Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-05-14
suLIlvANsAND THE MINER.


t Boston Pugilist.
The history Of the tour OF the John Il.
sullivan Combination in the Wild West is
an Interesting one, but the chief actors In
many Of the occurrences are not anxious
to make them all public. Sullivan,s busi-
ness maflagez however,. is fond OF relating
tho storH Of how tile great pugilist came
near meeting hi match In Colorado.
b, ut was Ia ono Of tho mining towing,
the manager said. s.You see, whenever we
gave an exhibition we advertised that IL
anybody 81 the country wanted to spar
with 6univan, with o. without gloves. he
would b accommodated. Well when we
arrived In this little place we found q chal-
lenge already waiting. There was min
or there who was anxious to meet sullivan
on the stage and spar four or five rounds
with bare fists. found that thu other
miners had made up q purse of $500 and
were willing to, back their man to that
amount OF oourse, lowered it. perfectly
confident that Sullivan would win. We
were going to exhibit that night and Suln-
van had been drinking pretty heavily for
two or three days though he had not
missed any performances Our rule was
to have semeAf the other members Of the
corabtnafin give exhibitions Of wrestling
'andAparring; and then conclude by letting
ono OF them wind up with Sullivan, unless
there Was somebody In the audience who
wanted to try (which did not occur very
often. Upon making inquiries In the VII
lage during tho day, heard SO much of
this man the miners had backed against
sullivan that made up my mind to 20
and have look at him. They called him
the hairy man - r
81 found him training dn . whiskey sa-
loon, and for the first time on that tour l
was scared. He was six feet three inches
tal,2weighed 22O pounds without having
an oance OF supertluous flesh, and he was
covered over with thick black hair like a.
Newfoundland dog. His arms were as
hard a. bars OF iron, and all tho miners
SAID that he had great deal of science and
struck terrible blow. found that he
bad reputation for miles around. and
that there had even been talk about rats
Ing money to send him Fast to challenge
Sullivan. Sullivan had been drinking so
much that ] feared he would meet his Wa
terloo, unless could induce the other to
give up the fight. So told him that Sui ?
Ivan had been drinking, that he was very
ugly and that it would not be safe to fight
with him that night. The hairy man
only laughed and said that If Sullivan
could stand it. he could. His confidence
scared me, because every pugilist-no mat.
tor who he is--whe has ever fought SulE
van has been very nervous about meeting
him. and this fellow was happy about it. j;
finally told them thatpd forfeit the 5000
nthey'd keep the hairy man off the stage
thoe night, OF course putting it on the
ground that Sullivan might kill him. But
tt;was no use; they said Sullivan must
night OF they'd all get together and tar and
feather him = ~ 8 a.
ss.t When I told Sullivan that I'd tried to
got thesnghtof, he was furio us and I &C.
euall Thought he'd assault me- He 40 i
eAsed maof trying to destroy hts reputa-
t1Rn. and said that he was never in better
A4httn8 condition In his life. He was SO
mad that It sobered him, which was one
GOOD effect anyway We gave the exhibit
1a0n IN hall that was male to hold 2, 900
persops. but more thstn 5000 We're piled
INTO u and hundreds OF pe rscns had come
scores Of miles for the .su ast on. l found
that all the betting WIS on the hairy man
and was entirely propar2 | TO see Sulli-
van get whipped. When they came on to
the stage Sullivan could hardly wait for
dlDe to DO called, and he glared at the
hairy man like q tiger. The hairy man
yAs a. confident IS ever, and his friends
$ellsd themselves hoarse in admiration.
When time was called Sullivan made q
furious rush at the hairy man, struck him
just once between the eyes, and knock cd
him senseless OF the stage into tho audi
torium. was 30 sure he was killed that
made Sullivan get out Of the hall and
Wepere to leave the place in hurry for
lear bed be lynched. It took us twenty
minutes to bring the hairy man to him
seh, and we only managed 1t then by cut
ting Oh his thumb-nail and making incis-
tons In the quick of the thumb under
meath. And II you ever saw humbled
and admiring gang, It was the friends of
that miner. They were all down at the
't1a1n 70 $50 Sullivan OF In the morning,
'lxld the hairy man shook hands with him
Without saying q word. absolutely speech
49, with Sdmiration. THIS was the only
dime feared that Sullivan had met his
match" ess -.