The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1914-10-20
.. OF FAMOUS
 BOUT RET EEEN
 MURRxssEY AND HERMAN

In tho carry 0AyB u1 AA1nse11ct4n gypt4-, teilizm . majority Of the nstic gladia- Stors were Irish by birth or parentage, band, although their supremacy has bean threatened. the Hbernians still take the lead in the fighting games. Two of the greatest of these scrappy jIxdahera were John Morrissey and fchaxnpionsl1ip of AmeIica at Long Point Island, Canada dfty-six years Eago to-day, Oct 20. 1858- The two Johns were feIIow-townsmen, for both had been reared in Troy, N r, which lat a later period turned out another rish-American champion, Paddy Ryan
 The baEtIe between Morrissey and IHeenan, which was pulled off on Ca Iuadfan soil because of the peevisl- Ittes, was for $5.00o and the title. It Twas a herca but brief combat, and E16orrtssey became champion in twen- Ety-oue minutes In the early rounds kHeenan had the shade. but he put one of his hands out of commission by striking post and after that he Twas at Morriseeyss mercy. Morrissey rushed Heenan< and wore him down. land by his triumph became the rec Eognfxed champion of American Hee- man asserted, not without reason, that tthe injury to his hstyWas responsible for his failure. and challenged his old foe to another fight Mcrrd5sey re- fused, and soon retired from the ring. and John Heenan was the recognized champion. Heehan challenged Say CTS to fight for the championship of the world, and in 1860 they fought in England The result was indecisive, owing to a ringside row, but Heenan lhad the best of the English champion 1sater he fought Tom King. who de- Heated him
 TcI,y, nFov-rsez<vz uzass barn fl, thai trelI-knosgn place which it Is a long iwaY from-thAt is, in Tpperary. In s1lis youth he settled in Troy. where las a boy he had a reputaHon as the sdared dispute this supremacy was J ohm Heenan, . native Of Troy, and Ethe two youthful gIadzators and their gangs Of followers often engaged in terrtf1c conbats.
 By an other odd coancfdence, both iCaIiforn1as where they were attracted by the gold rush Heeaan arrived in San Francisco in 1850. and got a job in tho workshops of a steamship com- the nickname of 't1e Benic4a Boy He took part in a number of bouts on the Pacific coast, and when "Yankees Sullivan visited San Francisco he challenged him to battle, but Sulli- lvan, after seeing Heenan in action, re-
 
 N0rrzSseyss only important fight in Nalifornia was at Mare Island in 1852- tWhen he defeated George Thompson, Ia famous English boxer The Brit fisher knocked Morrissey down time after time, but frightened by the threats of Morr1ssey s supporters, he dropped without a blow. and the Irish man was awarded the victory on a foul On his return to tho East sMorrissey won on a foul from Yan- kees' Sullivan, although the latter had the best of it Then Heenan's in 3ury in the battIedn Canada. gave Mor- Tissey the undfsputed title. He cer- tatniy was a lucky chap. and his luck Sstayed by him after he left the ring for he made a fortune as a gambler, land was elected to the United States CongreM.
 MoTrissey lived to be sixty-eight. land he sleeps the long sleep in a Icemetery in Troy, where he started lhis fighting career. Not far away is the grave o9 John Heenan, his old foA.
 Heenan'g career was quite as pie kturssQue as that of his enemy. In England he married the famous ac- ktress and poet, Adah Isaacs Menken, sa native of New Orleans, and the daughter of Frenchwonan and a Spanish Jew. She was a fayorfte of kthe London stage. and her literary Egiftg won for her the friendshipl of Rome of the greatest writers of the time She soon tired of the Ameri- k&an pugfIist, and divorced him, and H1eenan conso1ed himself by marrying AHother prominent acfresI