The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-01-01
CENTENARY OF JOHN LEECHRGAN, ONCE FAM
 OUs AS A PUGILIST

The year 1915 VIII mark the cen- tenarfes of many distinguished men, among whom may be mentioned Mir. John Leechn1an and MT. Benjarnin Cauz1t. The first named, who con- tested with Ca11nf the title of plagi- his debut in this vale Of hard knocks on the first day of January. 1915, and his centenary thus falls on the first day Of the New Year.
 It was not by his real name of John Leechman. however, that this g1asdta- tor of bare knuck1es was known to fame. In the ring he was known as esBrassey,'' a nickname which he gain ed in his pugnac1ous youth because of his employment in braAs foundry, and which stuck to him through life. Brassey was born in Bradford. Eng apprentice before he entered the brass foundry. As shop boy Leech- man carried chips on both shoulders, and was ready to fight at the drop of a hat-or without that provocation. He was only sixteen when he made his first appearances in the ring against a Iad named Hartley. I5eAch- his efforts. That looked like easy money to him, and he soon sought another match, whipping Ned Batter son and getting away with SIS. This second battle of Leechnan's career lasted seventy-two rounds Fancy the poorest dub in the ring today scrap ping seventy-two chapters for $16!
 Leechman got $25 for whipping George Ireson in his next engagement His defeat of lem Bailey in 1885 won for him the big sum of $50, and the
 next year he got $1o0 for beating Tom
 Scrutton.
 It was in 1886 that Brassey engaged in l1ds first really important battle,
 which was with the clever Bendigo, afterward champion of England. This
 bout was staged at Sheffield and the i young .'blades'' of that city assembled
 by hundreds at the ringsides Leech-
 man was still working in the foundry i between fights, and his toll kept his l muscles as hard as iron. Both men were ideal athletes in appearance.
 Bendigo was the older and more ex-
 perienced fighter, however. and cele-
 brated for his cleverness. and he had i little trouble in avoiding the rusheE i and piIe4driver blows of Brassey. Af- ter fifty-two rounds, during which 1 Brassey had assimilated more punish nent than Bat Nelson in all his bat I ties, he became infuriated and bl1tted Bendigo with his head. This c1eIiber- ate foul gave Bendigo the victory.
 In 1899 Brassey redeemed himself ] by defeating Young Langan, the fam
 ous Irish fighter from Dublin, in a seventy-five round battle. This was
 9 notable performance, and 1t gave
 Brassey the right to challenge Ben l Caunt to do battle for the champion
 ship. The great battle for the title i was staged at Newmarket during the
 races. and attracted the fancy from 1 all over England. Dukes earls and l lords by the dozens held good places 1 at the ringside- Caunt had much the advantage in height and weight, and l was a favorite at first, but Brassey gave such good account of himself in the early rounds that the tide turn I ed in his favor. At the end of the l hundredth round Brassey was unable 1 te. get~up, and eCaunts although he was even more battered, was awarded the 1 victory. That was Brassey's last try l at the cham pionship, which he lost by 1 as narrow a margin as was ever rec. orded in a pugilistic contest. After