The Red Cloud chief., 1900-06-08
CHAMPION PUGILISTH,
NEARLY ALL HAVE DIED IN
POVERTY.
John Morr,s,ey Left Ills widow In
want, Although worth s2,oOo,ooO
Once-Heenan aud Yankee sullivan
Also Poor.

w huN ~ NV putiiiS''s
after they once suffer defeat. Like
John l.. Sullivan, who has been on the
retired list ever since Corbctt defeated
him In 81 rounds at New Orleans In
1892, they are thenceforward consid-
cred old men. though still so young
that In most callings they would he
spoken OF as In the prime of life. or
late years nearly every pusilist too
old to fight" any more has retired"
to some sort of a retail drinking shop.
This has become so common that the
public expects nothing more nor less
from any ex-champion, though 1t was
by no means the invariable rule In
the earlier. more brutal. days OF bare
knuckle fighting. John Jackson, who
was the British champion 100 years
and more ago. taught boxing after he
had retired from the ring, numbering
among his pupils nearly all OF the
young sprigs Of fashion and ecions OF
a~ristocracy in England. He was II
at his death, In lS45, and an expensive
monument surmounted by a lion
c%ouchant, and guarded by a sculptured
gladiator holding a wreath, was put
up over his remains at Brompton
cemetery. Few or no other British
pugilists have died rich. though the
last resting place Of three Others are
marked by impressive monuments.
They were Tom Crib, Tom Spring and
Ton Sayers.
Two exprize ring champions have
gone into politics, and amassed wealth
aft. leaving the hstic arena, though
neither had much money when death
called. One of these was John Gully,
the Englishman, and the other was
John Morrissey, the American. Gully
got into parliament, and for a while
enjoyed the respect and friendship OF
many OF England's most exalted per-
sonages." He made a part Of his
wealth out OF racing. and the remain
der in various speculative enterprises,
some Of which turned out disastrously.
In his later years he was in constant
fear of the workhouse, but he didn't
fall so low as that.
John Morrissey's post prize-fhg
days were far more spectacular than
Gully's. Morrissey retired a cham
pion, having defeated Heenan, and
having sensibly refused to fight again.
Morrissey numbered old Commodore
Vanderbilt among his closest friends,
and by following the c~ommodore's ad-
vice was able to win heavily In Wall
street. Morrissey also made money
in wads and rolls in the two gambling
houses which he established-one In
New York. in Broadway. and one In
Saratoga. Morrissey's political rise
began early in the COS. For years he
was so strong that he had a virtual
monopoly a to gambling there. which
he took advantage Of by levying trib-
ute on all the establishments Of his
fellow boss gamblers in town. He was
sent to the house of representatives In
1866 by the Democrats, and in the fight
between Tweed, the Tammany boss,
and Tilden, sided with the latter. At
one time Morrlssey's fortune was ST.
900, 900, and he is said to have made
5000, 900 in one deal In Harlem" en-
tered into on o OF a tip from
Commodore Vanderbilt. The death Of
the commodore was the beginning Of
bad luck for Morrissey. He tried spec
ulation on his own hook, but without
Vanderbilt to tip him of found II i'm
possible to buck up against Jay Gould
and the other expert Wall street op-
orators of that day. Still Morrissey
kept up a brave front as long as he
lived, for till death he was supposed
generally to have much wealth left.
The late William r. Travers and Ed
ward Murphy were his executors. On
examination they found that his es-
tate had dwindled practically to
naught, and his widow. who had been
a Hudson river steamboat captains
daughter when Morrissey was a deck
hand, found herself plunged in poverty
instead of rolling in wealth.
John G.. Heenan. who, though a vic
tor over Sayers. was himself defeated
by Morrissey, ran a gambling den for
a while and for a time did fairly we'll;
but the tide o turned the wrong
way, and Heenan died of consumption
In Colorado, in great financial straits.
Heenan was married to the cratic
Adah Isaacs Menken. She died In
France a year or two before her hus-
band.
Yankee Sullivan, whose real name
was Frank Ambrose Murray, counted
in his day and generation the greatest
fighter of his weight and inches In the
United States, left the east and went
to California to dig gold after his sue
cessive defeats by Tom Hyer and John
Morrissey. Sullivan might have been a
god thing as a miner. but in some
manner he ran against the San Fran
cisco vigilance committee In It's paImi-
est days, and was by 1t thrown into
prison. He was suspected of having
been connected with a gang OF bur-
glars, and, though nothing was ever
proved against him. he was put In Jail
and committed suicide.
Tom Hyer, Mike McCool and Joe Co
k.u annh m Anan ko-.l~- Il