinsmith with James Galvin, corner of Warren and Dudley streets, for whom I worked eighteen months, and quit on account of disagreement with a man who worked on the same bench, who had just become a journeyman as I became an apprentice. Then I went to playing baseball again with different amateur clubs.

The first time I ever put a boxing glove on was at a variety entertainment at Dudley Street Opera House, Boston Highlands ; and when I went to the entertainment I did not expect to be called upon to do that; but at that entertainment there was a strong young fellow named Scannell, who stated to the audience that he was anxious to meet me or any one in the audience. I had the reputation of being able to hold my own with any young man, and, after considerable talking one way and the other, they asked me to put on the gloves with Scannell. I did not want to do so, but finally consented.

I was working at tinsmithing then, and had no tights nor had made any arrangements for boxing, but simply took off my coat, rolled up my shirt sleeves, and put on the gloves. When we put up our hands, he hit me a crack on the back of the head, and the first thing I did was to punch him as hard as I could, knocking him clean over the piano which was on the stage. This was the first actual experience of mine at boxing, and I will never forget this experience, nor do I think he will.

I quit my trade as a tinsmith because I could not agree with the journeyman who worked on the same bench with me. We argued a great many different subjects ; about dogs, game cocks, base-ball, and anything and everything in sporting circles, and a great many other things. We never could agree on anything, because he claimed he always had something better than anybody else. His dogs were better than any I had ever seen ; his game cock was better than any I had ; in fact, anything I had was no account, and his was number one. Our quarrels and arguments kept up quite a while until finally he said one day something about proving to me that I was wrong, and wanted to fight it out to prove it; and when I said, " All right; come out into the yard," he quit, and would not go. If ever I wanted to lick a man in the world, he was that one, and I would have given a good deal if he only would have come out.

From that I went to the mason's trade, at which I worked about two years and learned that on account of having a better opportunity, as my father used to work at the business.

I played amateur base ball with a great many teams before I took to boxing. I was paid twenty-five dollars a game for playing with the Eglestons, of which they would play two games a week, — Wednesdays and Saturdays. For them I played principally first base and left field, although I could play in any position.

At the age of nineteen, I drifted into the occupation of a boxer. I went to meet all comers, fighting all styles and all manner of builds of men, until the present day. I never was taught to box; I have learned from observation and watching other boxers, and outside of that my style of fighting is perfectly original with me. Some one has said that old Prof. Bailey claimed the credit of teaching me, but he was wrong in the assertion, as I never took a boxing lesson in my life, having a natural ambition for the business.

I was always a big fellow, weighing two hundred pounds at the age of seventeen, and I had the reputation for more than my proportionate share of strength.

I remember one time of a horse car getting off the track on Washington Street, and six to eight men trying to lift it on. They didn't succeed, and so I astonished the crowd by lifting it on myself. I used to practise such feats as lifting full barrels of flour and beer, or kegs of nails above my head, but I gave up those things as I found that men who did feats of strength made themselves too stiff for any good boxing. I could lift a dumb-bell with the best, but I do not use more than a two pounder, as it is nimbleness and skill that a boxer needs.

It was on account of these feats that I first got the name of *' Strong Boy." There was a light boxer named Fairbanks that I called *' Billy-go-lightly," and he replied by calling me '' John, the Strong Boy."

Now that I have touched on the subject of nicknames, I may as well give a little list of titles that have been given to me after various victories in the ring, not with the idea that I endorse them myself; but that —