Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1899-05-20
WHEN A TOWN WENT BROKE

1T Is a matter of minor Importance When
an individual goes broke; most of us have
had frequent depressing experience of that
sort, without attracting much attention or
sympathy, but when the populace of
whole town goes fiat, staving. whooping
broke, down to the final sou-marque and
silver with the personal belongings OF
nearly all hands thrown in to make the
collapse complete and the job of winning
out a craggy proposition, it's a different
matter" said an oregon man who was In
town the other day. II once saw that thing
happen. The town that went broke was
Astoria, Ore 1t back in the latter
sos. Astoria. you know, is the leading
salmon-ca tching and salmon-canning town
of the world. It's population is chiefly
made up of Scandinavian fishermen, and for
town that is built on piles over the Co
lumbia river it is a pretty lively, prosper
Gus burg.
AT the time I'm speaking of John l.. Sui
Ivan was touring the northwest, knocking
out couple of giants every night in a
punch His manager was offering a reward
OF $1,000 to any man who stood up against
the great and only John for four rounds.
and all the blacksmiths, boilcrmakers,
woodsawyers, teamsters of great stature
and immense strength etc, in the north
west seemed to want hack at the big
pugilist. Sullivan punctured them all as
fast as they came up against him, but
they kept on coming. The pugilist from
the east wasn't keeping himself in even
fairly good TRIM either. Often he went on
to do his punChing-out act after having
spent the better part of the afternoon din
ing on high balls. Siwash rum swoggles.
etc, but he never got SO much as a case
OF the pufis at the hands of any of the
men who went up against him with the
determination of pulling down that 81 900.
He covered Portland for three nights. and
then ne went on the night boat to Astoria
to fill ii date
Now, the cock of the fighting walk IN
Astoria at that time was a gigantic Swede
named Hans Andersen, a fisherman. He
was actually only few inches short of
seven feet in height, and he was built pro-
po ftondtely with huge, iron muscles, ire
mendous Shoulders and an almost hercu-
lean de gree of strength. He had pummced
everything that stood on two legs in AS
ttrlL to proper standStill. and had become
quit" Il bit of a ly among the men of his
own nationality. The Scandinavians of As
torla thought that Hans Andersen was Just
about the whole thing when 1t came to
uShtinS. ana when word reached that town
mat John l.. Sullivan was coming along
with his 81 ,0Go offer most of them saw
riches right in their grasp. They knew that
Il big crowd Of Portland sports would
come down To Astoria with Sullivan. and
that the hot cards from Portland would of
course bet on the Irishman. So they nut
Andersen into training, and stood by for
the Dig hlgnt. Andersen told them that he
was sure to macerate Sullivans features
INTO pulp. but he didn't need to tell them
that. They felt confident of it.
sullivan got into Astoria on the morn
iiS BOAT he was pretty comfortable
'adnhS' When he debarked-and the town
OF Astoria Knocked off work and business
except as to the rcfreshment end of il. to
look the big irishman over and to mediate
upon the fall that was in store for him at
Ihr nands Of the mighty Swede The Co
Iunihia bar was practically unlishcd for
salmon that day. The Astoria people were
20" DuSy collecting their coin to bet the
same on Their man. The betting began in
llI' gin mills by 10 o clock in the morning
ana the crowd of Portland warm mem hers
VINO came along with Sullivan offered :
10 ! on the proposition that the Swede
M"ut"h stay four rounds with Sullivan
astoria Just ate that price up. The price
- 10 l. was on tap all day and I'D to The
very minute of the encounter The asher
men ana Gamers weren't content to bet
Jntlf spare cash alone on the outcoma
ih'S Soid their nets. some of them their
"p"tS' WheTeWith to get the dough to take
all they could Of that , to !. When the
scrap was on Astoria stood to make cit her
an immense winning or TO smoke n n ne ;
az the racing men say r0'
The Swede surely was q dra-lool,;
Specimen when he came on for his 90 Wi o
9uIllan, and the shouts with which tha
% "iIthdEldnS greeted his appearance We're
ttiii.t. SULLIVAN came on couple of min
uttS later lie had made "a DeCuIiarIv car.-
lul. personally conducted Investigation info
me merits of the liquids Indigenous to the
SOIL during the afternoon, and he WASN'T
iElruGuIariy steady on his underpinning
But he had a broad grin on his closely
ShhVen mug when he caught SIGHT Of tbo
mammoth Swede - ''t'
Ilme, said the referee, and Sullivan
"aiktd-"fll, maybe reelcd would be a BET
''r MOREOVER to the center of the rinpr
where the big Swcdc already stood In ~
threatening defiant attitude and held ont
ms right mitt. The two big fellows shook
p?Hlhs gloves. and then said Sullivan. grin
Where die say We wanted 1T?
Ray inquired the Swcde 'Ay tank
YOU no skaIl have easy yob yoost same,
g wan said Sullivan. and tbnn bis 1os.
arm shot out like a piston rod the business
END or the same caught the terrible Sweda'
smack on the point Of the chin. and the
Wh2le Zo pounds of Hans Andersen Just
vanished Off the stage. The mighty cav
ciSS OF the Swede described an arc in tba
air and landed out of view bctyyeen tho
wings Of the theater. Sullivan pulled off
hIS EioHts. Said something out Of the left
lower corner Of his mouth about being
very truly yours, John l.. Sullivan to the
4dZed pnlrokcrs and numbered off the stage
1t was all over.
g 'Ay tank Irish loafcr Soorvan skal he
all same daV'l.' was the only remark Tho
mig S"ede made when he came to- fifteen
minutes later There came near being a
ri"t IN the theatcr. a lot Of the fishermen
inc eIonucnce of a number of their leaders
10 Shanc them out of this. When the boat
with Sullivan and his party aboard pulled
out of Astoria for the return trip to Port
Lu'i IN" next morning il was figlIrativeIv
Spedhing, loaded down to the gun'ls with
me com thdt mad been removed from the
AstOrlanS and the postmaster of Astoria
told me aftcrward that for three months
l"HcWlng Suiltvan's visit to the town the
remlttanc"s of Astoria's fishermen to Sean
Iihavia fell off about 81 per cent Hans
Andersen had to lick his c0untrymeu nj the
lets all over again before he regained the
prestige that SuIivan's one punch took
away from him"
He Knew 1t All.
From the Philadelphia Record.
An amusing incident occurred 81, the aag