Uncle Jack World Champion: Heart of the Champion Jack McAuliffe

By JE McAuliffe

Escaping the devastation of Ireland's famine through the dockyards of Brooklyn these heroes emerge strengthened by the chains they overcame to become the most famous men in the world. The American dream from rags to riches dream comes to life this the greatest of times. Uncle Jack World Champion weaves these tales into life lessons for his nephew and all generations to come.

Leading America through the 1880s and 1890s strode three giants, heroes of the people and the most famous men in the world. Jack McAuliffe, "The Napoleon of the Ring" undefeated Lightweight Champion of the World, Jack Dempsey "the Nonpareil" unequaled in the ring as Middleweight Champion of the World and John L Sullivan "Champion of Champions" and World Heavyweight Champion. They were "The Three Champion Jacks of the World."

Theirs was a world that tested man in as brutal a business to have ever graced the earth. Flesh and blood battled for dominance, two men glaring through scowls of disdain in this world of bare-knuckle boxing. The winner exiting the ring head held high, the loser left hanging like a rag on a clothes line.

The settings, scenes, and backdrop behind the famous fights include: Jack McAuliffe verses Harry Gilmore, Billy Myer and JEM Carney; Jack Dempsey verses George La Blanche; John L. Sullivan vs. Jake Kilrain and James J. Corbett; George Dixon vs. Jack Skelly and Jack Dempsey vs. Luis Firpo. The challenges and the stories behind their legend lay bare a formula for success in becoming Champions.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 16, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543945461

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JE MacAuliffe LLC. Publisher

Copyright CO. 2017 by JE McAuliffe

ISBN: 978-1-5439454-6-1

No part of this book or audio recording may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recorded, or otherwise, except as may be expressly permitted by the applicable copyright statutes or in writing by the Publisher.

JE MacAuliffe, LLC

5 Webster Road

Somerset, NJ 08873

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

TXu002047266 / 2017-03-26

Uncle Jack World Champion/JE McAuliffe

Book design by JE McAuliffe

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

BookBaby

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Pennsauken Township, NJ 08110

This Authorized Biography of Jack McAuliffe World Champion Boxer and Orator is presented on the occasion of the One Hundred and fiftieth year after his birth.

In the tradition of great storytellers, Jack McAuliffe offers his firsthand recollection of a lifetime of wisdom from his and his friend’s experiences to his nephew and lifelong friend, John Edward McAuliffe Senior.

The author, J.E. McAuliffe is the grandson of John Edward McAuliffe Senior, Uncle Jack’s nephew. As great-grand-nephew, family curate and historian, JE weaves the tale of Uncle Jack World Champion in a dedication to these championship lives. These stories have been passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation and in print from the pictures, artifacts, books, and the extensive scrapbook collection held in the McAuliffe Museum.

Public Domain Photographs and artifacts are courtesy of The McAuliffe Museum. Unfortunately, the entirety of the documents did not survive, including many of the publishers and publication dates which are frequently missing from the original artifacts, scrapbooks and documents. Authenticity of the historical dates are difficult if not impossible to collaborate, as most of the stories along with their documentation are printed on over 120 years old parchment.

With Love to my Hunny Colleen

CHAPTERS

INTRODUCTION

CHAPTER 1 Freezing to Death

CHAPTER 2 Flight to America

CHAPTER 3 Uncle Johnny

CHAPTER 4 Austin Gibbons

CHAPTER 5 The Three New York Jacks

CHAPTER 6 Pre-Fight with Jem Carney

CHAPTER 7 Home Rules

CHAPTER 8 A Champion’s Love

CHAPTER 9 Billy Myer

CHAPTER 10 The Columbian Exposition

CHAPTER 11 Training by William Muldoon

CHAPTER 12 The Last Bare-Knuckle Championship

CHAPTER 13 Buffalo Bill Cody

CHAPTER 14 Chief Iron Tail

CHAPTER 15 The Ghost Dance

CHAPTER 16 Carnival of Pugilistic Champions

CHAPTER 17 Jack McAuliffe versus Billy Myer

CHAPTER 18 George Dixon versus Jack Skelly

CHAPTER 19 James J. Corbett versus John L. Sullivan

CHAPTER 20 Race to the Finish

CHAPTER 21 Secretary of the Knights of Columbus

CHAPTER 22 Army Hospital in Paris

CHAPTER 23 Holske International Diamond Championship Belt

CHAPTER 24 Jack Dempsey versus Luis Firpo

CHAPTER 25 The Manassas Mauler versus The Wild Bull

CHAPTER 26 The Last Leg

EPILOGUE A Champion born

EPILOGUE The Champions

REFERENCES

UNCLE JACK McAULIFFE

INTRODUCTION

The bloodied battles setting brother against brother were fading in memory. America had settled her differences, the dirty business of the Civil War left behind. Rising from the embers of the conflagration, a new nation searched for her future. Abraham Lincoln had said, To believe in the things you can see and touch is no belief at all: but to believe in the unseen is a triumph and a blessing. The dreams of a nation put on hold for so long were awakening a nation that was determined to build those dreams.

The eighth wonder of the world was under construction on the East Coast: a bridge spanning the East River between Manhattan and Williamsburg, New York. Only a few years later those same waters would unveil a gift of independence from America’s good friends in France. When completed, the Statue of Liberty would raise into the air over New York harbor, proclaiming America’s leadership in world freedom.

Industrialists were inventing new materials in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania erecting skeletons of steel building the cities of New York and Chicago. Structures soared scraping the sky on these new beams built by leaders like Andrew Carnegie and Henry Frick. The country was on the move, traveling by giant iron horses riding on top of the steel beams forged into rails stretching from sea to shining sea.

A young one-hundred-year old United States of America was an international sensation. The country declared individual rights and freedom for all in the city of brotherly love. Celebrating the Centennial of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a World’s Fair Exhibition was held in 1876 in the city where the nation was born Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Across the ocean, the French celebrated the 1889 Exposition Universelle honored their freedom from the royalty of Versailles on the one hundredth anniversary of Bastille Day. The soaring grandeur of the Eiffel Tower signaled their national pride. France’s World’s Fair invited all to display their ideas and dreams, but no tools of war were allowed inside the fair grounds. The French invited people from around the world in good will and peaceful industry.

Chicago, Illinois, won the privilege of celebrating the four hundredth year anniversary celebration honoring Christopher Columbus, the man who discovered the New World of America in 1492. The Columbian Exhibition of 1893 was a magnificent World’s Fair with inventions of every size and shape on display, staggering the viewers’ imaginations. Architecture from every state in the union was presented, each structure built on its own land. Almost every country in the world was represented with an exhibit, punctuating the many different textures of life around the globe. The best minds in the country were brought together to complete this great spectacle.

Through these celebrations strode three men, men whose determination reached to crawl out of the lowest work on the toughest dockyards in the country to become giants in their field. Jack Dempsey, the world middleweight champion, Jack McAuliffe the world lightweight champion and John L. Sullivan the world heavyweight champion. Their fame was earned in a brutal world of flesh and blood engaged in a battle of dominance. Separated by breath alone, two men stared each other down through scowls of disdain. This was a world where there was no faking, no stalling, this was the world of bare-knuckle boxing.

Many say there were rules governing the brutality of the fight world, but the early days of the sport offered few. Fighters were held in tight rings created by a crowd of fanatics surrounding them. All matches were fought to the point of total submission. The winner exiting the ring head held high, while the loser was left hanging like a rag on a clothes line.

Later, a more refined form of boxing was brought to America by way of the British. It started as the London Prizefighting Rules, which consisted of loose guidelines allowing for ring size, time periods for rounds, and rest between rounds. These rules brought more protection for the fighters, but as before and always, one climbed out of the ring victorious; the other was left hugging the ground a pile of dirt.

Surrounding the roped-off square was a world looking to smell the ring’s blood. Bookies traded dollars for dreams, while their customers prayed for a killing in the ring with promises of silver in their pockets.

Making a living in this world was a stroke of luck. Lasting as long as these champions did was a miracle. The heavyweight champion of champions, John L. Sullivan, said: Champions are born, the science of boxing never built a man who could stay inside a ring for four hours, be pounded half to death, and emerge victorious. John L. Sullivan held court as king in every bar he entered. Striding through the front door he would claim: I can beat any sonofabitch in the house. His magnificent arrogance proved it hundreds of times. His standing wager of $500 for three rounds tempted many a challenger, but as each was defeated, the mob would return to the bar where Sullivan would set up drinks for everyone.

To shake the hand of John L. Sullivan was an honor and a thrill above all others. John L. Sullivan was the champion of champions for over ten years in this brutal war of winner takes all.

Jack Dempsey was one of the toughest fighters to ever step into the ring. They called him the Nonpareil unmatched in the ring. He won world championship titles in three different weight classes starting as a lightweight until gaining size he moved through the Welterweight class and ended up as the Middleweight World Champion. It mattered not where he fought; he was always victorious, whether next to the dockyard rats of Brooklyn or in downtown New York City. The only training Dempsey ever had was from a professional wrestler, which helped him become an expert in sizing up his opponents. Dempsey could tell a man’s weakness and their flaws by the way he stepped in the ring. He was the greatest ring general of his day; some say that ever lived. He feared no man in the ring fighting above his weight class whenever necessary; the size of the man mattered little. He would fight a class challenge for a heavy purse or an exhibition with anyone. He held exhibitions against the world’s heavyweight champions, John L. Sullivan and gentleman Jim Corbett. Dempsey was undefeated through all three of his weight classes for nine years. No man was the equal of a healthy Jack Dempsey in a fair fight.

Dempsey was also one of the greatest trainers in the fight game. The famous Three New York Jacks Jack Skelly, Jack Dempsey and Jack McAuliffe all trained out of the same cooperage house on the Brooklyn dockyards. Dempsey had the most experience and offered his insights and training to the champions. His training advice: watch opponents closely, since most fighters telegraph their intentions by their balance and the way they moved.

Jack McAuliffe was the World Lightweight Champion for over 13 years. His genius in the ring honored him with the handle the Napoleon of the Ring. He and Jack Dempsey were best friends and partners. McAuliffe never lost a fight with Dempsey in his corner. They relied on each other as seconds in the ring stationed in each other’s corners on many occasions. Jack McAuliffe was a champion in the days of both the London Prizefighting Rules with bare knuckles and his championship continued into the gloved world under the Marquess of Queensberry Rules. As tough as a rail spike, he fought man-to-man with bare knuckles in fights that lasted up to five hours.

The three New York Jack’s became the most well-known fighters in New York City, led by Jack Dempsey the Nonpareil, Jack McAuliffe the Napoleon of the ring, and True as Steel Jack Skelly the great featherweight amateur. They took on all comers, with Jack Dempsey and Jack McAuliffe turning professional early in their careers. Jack Skelly, the family man, remained close to home, retaining his reputation as a great featherweight amateur.

Time builds legends; John L. Sullivan, The Boston strong boy, held the heavyweight championship title for ten years; Jack Dempsey, the Nonpareil, held the middleweight championship title for nine years; and Jack McAuliffe, the Napoleon of the ring, held the lightweight championship title for over 12 years. Once hot-blooded rivals from the opposing cities of New York and Boston in the 1880s; McAuliffe, Dempsey, and Sullivan were brought together by Billy Madden a friend a great fighter, trainer, and manager.

Billy Madden was a great manager with solid counsel. The advice that sums up our business, Madden said, is that those who love to fight will win, those who fight to win, will not. Love the sport, not the win.

John L. Sullivan was the first to be managed by Madden, who had arranged fights for him leading to the American heavyweight championship title in the very early 1880s. Jack Dempsey was a lightweight and Jack McAuliffe was only a featherweight when they became friends. Billy Madden began working with Dempsey and managed his fights all the way up to the American championship. Good living and bigger challenges moved Dempsey up a weight class in 1884. Madden was by Dempsey’s side as he gained stature, attaining the welterweight championship in 1885. Shortly afterward he attained the heft and title of Middleweight Champion of America and then the championship of the World. That left an opening for a lightweight champion.

Jack McAuliffe accepted the American lightweight championship title with the support and prodding of Jack Dempsey and Billy Madden. Having followed Dempsey’s career, McAuliffe knew the many contests to come and accepted all challenges in the weight class. A flood of contenders reached for his belt, but all were dispatched in their time. By the middle of 1886, he had whittled the many challengers down to few serious contenders. His reign as champion of the lightweight world lasted for 13 years.

John L. Sullivan, Jack Dempsey, and Jack McAuliffe became lifelong friends in the late 1880’s as they took on all challengers to become world champions. They traveled through life owning their titles and loving the fight. They were:

The Three Champion Jacks of the World.

The Three Champion Jacks of the World

CHAPTER 1

Freezing to Death

Uncle Jack, it’s so cold I can’t feel my fingers, said young John, as ice started to form on his eyebrows, surrounding his blue eyes.

You think its cold out here, tonight nephew? I asked my Brother Cornelius’ young son, John as I held on to the reins of two equally frozen mares. This is nothing; in the winter of 1888 the weather was so cold that birds were falling out of the sky frozen to death in midflight. The snowdrifts were so high we couldn’t plow through the streets any faster than one mile an hour. The horses were having a hard time just stepping out of their own droppings. Our biggest worry was not falling off our horses and freezing to death in the snowdrifts.

Tomorrow is Christmas, I said, there are enough people who need to fill their families’ bellies with good cheer. I hope you told your friends to come out and help us. I’m looking for them to grab these turkeys off this sleigh and carry them home. If they can’t take these birds off our hands, I’m sure their next-door neighbors would love to. A full dinner of turkey with all the fixings is sure to make their holiday. I know its cold tonight nephew, but I guarantee you it will be a warm winter when these turkeys end up on your friends’ tables. They will never forget you for making their family’s Christmas.

Let me tell you of cold; one of the worst nights I ever lived through was in the winter of 1887. The main event was my championship fight against the Canadian Lightweight Champion, Harry Gilmore. After that fight I came within a cat’s whisker of freezing to death outside in a horse-drawn sleigh in the cold storm. Jack Dempsey, Dr. Hughes, and I were lucky enough to have made it out of Massachusetts alive.

Harry Gilmore was the Canadian Lightweight Champion and as tough a fighter as you would want. Quick and agile, Gilmore started his nightly practice sparring with three youngsters for some quick rounds. After that he’d put in a few solid hours on the bags and lifting weights. His speed was legendary, although he had the marks on him from tougher fights. His slightly flattened nose came from tough battles he had up in the Canadian north. It was for the love of the sport that Gilmore and the rest of us stepped into the ring.

Gilmore told stories of Canadians fighting out in the woods or in deserted buildings. The purses in those days hardly made it worthwhile to get out of bed. Gilmore won the Canadian championship title, beating Jack Stewart for all of $300 behind an old barn. After that Gilmore moved down to Boston and was training in the Athletic Club, headquarters for many of the top northeastern American fighters. He was happy enough to be fighting in a real club. The Boston Athletic Club had a full complement of championship fighters. The leader at the center of the Club was the heavyweight champion of champions, John L. Sullivan, the Boston strong boy. The stable boasted of George Dixon Little Chocolate the Featherweight Champion of Canada and George La Blanche, The Marine a top middleweight contender.

An ill wind blew the rivalry between Boston and New York City. Sullivan wanted his Boston Club to be the center of the international boxing world. His plan was to set up matches in order to defeat other champions from New York City and the rest of the country with his eye on bringing more championship belts to Boston.

New York City was home to the Three New York Jacks; Jack Skelly was our top amateur featherweight champion, Jack Dempsey, the Nonpareil, was Middleweight Champion of the World, and yours truly, I was the Napoleon of the ring, holding the World Lightweight Championship title. Jack Dempsey was the best fighter among us and he also helped managed the club. We were fighting out of Billy Madden’s training center on 13th street in New York City along with our great friend, Dr. Peter Hughes of Williamsburg, a medical professional who looked after our physical condition.

Billy Madden came across Jack Dempsey and yours truly while looking for talent through his amateur fighting tournaments throughout the city. He was a great fighter but an even better manager. He saw our talent and brought Dempsey, Skelly, and me into his training program at the Atlantic Club.

Back in Boston, Sullivan and Harry Gilmore believed that Harry was ready for a bigger title. So the Canadian champion went after my international lightweight title with the backing of his Back Bay Club. They felt Gilmore had what it took to win my belt, and Sullivan began pressing the challenge to get the two of us in the ring.

Little did our New York club know that the fight was being pushed by the international sports world as a preliminary fight to another world championship title match. Gilmore’s fight was just a stepping stone that would lead to the main contest with the European and British lightweight champion, JEM Carney. Carney had traveled to America in order to fight for the World Lightweight Championship title. I was the title holder at the time and Sullivan wanted a crack at my title first with his own stable. The winner of my fight with Harry Gilmore would be the world champion. Then the Londoner, JEM Carney, would challenge that winner for the right to fight him for that world title.

Sullivan’s grab for championship titles was a direct challenge to New York and to New York’s Police Gazette. The Gazette had been an old rundown weekly that Richard K. Fox bought back to life, turning it into the premier sports read. The Gazette needed a full stable of champions in New York who provided a constant series of stories. In the mean-time the bitter battle of words between John L. Sullivan and Richard K. Fox was as hot-blooded as any heavyweight fight. The Gazette called Sullivan a man of flawed character. No doubt he had an international reputation for drinking, and to be fair there was never a lack of flaws that followed him around. That still did not stop the Gazette from making up stories, as papers are known to do when they want to sell newsprint. The paper spoke against Sullivan on every occasion, offering an opinion about every fight he accepted. They knew that nobody was going to buy their paper if Sullivan was always the unbeatable world champion. However, controversy before a fight was good for peddling newspapers, and that is what the Police Gazette was all about.

The international lightweight boxing championship match between Harry Gilmore and yours truly was Sullivan’s challenge to New York City and an insult to the Police Gazette. It would be his great pleasure to take my belt away from New York and bring the title to Boston.

Then again and unknown to us in New York, my fight with Harry Gilmore was just the first round leading up to Sullivan’s gang hosting the future international title fight with the British fighter JEM Carney.

Arrangements for the match had taken a lot of time. The pride of both cities was on the line, with Harry Gilmore fighting out of Boston and yours truly fighting out of New York. An agreeable neutral location so that neither of the two camps would have a home advantage was difficult to find.

In 1887 prize fighting was illegal in every state of the union, and a history of police interference was a compelling reason to reject almost any site. Many lawmen made their names and gained promotions putting fighting thugs behind bars.

Boston continued its pressure to hold this fight in early 1887. Ed Holske, the internationally known sportsman, found a site that would be available, but it was close to Boston. At that time, our club trusted Holske as a neutral admirer. He had a good reputation in the boxing world, having donated the Holske International Diamond Championship Belt to the title holder in every weight class. I currently wore Holske’s belt as the World Lightweight Champion and I had every intention of keeping it.

We signed Articles of Agreement for the fight to be held on January the fourteenth, 1887. It was to be held in a blacksmith’s shop in Lawrence, Massachusetts. I agreed to the time and place because of the pressure being put on me to fight or to give up my title, although Lawrence was clearly a stone’s throw from Boston, to my opponent’s advantage. What we in New York did not know was that the location was chosen so that Ed Holske could bring the British champion, JEM Carney, to the bout to study our fighting styles before he challenged the winner for the international title.

John, I wish I could forget that night, I said pulling out another turkey for the neighborhood. January in Massachusetts, the snow was piling up like no storm I was ever in. The fight crowd was coming in from all over the East Coast as far away as Philadelphia in the south and Portland in the north. Gilmore’s principal backers came from Boston, Providence, and Portland. My backers were traveling up from New York and Philadelphia.

The snowstorm was so heavy that transportation was limited getting into town. If you were lucky the local train would put you in front of a sleigh whose driver knew the secret location and way to the blacksmith’s shop. Followers of the fight had paid $25 for the privilege of sitting on a cold bench for this international bout. When it was all done only sixty-three of the eighty-five tickets which were sold filled their seats because of the storm. Side bets reached a high of $500 at the bell. Inside that blacksmith’s shop was the purse, the Lightweight Championship of the World, and the Holske International Diamond Belt, all on the line.

John I would say it was freezing outside, I said, but that wouldn’t be fair to the weather. I thank heavenly intervention that somehow I was able to make it out of Massachusetts alive. The blacksmith’s shop turned out to be a difficult choice for the sport. The building was large for horse work but tight for a standard ring with a crowd. Marquess of Queensberry Rules defined the battle ground and the size of the contested area, leaving little room for spectators. In order to seat the crowd, the ring was built on three sides with hemp rope. The fourth side was a solid brick wall used as the anchor. It was a dangerous ring to say the least. If either champion were to hit the wall with his face, he would fall, a bloody heap to the dirt.

To make matters worse, the town of Lawrence, Massachusetts was in the middle of electing a sheriff. Even though this bout would be fought under the new Marquess of Queensberry Rules, the fighting game was still illegal in the state of Massachusetts. Two lawmen were locked in political battle to become the law and order sheriff. Only after the fight did we hear the bad news. The man who arrested the fighting culprits would be voted in as the new sheriff. So there was more on the line that night than just the World Lightweight Boxing Championship.

Back inside the three sides of rope we elected Al Smith from New York as referee. Smith moved to center ring and began.

Gentlemen, he said, tonight we bring you a boxing first from Lawrence, Massachusetts. This bout will determine the Lightweight Champion of America and the World. Marquess of Queensberry Rules will govern the actions in the ring with skintight gloves covering fingers. In this corner, weighing 128 pounds is the Lightweight Boxing Champion of Canada wearing the red and white sash, Harry Gilmore."

Cheers filled the room as the Massachusetts favorite and Boston trained fighter rose from his corner. Harry Gilmore was the strongest lightweight contender in Boston, and his eye was focused on my international title. What he knew was that this would be only the first of two international title fights.

In this corner weighing 133 pounds and wearing the green and white sash is the current Lightweight Champion of the World, Jack McAuliffe, continued referee Al Smith.

Both cheers and heckles filled the first floor of the blacksmith’s shop. Jack Dempsey, the Nonpareil, and Dr. Peter Hughes stood in my corner, surrounding me as seconds.

John, I thought I was going punch drunk even before the fight started, I said. "I was hearing chanting and singing overhead, and every-once in a while I would hear footsteps. It turned out to be only a few boys walking around upstairs. Ed