THE SPORT (JANUARY, 1857)
WORLD BOXING
British heavyweight champ untested
In England William Perry, called the "Tipton Slasher," lays claim to the English heavyweight championship. However, many dispute or say his claim is nebulous at best, pointing out that he hasn't fought an actual bout since '51. Perry originally took the title in 1850, during a championship bout with Tom Paddock. The fight was stopped after Paddock fouled Perry by striking him on the neck as he walked to his corner, giving the "Slasher" the title.
Apparently, retired champion William Thompson (19-1) was unimpressed with Perry and gave no reply when Perry formally requested the Championship Belt from him following the Paddock fight. In '51, Perry lost the championship briefly to Harry Broome. Perry struck Broome while he was kneeling and was disqualified. The two were scheduled to fight again in August of '53, but Broome forfeited, returning the title to Perry. The "Slasher" scheduled two matches last year, one against Aaron Jones and a much anticipated rematch against Tom Paddock in October. Neither bout was held as both Jones and Paddock forfeited. Perry has promised a bout against a top contender this year.
THE CURRENT CHAMP
William Perry "The Tipton Slasher"
Age: 37
Height: 6-0 1/2 Weight: 185-189
Record: 6-2, 4 Draws
The Scoop: He possesses average physical skills but is tricky, cool under pressure and uses good judgement.
TOP ENGLISH CONTENDERS
Tom Sayers "The Brighton Boy"
Age: 30
Height: 5-8 1/2 Weight: 112-154
Record: 8-1, 3 Draws
The Scoop: A great fighter. Often fights much larger men. A skillful pugilist who throws stiff punches, is tough, and always is ready to take the fight to an opponent.
Tom Paddock
Age: 32
Height: 5-10 1/2 Weight: 166-168
Record: 11-3
The Scoop: A skillful, strong and durable fighter. Easily frustrated. Known to resort to violent foul tactics in the ring.
Harry Broome
Age: 31
Height: 5-10 1/2 Weight: 147-178
Record: 5-1, 2 Draws
The Scoop: One time Welterweight champ. Exceptionally strong and tough. A better wrestler than pugilist. Said to be leaning toward retiring from the ring. A title bout could change his mind.
UP-AND-COMING
"Gypsy" Jem Mace
Age: 25
Height: 5-9 1/2 Weight: 136
Record: 10-2
The Scoop: Very scientific fighter. Top contender in Welterweight division. Many say he could easily make the transition to Heavyweight.
"Old Smoke" Morrissey, undeserving American champ
John Morrissey represents all that is currently wrong with the sport of boxing. In some ways, his story is the classic 'kid from the wrong side of the tracks making good.' But the dark side to the story is that he has maintained close ties to a lot of people from that other side. This plus the fact that Morrissey is heavily invested in gambling interests presents a major problem for the integrity of sport he represents.
Morrisey was a poor Irish immigrant who grew up in Troy, New York. He went to school for a year before becoming a manual laborer. He joined and became the head of a gang of young toughs and during this time Morrissey had frequent run-ins with the police. After Morrissey took a bartending job in Troy, his boss tried to arrange a boxing match between Morrissey and “Dutch” Charlie Duane. When the young fighter went to New York City to challenge Duane at a Tammany Hall hangout, he was badly beaten by the unfriendly crowd. Morrissey stayed in the city, however, as a hired bully, enforcing the political loyalty of recent immigrants. Morrissey was dubbed “Old Smoke,” when he and another “immigrant runner” knocked over a coal stove in a saloon fight and Morrissey was pinned to the burning embers before going on to win.
In 1851, Morrissey made his way to California as a stowaway in search of gold. His first organized prize fight took place in 1852 when he challenged Englishman George Thompson, then the California champion. Thompson had the upper hand, but when Morrissey’s supporters brandished weapons, he fouled Morrissey in the twelfth round to forfeit the match.
Morrissey then returned to New York to challenge veteran fighter Yankee Sullivan (12-2-0). The fight was held at Boston Corners where New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts meet, to stymie state authorities who might try to halt the match. Sullivan was 41, and Morrissey just 22, but for 37 rounds, the quicker and more scientific Sullivan thrashed Morrissey, who displayed his great ability to absorb a beating. Then onlookers stormed the ring. When the fighters were called to come to scratch for the 38th round, Sullivan was fending off Morrissey’s second, Orville (“Awful”) Gardner. The referee gave Morrissey the fight, in violation of the rule stating a fight must be stopped until the ring is clear. Morrissey has parlayed this “win” into starting a bar and a gambling house. It is also rumored that he used his connections to avoid convictions for shooting two waiters, three separate charges of assault with intent to kill, and possible involvement in the murder of a political foe. Boxing has been good to "Old Smoke" Morrissey, but he has definitely not been good for the sport.
THE CHAMP
"Old Smoke" John Morrissey
Age: 25
Height: 5-11 3/4 Weight: 170-176
Record: 3-1
The Scoop: Strong, tough and game, but possesses little boxing science.
TOP AMERICAN CONTENDER
John C. Heenan
Age: 21
Height: 6-2 Weight: 182-195
Record: Undefeated on the local scene
The Scoop: A fighter to watch. Big, strong, a tough puncher.
BASE BALL
New York clubs meet
Representatives of New York's and Brooklyn's most storied base ball clubs convened on January 22. New Hampshire native Daniel Adams, a New York City physician, and president of the Knickerbocker club served as head of the first convention of baseball players. During the meeting, virtually all of the Knickerbocker regulations were formerly adopted, but the method of deciding the outcome of matches was changed, switching from awarding victory to the first team to score twenty-one runs to awarding it to that team which scored the highest number after nine full innings. Several teams also scheduled matches for this year.
The participating clubs included the following from New York: Knickerbockers; Gothams; Eagles; and Empire. Also present were the following Brooklyn nines: Continental; Eckford; Excelsior; Olympics, Bedfords, Harmony and Putnams. Union of Morrisania and Adriatic of Newark were also in attendance.
The New York version of the game is fast spreading in popularity, but still competes for public interest with cricket and other regional variants of base ball, notably town ball played in Philadelphia and the Massachusetts Game played in New England.
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THE MONTHLY REPUBLIC (JANUARY, 1857)
US NEWS & POLITICS
Blitzed by a big one
Blizzard wreaks havoc on Eastern Cities
The Eastern Seaboard got rocked by a powerful blizzard between January 16-19 that left behind more than a foot of snow in several major East Coast cities and temperatures hovering in the single digits to near zero. Through mid-January, the '56-'57 winter season had been noted for its lack of snow even though the cold had been unusually brutal and sustained. In the days preceding the storm, a frigid air mass covered much of the eastern half of the country. Temperatures on January 16th ranged from 0 degrees in Boston, to -10 degrees in Hartford, and -18 degrees in East Hartford.
During the seventeen hour storm, winds blew at gale-force or above. Cities as far south as Norfolk, Virginia were buried under huge snowdrifts.
Controversial Brooks dies
Death of Congressman ignites partisan rhetoric
Representative Preston Brooks (D-SC) died Tuesday, January 27, in Washington of complications from the croup. He was 38. Brooks likely will be best remembered for the incident on the Senate floor involving Senator Charles Sumner (R-MA). On May 22, of last year, Brooks approached Sumner who was seated at his desk in the Senate chamber during a recess and began to beat him with his walking cane because of the speech Sumner had made three days earlier which criticized President Franklin Pierce and Southerners who sympathized with the pro-slavery violence in Kansas. In particular, Sumner lambasted Brooks' kinsman, Senator Andrew Butler, who was not in attendance when the speech was read, describing slavery as a whore, comparing Butler with Don Quixote for embracing it, and mocking Butler for his physical handicap, a slight speech impediment due to a stroke. Brooks hit Sumner repeatedly and continued to beat Sumner until his cane broke. Sumner has yet to fully recover from the attack, and suffers from frequent headaches.
After news of the incident spread, many of Brooks' South Carolina constituents sent him dozens of brand new canes to replace the one he had broken. The Richmond (VA) Enquirer crowed: "We consider the act good in conception, better in execution, and best of all in consequences. These vulgar abolitionists in the Senate must be lashed into submission."
Brooks survived an expulsion vote in the House but resigned his seat, claiming both that he "meant no disrespect to the Senate of the United States" by attacking Sumner and that he did not intend to kill him, for he would have used a different weapon if he had. His constituents thought of him as a hero and returned him to Congress.
Even in death, Brooks remains a potent symbol of the increasing vitriol between the North and the South. His passing has ignited a storm of incendiary rhetoric from those on opposing sides of the slavery issue. The newspapers in the North have been almost universal in their condemnation of "Bully Brooks" and took the opportunity to again criticize Southern Congressmen that voted against his expulsion. In particular, Charles Francis Adams said he was appalled by the attempts to "canonize an assassin."
In the South, Brooks will continue to be something of a hero. John H. Savage of Tennessee compared Brooks' caning of Sumner to Brutus' slaying of Caesar.
Brooks, the member of a prominent Southern family, was born in Edgefield District, SC., August 5, 1819; attended the common schools and was graduated from South Carolina College at Columbia in 1839, where he studied law. He was admitted to the bar in 1845 and commenced practice in Edgefield, SC. He was a member of the State house of representatives in 1844; served in the Mexican War as captain in the Palmetto Regiment of South Carolina Volunteers; elected as a Democrat to the Thirty-third Congress and Thirty-fourth Congress. He served from March 4, 1853, until July 15, 1856, when he resigned even though the attempt to expel him for his assault upon Charles Sumner failed through lack of the necessary two-thirds vote. He was reelected to the Thirty-fourth Congress to fill the vacancy caused by his own resignation and began his term August 1, 1856. Brooks once fought a duel with Texas politician Louis Wigfall and was shot in the hip. This had forced him to use a cane to assist his walking.
SCIENCE
Icy doom looms
Scientists warn of industry spawned age of ice
At a recent scientific conference in Washington, several leading scientists interested in climatology warned that freezing temperatures and blizzards like this January's storm could become year-round occurrences, devastating crops worldwide and leading to mass starvation.
Many scientists, who have applauded Swedish naturalist Louis Agassiz's theory of an early planetary ice age, say Earth could be heading into another such period of global cold. They point to this century's rash of severe winters as evidence. And while Agassiz's ice age was the product of natural processes, many blame the by-products of modern industrialization for the current threat, saying chemical gases and other pollutants from industry which are released into the atmosphere act as a shield that blocks out the warming radiation from the sun.
Many of these scientists say that unless industrialization is curbed, years like 1816 could become commonplace. Often called, "the year without a summer," snowfalls and frost occurred in June, July and August of 1816 and all but the hardiest crops were destroyed. New England and Europe were hit exceptionally hard. Destruction of the corn crop forced many farmers to slaughter their animals for food. Hunger was wide-spread and numerous soup kitchens were opened to battle the problem. Sea ice migrated across Atlantic shipping lanes, and alpine glaciers advanced down mountain slopes to exceptionally low elevations. A popular expression was: "1816 and froze to death!"
The scientists say they hope to organize and present a formal appeal for more research into global cooling to the incoming administration of president-elect James Buchanan. Unless something is done, they predict Washington could very well be buried beneath a sheet of glaciers within the next twenty years.