The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1916-01-08
THE sCRAPPING MURPHYs


From the dim beginning of the
manly art two centuries ago the name
of Murphy has appeared with great
frequency in the annals of the ring.
In fact, it may safely be predicted
that ever since "a little bit of heaven
fell and they called it Ireland" the
Emerald Isle has had it's Murphys,
and the said Murphys have been
scrappers.
Mick, Mike and Ned = these are
but three of many Murphys who
fought and bled in the early days of
the bare-knuck1e game. It was Ned
Murphy, back in 1928, who gave that
other famous Pathfinder, Jem Burke,
'+the Deaf 'Un.'' his first battle in the
squared circle. A big crowd of Lon
don sports had gathered to witness a
battle between two dwarf boxers, Da5-
Wy Morgan and Peter Mclean. Both
were under four feet in height and
they were perhaps the tiniest gIadia-
tors the ring has ever had. The lit
tie fighting cocks went tWenty-one
rounds before Morgan, a sWelshman,
was awarded the victory over his OPP
ponent, who was a Scotchman
The battle of the Li1liputians served
only to whet the appetite of the
sports, and they were eager for
fray between real men. The hat was
passed by Lord Chesterfield, and the
sum of $65 was collected. Ned Muir
ply the clever Irish pugiHst, VoIun-
teered to meet any man present, and
Deaf Burke. although he had new
err before been inside a twenty-four
foot ring, accepted the challenge. The
two Hibernians fought fifty rounds
without either having any advantage,
Murphy's cleverness being offset by
Burke's superior height and bulk. In
the end it was agreed that the men
could stop and divide the purse.
Great as was their fighting Prov
n<-c he f1a y,e foil lot 70
get their name on the roll of cham
pions until the latter part of the
nineteenth century. Then there came
to the front three of the earnest, clev-
crest little men; who have ever COM
peted in the ring. Billy Murphy of
Australia, Frank Murphy of England,
Johnny Murphy. Of Boston-where in
the featherweight ranks to-day can
be found boxer equal to either OF
them ?
Johnny Murphy was native of
Boston, and the idol of the Irish
sporting fraternity of the city of
beans. He developed into one of the
ganest, most scientific boxers of the
day, and, after a notable career in the
ring, he was engaged as boxing in
structor at Harvard University. john
ny's greatest battle was in 1887, when
he fought Ike Weir in Boston. MUIR
ply and Weir were the chief candi-
dates for the feathePweight. title, then
held by Tommy Warren of Califor-
MIA.
limit was lis pounds. Johnny Muir
ply tipped the beam at only 112 10
and to-day would be light for a ban.
tamweig ht-S The Murphy-Weir con-s
test was to be a fight to a finish, with
three-ounce gloves. AS such af-
fairs were Illegal, the sports sought
to keep the matter a secret, and
for a. time it appeared that they had
succeeded No blue-clad guardian of
Boston'S peace was in sight when
the bout began, and the sports who
filed the clubhouse believed they had
put one over on the harness bulls.
Many big bets were made, for Muir
ply had a host of friends in Boston,
while the Belfast Spider had not as
yet gained his big following of Bos-
tom fans. AS the mill proceeded it
became plain to the most fervent of
Murphy rooters that their man was
doomed to take a licking. Johnny
had the true Murphy gameness, how,
ever, and, although almost blinded,
he was still in the ring when the
police broke into the place. The
seventeenth round was. in progress
when the festivities were interrupt
ed, and the referee called it a, draw.
It was only a few weeks later that
Ike Wen went to Minneapolis ana
captured the featherweight title b.
defeaT1ng Tommy warren.
1t was another Murphy who gave,
Ike Weir his longest and hardest bat
tie for the championship. Frank
Murphy, although hai1ing from Eng
land and the ~featherweight cham
ion of John Bulls Island. was of
Irish parentage and blood. He came
to America in 1889, and was match
ed with Weir for the worlds titles The
battle was pulled off in a little In
diana town on a dark and rainy
night in March. The villagers we're
all asleep when the fighters and about
a hundred sports waded through the
muddy street to the nall where the
contest was staged. Although pull
ed Cff under cover OF darkness in an
cut-cf-the-way hamlet. the mill was
for $500 a side and the title.
Handsome Dam Muroav, one Of
the squarest sports of that period, was
appointed tinekeeper. Ike objected
to this selection, on the ground that
tthe Murphys always stick together"
but he was overruled by his seconds.
Frank Murphy proved that night
that he was a true descendant of the
original scrapping Murphys. He
fought in a straight, outstanding STYLE
and in the early rounds Ike had the
better of the argument. As the night
wore on, however, the tide changed,
and with it the betting, Murphy be
coming the favorite. Ike followed
his usual tactics of trying to blind
his opponent, but he found Murphy
too clever for him. Frank depend
ed largely on a straight jab with his
right, and he landed so often on likes
tum-tum that Weir's supporters be-
gan to grow scared. For nearly five
hours the little fellows banged away
at each other, both gradually weak
ening1 and although Murphy showed
the stronger in the last hour or Two,
he lacked sufficient Vigor to put over
a Knockout wallop. Along about
o'clock the sheriff arrived and order
ed the bout stopped. The referee or
dered the fight to continue a week
later, but Weir was not anxious for
another dose of Murphy. and the I'D