Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1886-03-19
SULLIVAN AND THE MINER.I
ii Hitherto EnWr1sten Incident In
4 II The Life Of the UneOnlJlereii N "A
Boston Rugillst. 4

M he llist1rr OF the tour OF the ohm Ia
su llirs,N Cerai1nat ion in the wild ~ est is
IN III tfrest one, but the chief actors in
n many ef tie occurrences are not anxious
3te make tssssn al public. Suliyar's bust
D 81 ess nlaliasfr, however, IS fond OF relating
tie story OF low the great pngilist came
Il near meeting his match In Colorado.
ut Was iii one Of the mining towns
the ftlaaaser said. ssYou see, whenever we
gave an exhibition we advertised that il
&anyboay II the country wanted to spar
with Sallisan, with or without gloves, he
would BIZ accommodated. Wen, when we
arrived in tfas little place we found chal-
icnge. already waiting. There was a min
or there who was anxious to meet Sullivan
or Tie stage and spar four Or five roI1nds
with Bare fists l found that the other
miners haCl'Made upa purse Of $500 and
were Wiling to back their man to that
alnouEt. CT course, l covered it. perfectly
confident ta.at Sullivan would win. { We
we're going to exhibit that night and SulIi-
van he'd been drinking pretty heavily for
two or three days. though he had not
Missed any performances. Oar rule was
60 have some Of the other members Of the
combination give exhibitions OF wrestling
and sparrilg: and then conclude by letting
one Or thern 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
la&e during the day, 4 heard SO much of
ttiis man the miners had backed against
Sullivan that 1 made up my mind to 90
and have look at him. They called him
The hairy man. 80.
II found him training in u 3whiskey sa-
loon, and for the first time on that tour l
was scared. He was six feet three inches
tall, weighed 220 pounds without having
IN ounce Of super11uous flesh, and he was
covered over with thick black hair like q
NeWfount.l land dog. His arms Were as
hard as bars OF iron, and all the miners
said that ne had a great deal Of science and
struck Il terrible blow / found that he
hads d reputation for miles around, and
that there had even been talk about rails
ing money to send him East to challenge
Sullivan. Sullivan had been drinking so
much rE@t feared he would meet his Wa
terloo, Unless could induce the other to
give up The fight So told him that Sui
livall Tad been drinking that he was very
ugls, AID that it would not be safe to fight
vita MIN 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
ter who he is--who has ever fought Sulli-
rth has been very nervous about meeting
him, and this fellow was happy about it.
I finally told them that I'd forfeit the $500
ifthoy'd keep the hairy man off the stage
that night, of course putting it on the
ground bat Sullivan might kill him. But
1t was no use; they said Sullivan must
light Or they'd all get together and tar and
feather him
. T fr1l Cu11; \
get the light of, he was furio us, and &C.
tuauy Thought he'd assault me. He &C
cosed me OF trying to destroy his reputa~
Zion, and said that he was never in better
lighting; condition in his life. He was so
mad thar it sobered him, which was one
good effect anyway. We gave the exhibi.
ton IN q hall that was made to hold 1000
PERSONS but more than 5000 We're piled
into it, and hundreds Of persons had come
scores OF miles for the occ aston. found
that all the betting " is Oh the hairy man
and was entirely pr, pared to see Sulli-
van get whipped. Wher they came on to
the stage Sullivan cold hardly wait for
time to be called, and he glarel ut the
haity man like tiger. The hairy mau
was AS confident as ever, and bis friends
yelled themselves ho.1e IN admiration
e When time was called Sullivan made a
-Iurious rush at the hairy man, struck him
just once between the eyes, aud knock ed
nh, seAlseless off the stage into the audi
:torium I was SO sure he was killed that
i nude Sullivan get out Of the hall and
orclare to leave the place in q hurry for
fear he'd be lynched. 1t took us twenty
minutes to bring the hairy man to him
self, and WA emily managed it then by cut
ting Off his rhumb-nail and making incis-
IONS IN the quick Of the thumb under
meath. And if you ever saw humbled
aa4 adlniring gang, it was the friends of
that miner. They were all down at the
TRAIN to see Sullivan off in the morning,
aLa the hairy man shook hands with him
without saying a word, absolutely speech
h5i' with admiration. This was the only
time feared that Sullivan had met his
uAtch'' d, ~ .-..