Evening star., 1935-01-03

FTER his terrible battle Win
n Hyer on the shore Of the
~ storm-tossed Chesapeake, YAM
kee Sullivan no longer could
claim the championship Of America,
but he still was the champion OF the
Irish.
Even this title soon was to be taken
from the rapidly aging fighter. In
the days of the Yankees glory. one
of his coterie at the Sawdust House
was a powerful young bartender from
Troy named John Morrissy. He hao
zone to California and there acquired
considerable fame by beating on Mare
Island near San Francisco. an Eng
lishman named Bill Thompson. who
had been Hyer's trainer. Thompson
lost on o foul, which. he said. ne had
made deliberately when Morrissys
friends became so obstreperous he
feared they were going to lynch him.
: Morrissy came back to New York.
looking for a fight with Hyer. The
champion again demanded q $4,000
guarantee So the challenger turned
his attention to his old friend, Sulli-
van. The battle was held at Boston
Four Corners, in the picturesque
Berkshires, just over the New York
line. when the two entered the
ring" says a chronicler Of the day,
1T looked like father and SON." Suln-
van was Al years old. Morrissy was
27. The Yankee was 80 pounds lighter
and 3 inches shorter.
Backers In Brawl.
Tut, in spite of this difference. it
r. looked for time as If Morrlssy
was badly beaten. BY the tenth,
'his face had the appearance OF raw
beefsteak. In the ninth round alone.
he took - heavy blows on the head,
which he could not return. They
fought on to the thirty-third. when
the challenger's knees were buckllng.
During the thirty-sixth, his mind was
wandering and. although the taller
man. he could not get his guard high
enough. But, in the thirty-seventh.
"his wonderful powers OF endurance
seemed to have taken new lease.
He rushed Sullivan against the ropes
and pounded him about the head.
The Yankee was unable to fau and
end the round-the old trick to escape
punishment which he had learned
from the Tom Crib School-because
the ropes held him up.
Finally he managed to slip under"
Morrissys second contended he had
fallen without a blow. This brought
on a fight between the hackers OF
the two men. They broke through
the ropes and into the ring, punching
at each other. Morrissy leaned against
the ropes, exhausted. Sullivan pitched
into the fight The referee called
time" The Yankee was too busy
fighting a half dozen of Morrissy's
men to heed the call. Again the call,
time" after seconds. Still Sullivan
was fighting. The referee then waited
2 minutes Before calling time" again.
Sullivan still was busy fighting. The
battle was awarded to Morrissy, al
though he was so exhausted that he
probably could not have continued
any longer and his opponent was as
fresh as ever.
Prize fighting was crime in Massa-
chusetts. Both Sullivan and Morrissy
were arrested by the Berkshire County
sheriff and thrown in Jail at Lenox
after the fight. The farmers resented
the intrusion of the New Workers and
saw a chance to shake them down"
Bail of Sl,500 was set for each Of
them-the idea being that neither
could afford to stand trial with the
certainty of Jail sentence and that
the county treasury easily could be
made $4,000 richer Morrissy's back
ers, who had won a good deal Of money
on the fight, raised the money for him.
Sullivan stayed in jail.
But the beaten man still had a
friend in need-none other than his
old enemy. Tom Hyer. Hyer went to
New York. borrowed the money and
returned to Lenox. There was long
and bitter controversy over the out
come of the fight-curiously like the
debate over the celebrated long
count" in the Dempsey-Tunney battle.
but it generally was agreed in the end
that the referee had acted fairly.
Yankee Sullivan, regardless of what
he was doing. should have been back
at the scratch in 30 seconds. Actu-
ally he had been given 2 minutes and
38 seconds.