Tom Hyer Beats Yankee Sullivan

Tom Hyer won the American Bare Knuckle Prizefighting Championship in 1841.  Like most prizefighting champions of the Nineteenth Century, he did not fight very often.  Hyer normally paid his bills as an enforcer for political parties in New York.  Originally, Hyer employed his talents for the Whigs but would switch allegiances to the “Know Nothing Party” with his friend William “Bill the Butcher” Poole.

38-year-old Yankee Sullivan was born James Ambrose in Ireland but grew up in London’s East End.  After receiving a twenty year sentence in Australia, of which he served eight, Sullivan organized a gang.  Fed up with Sullivan’s antics, Australian authorities started putting the heat on him. Sullivan decided New York offered better possibilities.

When Sullivan arrived in New York, he claimed to have fought many prize fights in Australia (which could not be verified).  Sullivan almost immediately challenged Hyer for his title.  A bout was agreed to.  The men fought in Still Pond, Maryland on February 7, 1849.  Prizefighting was illegal, so they had to move the bout once as they just avoided an army of policemen sent by Maryland authorities.  The fighters and their seconds literally fought the policemen to escape arrest.

Sullivan’s and Hyer’s seconds met at 4 p.m. at Still’s Pond.  The men fought at 5 p.m.  By 5:30 p.m., Hyer had successfully defended his title.

 Sullivan started out strong.  Observers had Sullivan winning the first three round handily.  Sullivan scored the first knockdown at the end of the third with a blow to Hyer’s neck.  This solid shot woke up the champion.

Hyer picked up the pace and drew first blood.  While both Hyer’s eyes were swollen, Hyer seriously injured Sullivan’s right eye.  Hyer also threw Sullivan a couple of times.  Throws were legal in bare knuckle prizefighting.  A successful throw normally ended a round.

The February air was very cold, so neither fighter was taking much rest.  They seemed determined to keep the fight going and rested little between rounds.

Hyer twisted Sullivan’s right arm in the fifteenth round but his most damaging tactic was not letting Sullivan fall.  Hyer realized that Sullivan was injured in the sixteenth round.  As Sullivan started to fall to end the round, Hyer caught him and trapped Sullivan’s head under his arm.

Hyer held Sullivan up as he pummeled him with powerful blow after blow.  When Sullivan became to heavy for Hyer to hold up, he released Yankee’s limp body.  Sullivan was unable to come back to the scratch in time delivering the victory to Hyer.

According to the February 17, 1849 edition of the Sunbury American (Sunbury, Pennsylvania) Sullivan had to be carried from the ring by his supporters, while Champion Hyer quickly bundled up and took a boat back to Frenchtown.  Sullivan’s face showed the full effect of the battle, while Hyer had swelling around his eyes.

Hyer and Sullivan quickly returned to New York to avoid arrest.  They also buried the hatchet.  When Hyer retired in 1851 without fighting again, Sullivan claimed the title.  Hyer and “Bill the Butcher” backed Sullivan in his battle with John Morrissey, a prizefighter and Tammany Hall enforcer.

After the end of his prizefighting career, Sullivan travelled to San Francisco, where he became an enforcer for the local political machine.  He committed suicide or was killed while in the custody of the San Francisco Vigilance Committee in 1856.

According to newspaper reports, he slit his wrist with a knife brought with his dinner on July 1, 1856.  Due to Sullivan’s death in Vigilance Committee custody, some observers believed Sullivan was killed by vigilantes but no real evidence was ever produced.

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