Little Falls transcript., 1886-01-15


5IsUILIVAN AND TEE MINER.
Il An nUnwritten Incldsnt In the Life OF tho
Unconanersd BOSTON 4 SGiadiator.
n n hdail and Express.
The hist ory Of the tour Of the John
4 q. Sullivan CONT bination in the wild
\ west is, an int nteresting one, but the
sahief actors il, ii any of the occurrences
are not anxious to make them ell
4 1pnblic. Sullivan s business manager,
however, is fond Of relating the story
4 Of how the great pugilist came near
i meeting his match il Colorado.
1t was in. one Of the mining towns
1.-THE MAJ, ager said. & & OH see, when
lever We gave on exhibition we adver-
I tised that if anybody in the country
wanted to spar with Sullivan, with or
| without gloves, he would be accommo-
4 dated. Well, when we arrived in this
| little place wefound challenge already
waiting. There was a miner there
who was anxious to meet Sullivan
on the stage and spar four or five
rounds with bare fists. I found that
the other miners had made up purse
of$5OO, and were willing to back their
man to that amount. OF course [
covered it, perfectly confident that,
Sullivan would win. u Wewere going to
Fexhibit that night and Sullivan had
been drinking pretty heavily for two
or three days, though he had not n ss-
ed any performances, Our rule vas
to have some of the other melnb~.,
of the combination give exhibitions OF
wrestling and sparring, and then con
cl1de by letting one Of them wind up'
with Sullivan, unless there was some
body in the audience who wanted to
try it--which did not occur very often.
Upon making inquiries in the village
during the day, heard SO much o.
this man the miners had backed
against Sullivan that l made up my
mind to go and have look at aim
They called him the hairy man
II found him training in q whisky
saloon, and for the first time on that
tour I was scared. He was six feet
three inches tall. weighed 22O pounds
without having an ounce of supelfils-
Gus flesh, and he was covered over
with thick black hair like a Newfounti-
land 6og. His arms were as hard as
iron, and all the miners said that he
had q great deal of science and struck
q terrible blow I found that he had
q reputation for miles around, and
that there had even been talk about
raiSing money to send him east to
challenge Sullivan. Sullivan had been
drinking so much that l feared he
would meet his Waterloo. unless
could induce the other to give up the
fight So I told him that Sullivan had
been drinking, and 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 SUI,
livan could stand it hecould- His con
fidence scared me, because every pugi
ist--no matter who heis-who has ever
fought Sullivan has been very nervous
about meeting him, and this fellow
was happy about it. I finally told
them that I'd forfeit the $5OOifthey d
keep the hairy man off the stage that
night, OF course putting 1t on the
ground that Sullivan might kill him.
But it was no use, they said Sullivan
must fight or they'd all get togethe.
and tar and feather him.
"When I told Sullivan that I'd tried
to get the fight off, he was furious, ;1nl
actually thought he'd assault me-
He accused me of trying to destroy
his reputation, and said that he wAs
never in better fighting condition IT
his life. He WAS so mad that it sober
! ed him, which was one good effect any
way. We gave the exhibition in Il
hall that WAS made to hold 1900 per
sons, but more that 5000 were piled
into it, and hundreds Of persons had
come scores OF miles for the occasion.
found that all the betting was OH the
hairy man, and was, entirely pre-
pared to see Sullivan get whipped,
When they came on to the stage Sui
livan could hardly wait for time to be
called, and he elared at the hairy nsr
like tiger. The hairy man was as
confident as ever, and his friends
yelled themselves hoarse in adn,ira.
ton. When time was called Sulliv5t:
7 ilit1AS " tAOuS lOSA hU CJt llHliy t!lh!l;
struck him just once between the eyes
and knocked him senseless off the stage
into the auditorium l was so surehs
was killed that I,nade Sullivan get GU:
OF the hall and prepare to leave tbs
place in a hurry for he'd be lynchcd.
1t took us twenty minutes to bring
the hairy man to himself, and we only
managed it, then by cutting of bis
thumb-nail and making incisions in
the quick Of the thumb underneath.
; And il you ever saw a humbled and
admiring gang it was the friends OF
that miner. They. were all dow, st
the train to see Sullivan off in the
morning, and the hairy man shook
hands with him without saying
word, absolutely speechless with I'D.
/ miration. That was the only time
feared that Sullivan had met his
( MATCH" " I'D,