Omaha daily bee., 1909-05-29
OUR FIGHTING AMERICAN TARS
Navy Produces Many Very Proficient
Glove wielders.
sHARKEY WAS BEST OF ALL
Rins Contests Have Been Held for
Years ON Uncle sans warships
and Once Jimmy Ross Also
Won English Title.

The Yankee sailors are noted all over
the world for their game fighting quail
ItyS' said the old New York sporting man
to his friends the other night during a
tanning bee about incidents Of the prize
ring. "I remember away back forty-two
years ago when I shipped aboard the United
States Steamship Pawnee as a boatswain
ana sailed for South America.
Il wanted to see the world and l GER
tainly did see It too with a great deal Of
satisfaction from the deck Of a man-o'-
war. When we got to Montevideo in SEP
ternoer. 1857. we had the United States
Steamship Guerrero with us. On board
both vessels there was a bunch Of lads
willing and anxious for a little sport.
Z Finally Jack Mitchell and Billy Turner.
two sturdy young tars, agreed to fight II
! out under the old London prize ring rules.
They both belonged to the Pawnee and put
up a slashing battle Of twenty-five rounds,
each taking severe punishment for more
than an hour, when we decided that they
had gone far enough and the fight was
called a draw.
The next month we had a couple more
hard mills, the first being between Pete
Keeland and Joe McAvoy of the Pawnee.
They fought at Rio and McAvoy had
enough In five rounds, lasting just fourteen
minutes In the same ring John O'Connel.
alias Blunt, met Jimmy Ross. the champion
of the navy at that time. After a good
battle for nine rounds Ross was declared
the winner and proceeded to issue a chal-
lenge to any man-o-wars man in the world.
Ross Had q walIop.
ROSS was only a m~iddleweight. but he
had a terrible wallop and was also as
game as a pebble. One evening a lot of the
boys went ashort at Rio for a lark. They
ran up against q crowd Of greasers who
were very insulting and swore that they
could clean up the Yankees with ease.
ThAre were five greasers who were par
ticularly offensive in their TRADE against
Uncle Sam. After some hot challenges
Ross stepped forward and declared he
would fight each of the five greasers. one
at a time. with ten minutes rest between
battles. They. laughed at the offer at first,
but finally agreed to have one fight and
selected the biggest greaser as Ross OPP
ponent
Tho men stripped quietly, and the Rio
gang thought they had a cinch. 1t was a
g-o-as-yap-please scrap, a regular rough
and tumble affair. The big Ereaser made
a desperate grab at Ross throat, but 1.-THE
sailor ducked and responded with an UPPER
cut that put his antagonist on the floor.
In q second Ross was on top Of the
greaser, butting his face into a pulp. The
Rio gang was amazed at Ross ~quickness
and the fierce punishment he handed out
and soon agreed to buy drinks for the
crowd IN order to save their man from
settled the whole shooting match. and after
that the Yankee tars commanded much
more respect in Rio.
Betford-Tay1or Battle.
I'm the early part of 1858 Harry Bedford
OF the Pawnee and Mike Traynor OF New
York met in the ring at Montevideo and
fought one OF the hardest battle l ever
saw. 1t lasted for thirty-sevsn rounds, one
hour and ten minutes, Traynor winning
after receiving a terrible punching. On the
big dock at Rio not long after / saw the
fiereest rough and tumble battle Of my life
between Tom McGrath and Barney Farrell
OF the ouerTiere. After a terrible struggle
which lasted more than two hours the men
fell from exhaustion and the mill was de-
clsred Q draw. They were so f~earfully
punished that they were kept in a hospital
for nearly n month. Farrell, by the way
said he was q cousin of the noted Joe
Coburn, then the heavyweight champion OF
America
Shortly after this scrap Joe Garron and
Dan Dempsey fought in a coal bunker
aboard the Guerrero. Dempsey won by
closing both OF Garron's eyes in the four
teenth round, the battle lssting one hour
and nineteen minutes. After this affair the
Pawnee and the Guerrero were ordered
home and the United States SteamphiE
Lancaster was sent TO Rio In 1870. Big Bill
Davis. an Englishman. was one Of the Ian,
casters crew and he challenged any mar
IN the fleet to a combat. Mike Landy &C.
cepted and the battle took place aboard tn,
cruiser. 1t took twelve rounds for gam,
Mike to put a stop TO Big Bill.
this time Big Ted Driscoll wa
aboard the Unite States steamship Call
fornia In the Pacific ocean. He dene,
every tar in the navy. One fine day TIE,
was ashore at Valparaiso when he ran int,
Tommy Roundhead. who a short time he
fore had a hot go with the well know
pugiltst. Tommy Chandler, R~oundheat
disputed priscon's claim to pugilistic honor