Evening star., 1939-07-02
BY JAMES A. MARLOW,
Associated Press Sports Writer.

Sullivan, between sips of cold tea
and few snorts of brandy, played
bounce the ball here with Jake Kill
rain. Jake was the ball.
What happened when the two men
met in that 24-foot turf ring here,
10 miles from New Orleans on July
8, 1889. has been called the last
great bare-knuckle fight"
1t hardly was great. Sullivan did
almost all the fighting, although
sometimes during the rs rounds they
mingled and mangled, the 207-pound
John missed the 183-pound Jake on
the bounce and got cracked on the
chops.
Jake stood up or fell down as the
mood seized him, while the Boston
strong boy punched him popeyed
for 2 hours is minutes and % Sec
onds under frying sun.
That night Jake got a doctor.
John found the nearest bar.
It's wonder kilrain lasted so
long. When it was over he said
neither he nor Sullivan had been
at to fight and complained he had
been drugged in the third round
and was overturned and under
weight.
Referee Didn't See Fight.
Maybe heavy drinking John
wanted to test his condition in a
long struggle. For when William
Muldoon, his trainer, took him in
hand a few months before the
battle, John, built like a beer barrel,
weighed SO pounds more than he
did the day of the fight.
Probably John did the best he
could. He hit Jake from all sides
banged him on the face, smashed
his ribs blue, almost twisted his
head loose trying to throw him
down, and even jumped on him
with both knees to make him stay
down.
And the referee chosen at the
scene, John Fitzpatrick, late Mayor
of New Orleans, was no expert. He
frankly declared he was not familiar
with the London prize ring rules
under which the men were TO
fight-a fall ended a round and
the time between rounds was 30
seconds-but he promised to do the
best he could.
At the finish Referee Fitzpatrick
piped:
II was too busy watching the
principals to notice the fight
But 90 stand in the corner with
your hands on your head II you
don't think these figures from the
New Orleans Daily Picayunes
round-by-round description tell the
story:
Sullivan knocked out Kilrain 3
times, knocked him down "a times,
threw hi mdown times, showed him
down times. In addition, Kilraln
went down rs times to avoid pun
ishment. or because he couldn't
stand up or just to be going down.
John Never Knocked Down.
On the other hand, Sullivan, not
knocked down once by a kllraln
blow. was tripped or thrown in
wrestling hold 5 times by Jake
and slipped twice to one knee IN
avoiding punches. Twice both men
wrestled each other to the grass.
That made up the IS rounds.
The pair had such pretty press
notices-columns in the New Or
leans papers and hundreds of thou
sands of words wired away-that
Louisiana's Governor, Francis t.
Nichols, Confederate veteran, for
bade the bout in that State.
Mississippi was right next door.
But here Gov. Robert Lowry not
only issued proclamation for the
arrest of all parties concerned but
called the proposed match a crime.
offered a $500 reward for the arrest
of Sullivan or Kilrain and called
out the troops.
The troops came out. A detach-
ment of artillery tried to stop the
SulHvan-Kilrain special train on
the way from New Orleans to the
fight scene by waving red pocket
handkerchief. Then the troops
went home.
Other trains, too, were run from
New Orleans to this place where
C. w. Rich, sawmill operator, had
allowed the ring and seats for about
5000 fans to bet set up on his
property.
Some fans, hatless, coatless, and
shoeless rode under the trains and
on top of them. In the marshes
miles from New Orleans, the Plea
yune reported, lot of deadheads
were put off by another lot of dead
heads, railroad officials going out on
the road to see if everything was all
right
Sullivan Had Chicken Breakfast.
The fighters arrived here duly
the night before the fight, and were
duly bedded. John arose at am,
thinking he had to do battle at 6.
He had a chicken breakfast. The
fight started at 1915.
Persistent, the sheriff who had
been roaring for reinforcements,
stormed up to the ring and said
the bout could not go on. He was
satisfied with front seat.
Sufferers were the out-of-toWn
sports writer's because there was no
telegraph set-up for them here
One reporter tried to buy carrier
pigeons at $50 apiece to carry his
copy back to New orleans for quick
telegraphic relay north.
Kilrain marched to the ring in a
walking costume, dark blue twill
eut-away coat, gray-striped trousers
and a light blue flannel shirt with
white stripes
He tossed his straw hat into the
ring, jumped in after it, and quickly
stripped to his fighting clothes:
tights, white stockings and shoes
with spikes. He used the spikes
on Sullivan once. by accident, and
tried to spike him a second time
when the going got rough.
Both men wore plasters on their
backs Sullivan's was made of
'buckskip lined with pitch-pine, ex-
pected to be of great help to him."