BoxRec

Frank C Marshall stepped through the batwings of Murphy’s Exchange saloon and fired two shots at John P Clow, before the fighter could get his gun into action, one going through his brain, causing his demise. Apparently, it was an argument over a horse that the ex-prize-fighter John P Clow bought from Marshall, but did he pay for it? Or was the horse what it should be? Clow had Marshall arrested earlier but he was released and the two had spent the day drinking and arguing. The well-connected Marshall was later acquitted but nobody was ever convicted of the killing. It was no surprise, however as earlier that year in May Clow was shot in the groin in that very same saloon. He had quarrelled with a Garrett Hughes over some money matter and knocked that worthy down. Hughes had fired 5 shots before hitting Clow with the fifth. Clow just about survived, and the shooter in this case, also well connected was also acquitted.
Dissipation has brought the once shining light of the western heavyweight scene to this sorry end, and some of the newspapers remarks were savage, “notorious bully and Marshall is not much better”, “The people of Denver certainly breathe easier since the notorious John P Clow has been removed from their midst”, “all around bad man”, “He has at many times given his viciousness play by slogging inoffensive men, insulting women…he was a leader of the rougher element of Denver and was suspected of many crimes although they could never be fastened upon him.” John has not started in that manner and his final two years saw him drinking heavily as he suffered the effects of battling consumption.
Born John Pollack Clow on February 9th 1861, in Meadville, Crawford, Pennsylvania to Alex Clow and Sarah J Boyd of Scottish/Irish origin. They moved from Erie, Pennssylvania when John was about 12 and settled in Denver where he worked as a labourer but showed great athletic powers as a youngster before growing to just under six feet and filling out to 150-170 pounds in adulthood. Frank Hayes, a local lightweight champion taught him the fundamentals of boxing and he won the middleweight championship and a treasured Police Gazette gold medal by defeating Willis H Cush over 17 rounds in November 1882.
After several more victories, Frank Hayes, now estranged from Clow, enticed top contender Domonic McCaffrey to take on Clow. The condition was that John had to last 4 rounds to claim $50, and this he did, but was battered into a bloody mess by his more experienced foe. Years later McCaffrey recalled the fight and praised Clow; “I never saw anybody in my born days who could stand the gaff as he did”.
He retained his laurels with a tough six-round win over George Morrison in early 1884 that ended in a melee where Jack Davis reached in and hit Clow, who promptly hit him back. Several more wins followed before a hiccup occurred when he battled Jack Davis, and after dominating throughout, in the tenth he floored him for a 12 second count, but Davis was allowed to resume only to be floored again at the end of the round. Clow went for the finish in the next round but caught a wild, desperate swing and was knocked out cold. He was arrested late in 1884 in El Paso, for a robbery back in Blake Street, Denver but got out on a habeas corpus and was thought to be in Mexico.
Clow went on the road, probably dictated by the activities outside the ring and surfaced as John Moore in Texas, where he racked up a number of wins. A proposed fight with another top-level performer, Captain Jack Dalton, fell through, even though they had a mild 5 round draw in Chicago, and he dispatched Harry Hynds in six rounds on August 1st. Hynds went on to be a very rich entrepreneur. John P moved back to the top echelons with two four-round bouts against “the Irish Lad” Jack Burke, a top-five fighter of the 1880’s decade. In the first meeting he gave a good account of himself, but Burke was clearly better. The second instalment was held at altitude on Leadville, and Clow was on the canvas three times in the opening stanza. However, the altitude affected Burke greatly, and while he still was on top, Clow got the draw and was the stronger at the finish. Clow continued fighting at the top table and in his next fight won on a foul in ten over Denver Ed Smith, who would feature as a top contender for a decade. The fight was good and scientific and pretty even, when Smith hit Clow when he was down, thus losing on a foul. A return later in November was won on points by Smith and was one of the first matches that I have seen the hits scored recorded. They read as follows: Smith first, R1, 11-9, R2, 12-14, R3, 13-12, R4,28-14,R5, 22-19, R6, 29-21. Bat Masterson, of Dodge City fame, was now Clow’s manager. Others like Frank Hayes, Gooding, Hale and Mallaban had held the reins at various times.

More to follow.

Part 2.
1886 brought a peak Cloy, with a series of draws in which he generally outperformed good opponents: Jim Fell, Duncan McDonald (twice), and Dave Campbell. He finished the year by fighting as the resident house fighter in the two top clubs in Philadelphia, Clarke's for one week, and then the Comique for a second week. Jack Farrell, Denny Butler, Big Joe Denning and Denny Kelleher were defeated in Clarke's Olympic Theatre and at the Comique, Mike Boden, Bill Dunn and Denny Killen were vanquished, and he fought a draw with Tommy Kelly. Kelly did well, but the fight report suggests John was better, but a large body of home-town supporters were for Tommy. Clow then went to Baltimore to spar four rounds with top contender Jake Kilrain, and reports said that while Clow impressed, Kilrain was better. In an interview shortly after these bouts, Clow praised Kelly, who he said was the only one he found difficult to cope with. He said the Kilrain bout was just a spar and there was no question as to who was the better fighter. He did, however, state that he could see that Jake was a first-class man and "as good as any of them outside Sullivan."
The one fly in the ointment of 1884 came in the shape of his old nemesis, Jack Davis. A six-round affair with him ended in controversy, but the fight itself was something else. The Laramie Daily Boomerang of August 31st tells us all we need to know. Six so-called rounds were gone through, and police interference was required in four. Science was discarded, and the "fight" consisted in clinching, biting, fouling and pranks of cowardice. The last rounds were like the biting, scratching and pulling of two bull-dogs in a pit. They rolled over each other on the platform floor, biting each other's arms, necks and cheeks, and all the while the platform was filled with a scrambling, yelling mass of excited deputy sheriffs, city policemen and spectators, who were brandishing clubs, canes and revolvers." When the police finally called a halt, Bat Masterson whipped Clow out of the building, and after ten minutes, the referee awarded the spoils to Davis.
!887 was a good year, undefeated with a series of knockout wins over good B-level opponents: Jack Hanley, Martin Fahey, O H Smith, Tom Hinch, Paddy McDonald and J W Curtis. Frank Glover was given a 15-round draw with Clow but, again, Clow was the better fighter. October finished with the police stopping a fight with top-class heavyweight Peter J Nolan after only one round of hectic battling with John P at least holding his own. Consumption was taking hold of Clow by then; his drinking, carousing, and violence were spiralling out of control. In April 1888, Mike Conley wrote finis to his career in four rounds. In the latter years their were various reports of quarrels outside the ring, clashes with the law and other misdemeanours. He left behind a wife, Alice and a seven-month-old daughter, Mabel, who herself went on to live to nearly one hundred years. Alice, for her part never spoke of John P Clow again, and according to family lore, became a "harsh, judgemental woman." Tough times indeed.