I am reading `John the Great by Donald Chidsey` at the moment and it mentions `Yankee Sullivan` another prize fighter of long, long ago.
It says he was London born to Irish parents and sent as a convict to Australia when he was young, he managed to escape and find his way to America where he changed his name and took to being a staunch patriotic…to the USA , even wearing the American flag as his sash.
This is basically all I know on him and would like to know more, he sounds very interesting.
So does anybody know if anything was written on him, and by whom?
And the Chidsey book is very, very good.
Yankee Sullivan
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robert.snell1
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 1141
- Joined: 16 Oct 2003, 07:56
info
I have some material on him which i shall send asap. part of it is on the post i did regarding his fight with morrissey. this is a bit of it:
This Sullivan was a man with a history. exiled from Ireland for a political offenseto Australia, he began his fighting in New Tasmania . It is said that while in prison in Ireland, on board ship and In Australia, be was repeatedly flogged; indeed had his back cut to ribbons In efforts to make him divulge the names of his conspirators against the British, government to Ireland.
After serving years in the penal settlements he escaped to America. He fought some unimportant battles here, then went abroad and beat Hammer Lane, 'then a great English middle-weight. Coming from America earned him the name of Yankee. He was very clever. Hammer' Lane, whom he beat, was quite as good aman as Tom Sayers, the famous champion of the world, who fought Heenan the great draw for the first international Anglo-American championship.
also have a report regardin his death in prison....however some people are of the opinion he did not kill himself by cutting his wrists but was shot by the vigilantee mob who were after him.
This Sullivan was a man with a history. exiled from Ireland for a political offenseto Australia, he began his fighting in New Tasmania . It is said that while in prison in Ireland, on board ship and In Australia, be was repeatedly flogged; indeed had his back cut to ribbons In efforts to make him divulge the names of his conspirators against the British, government to Ireland.
After serving years in the penal settlements he escaped to America. He fought some unimportant battles here, then went abroad and beat Hammer Lane, 'then a great English middle-weight. Coming from America earned him the name of Yankee. He was very clever. Hammer' Lane, whom he beat, was quite as good aman as Tom Sayers, the famous champion of the world, who fought Heenan the great draw for the first international Anglo-American championship.
also have a report regardin his death in prison....however some people are of the opinion he did not kill himself by cutting his wrists but was shot by the vigilantee mob who were after him.
I am surprised more has not been written on him, he has a story to tell, quite a big story also.
What had he done to upset the vigilante committee? All I could find was he’d committed `some offences`, no mention of what, must have been serious, it was enough to make him believe they were going to hang him in the morning.
Thanks Rob for the info.
What had he done to upset the vigilante committee? All I could find was he’d committed `some offences`, no mention of what, must have been serious, it was enough to make him believe they were going to hang him in the morning.
Thanks Rob for the info.
Cyber boxing Zone have a better fight record of his.
Here is a little info I picked up.
Some reports say that he was actually born in Liverpool, and not London.
He got sent to Botany Bay in Australia as a convict for some reason, again reports have been from political trouble in his native Ireland to common trouble making with his fists.
Either way he escaped and arrived in America on a ship called Hamilton in 1839.
Again some reports differ and have him first prize fighting in Tasmania.
He fought Billy Bell August 25th (not the 20th as Cyber boxing has it) 1842 on Hart’s Island, New York, lasted 30mins,(cyber boxing again has it lasting 1hr 26mins) 23rounds, Bells seconds threw in the sponge at the end of the 23rd.
He got into a lot of trouble and was a regular at cock and dog fights, in this rough company he was never out of trouble, on numerous occasions he was in the papers for shooting somebody (though never killing them) and also for being set on himself.
Though it was for his prizefighting, after he killed an opponent named Thomas McCoy in Hastings, sometime in 1842 that he got jailed.
Sullivan was sentenced on 2nd November 1842 to 2 years for the manslaughter of Thomas McCoy. He was granted a pardon after serving 10 months `handling stone in the outer yard`.
The pardon was on the condition that a sum of $500, which was paid by two respectable citizens, was entered with the threat of forfeit if Sullivan engaged or aided any prize fight for 2years.
He died May 31, 1856 in San Francisco, California.
Yankee Sullivan committed suicide while held in the vigilantes committee’s headquarters, he’d been there 6 days awaiting trial for what is not really clear, it was later said they were just deporting him out of the country because they`d found out he was an escaped convict, but two men who’d been ballot rigging and who’d murdered two men had been hanged a day or two before. These were James P.Casey and somebody named Corn, and some say Yankee was close with them.
Sullivan became so panic-stricken when he heard a Vigilante guard say that he would probably be `hanged on the morrow`, that he opened a vein in his wrist (or elbow-different sources) and bled to death before a physician could reach him.
He’d supposedly told the guard he` d had a dream he’d been hanged and it was so vivid the guard had gone to get him a drink of water, two hours later when the guard got back Sullivan was dead. Understandably it viewed as suspicious.
Something’s I found which differed from Cyber boxing Zone is his fight with Joe Winrow at Mare Island early October for a $1000 a side bet in 1855.
They do not have him fighting at all after John Morrissey in 1853.
He even made an offer to fight Morrissey in a return for $5000 aside to settle the argument, which he made in a paper in 1855.
And also the Thomas McCoy fight is not listed.
Here is a little info I picked up.
Some reports say that he was actually born in Liverpool, and not London.
He got sent to Botany Bay in Australia as a convict for some reason, again reports have been from political trouble in his native Ireland to common trouble making with his fists.
Either way he escaped and arrived in America on a ship called Hamilton in 1839.
Again some reports differ and have him first prize fighting in Tasmania.
He fought Billy Bell August 25th (not the 20th as Cyber boxing has it) 1842 on Hart’s Island, New York, lasted 30mins,(cyber boxing again has it lasting 1hr 26mins) 23rounds, Bells seconds threw in the sponge at the end of the 23rd.
He got into a lot of trouble and was a regular at cock and dog fights, in this rough company he was never out of trouble, on numerous occasions he was in the papers for shooting somebody (though never killing them) and also for being set on himself.
Though it was for his prizefighting, after he killed an opponent named Thomas McCoy in Hastings, sometime in 1842 that he got jailed.
Sullivan was sentenced on 2nd November 1842 to 2 years for the manslaughter of Thomas McCoy. He was granted a pardon after serving 10 months `handling stone in the outer yard`.
The pardon was on the condition that a sum of $500, which was paid by two respectable citizens, was entered with the threat of forfeit if Sullivan engaged or aided any prize fight for 2years.
He died May 31, 1856 in San Francisco, California.
Yankee Sullivan committed suicide while held in the vigilantes committee’s headquarters, he’d been there 6 days awaiting trial for what is not really clear, it was later said they were just deporting him out of the country because they`d found out he was an escaped convict, but two men who’d been ballot rigging and who’d murdered two men had been hanged a day or two before. These were James P.Casey and somebody named Corn, and some say Yankee was close with them.
Sullivan became so panic-stricken when he heard a Vigilante guard say that he would probably be `hanged on the morrow`, that he opened a vein in his wrist (or elbow-different sources) and bled to death before a physician could reach him.
He’d supposedly told the guard he` d had a dream he’d been hanged and it was so vivid the guard had gone to get him a drink of water, two hours later when the guard got back Sullivan was dead. Understandably it viewed as suspicious.
Something’s I found which differed from Cyber boxing Zone is his fight with Joe Winrow at Mare Island early October for a $1000 a side bet in 1855.
They do not have him fighting at all after John Morrissey in 1853.
He even made an offer to fight Morrissey in a return for $5000 aside to settle the argument, which he made in a paper in 1855.
And also the Thomas McCoy fight is not listed.
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robert.snell1
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 1141
- Joined: 16 Oct 2003, 07:56
his death
this is from the post i did on the fight with morrissey. Not sure if it should be vigilance committe. Must try and find out why they were after him in more detail. Being on the run from the British must have made him a bloody hero
The Marion Daily Star, Ohio Tuesday, June 9, 1885
TOUGH TO THE LAST
This is the article I mentioned. However I have read he was shot in the prison.
An Authentic Account of the last hours
Of Yankee Sullivan
I was pleased to meet last week with Judge McGowan
One of the Argonauts who in 1849 discovered the
Golden fleece, which has – to coin a term –
Royalised California. In the course of the conversation
The Judge told me the concrete history of the tragic end
Of the famous prizefighter Yankee Sullivan.
Sullivan, whose real name was Ambrose Murry, was
Arrested and imprisoned. He feared that the vigilantes
Would put him to death , although as Judge McGowan
Tells me his apprehension was unfounded. The purpose
Of that body was to ship him back to Australia on the
First clipper ship that sailed to Melbourne. It having been
Definitely understood that Sullivan, or Murray, was an
Escaped convict.
The poor devil, however, was so affrighted
That he took no stock in the hope of escape from the
Harsh business of Judge lynch. He called eagerly from his
Prison window for a priest, feeling that death was settling
Close around him. But was answered by jeers from the
Mob without. Finally, in sheer desperation he opened
The viens of his left arm with a case knife and bled
Himself to death.
Yankee Sullivan was one of the finest prize fighters
In the records. – Washington Hatchet.
The Marion Daily Star, Ohio Tuesday, June 9, 1885
TOUGH TO THE LAST
This is the article I mentioned. However I have read he was shot in the prison.
An Authentic Account of the last hours
Of Yankee Sullivan
I was pleased to meet last week with Judge McGowan
One of the Argonauts who in 1849 discovered the
Golden fleece, which has – to coin a term –
Royalised California. In the course of the conversation
The Judge told me the concrete history of the tragic end
Of the famous prizefighter Yankee Sullivan.
Sullivan, whose real name was Ambrose Murry, was
Arrested and imprisoned. He feared that the vigilantes
Would put him to death , although as Judge McGowan
Tells me his apprehension was unfounded. The purpose
Of that body was to ship him back to Australia on the
First clipper ship that sailed to Melbourne. It having been
Definitely understood that Sullivan, or Murray, was an
Escaped convict.
The poor devil, however, was so affrighted
That he took no stock in the hope of escape from the
Harsh business of Judge lynch. He called eagerly from his
Prison window for a priest, feeling that death was settling
Close around him. But was answered by jeers from the
Mob without. Finally, in sheer desperation he opened
The viens of his left arm with a case knife and bled
Himself to death.
Yankee Sullivan was one of the finest prize fighters
In the records. – Washington Hatchet.
From what I`ve read in the papers of that time concerning this, the committee was throwing any sort of trouble makers out of town, and prizefighters, were very much thought of as one of these, and Yankee Sullivan lived up to this judging by the amount of times his name is mentioned in the papers.
There was an article on his fight with Billy Bell and it described how he turned up with all the trouble makers of the area, he mixed in that company.
The vigilance committee was a very strong thing for awhile, its leaders boasted they could muster many thousand of members if need be, I think they even had marshal law because of this for a while down there.
There was an article on his fight with Billy Bell and it described how he turned up with all the trouble makers of the area, he mixed in that company.
The vigilance committee was a very strong thing for awhile, its leaders boasted they could muster many thousand of members if need be, I think they even had marshal law because of this for a while down there.
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robert.snell1
- Heavyweight
- Posts: 1141
- Joined: 16 Oct 2003, 07:56
headstone
found this from a 1938 paper.They sound like a right load of thugs
THOSE TERRIBLE VIGILANTES...
SURE.San Francisco, perhaps, in those days needed a cleaning up-
But these false,. Bible-reading fakirs who called themselves the Vigilantes
were nothing but Puritanical rats who in the name of law and
order hanged innocent people indiscriminately... They took out, through
their Vigilante work, their petty grudges, their little jealousies...
THAT IS WHY your heart goes out to that James (Yankee) Sullivan,
who's little, but so majestic! , tombstone says:"May God Forgive My
Persecutors". .
THOSE TERRIBLE VIGILANTES...
SURE.San Francisco, perhaps, in those days needed a cleaning up-
But these false,. Bible-reading fakirs who called themselves the Vigilantes
were nothing but Puritanical rats who in the name of law and
order hanged innocent people indiscriminately... They took out, through
their Vigilante work, their petty grudges, their little jealousies...
THAT IS WHY your heart goes out to that James (Yankee) Sullivan,
who's little, but so majestic! , tombstone says:"May God Forgive My
Persecutors". .
