By: Jim Waddell
Entertainment in the Mother Lode during the Gold Rush took many forms. Mostly it had to do with violence or alcohol, more commonly both. Violence permeated every aspect of life. Violent acts where one person was victimized were condemned and summarily punished. But if violence took place in anything resembling a fair fight, it was accepted and condoned. Some of it, like dueling, was formalized and conducted under strict rules and rarely, if ever, punished.
Violence both repelled and attracted the Forty-Niner. On one hand, he admired the courage and skill of the fighting man; on the other he condemned the killing or beating of an innocent person and was quick to bring the culprit to justice. Gold Rush ambivalence toward violence was best expressed in the most popular and most violent sporting events of the era: Bull-and-bear fighting contests and bare-knuckled prizefighting.
The gold seekers were fascinated with the sporting activities of the Californios. Among these were horse racing, cockfighting and bullfighting. But none of these sports were as popular among the Forty-Niners as the bull-and-bear fight. These cruel exhibits were unique to California and almost completely held in the vast area where gold was sought. In those years, Grizzly bears were plentiful in the Coast Range. They could weigh as much as twelve hundred pounds. Grizzlies were fast, powerful and extremely vicious when aroused. They were far different from the black bear found in the Sierra Nevada, which rarely weighed more than four hundred pounds and unless cornered, were docile and shy of humans.
Grizzlies often came out of the mountains to feast on cattle. But when a big bear encountered a bull, a battle of Herculean proportions often took place. Vaqueros who first witnessed these spectacles were thrilled and before long, grizzlies were being roped and brought to fiestas to fight bulls in the plaza. By 1849, bull-bear matches would attain equal favor with the Forty-Niners.
Sometimes when a particular Grizzly or a bull was exceedingly vicious or if the promoters thought for some reason the contest would be one-sided, they would tie one leg of the stronger animal to a post to make it even. Sometimes the bull would prevail, sometimes the bear. The result often depended on the size and age of the animals. Often, both were killed but just as often both animals were spared.
The contests never failed to attract large crowds who bet heavily on the outcome. The beasts came to symbolize those traits so important to young, single men: Physical strength, courage, determination, fighting skill and most important, stubborn refusal to back down from a foe.
In the mining country, promoters and gamblers were quick to capitalize on the popularity of the bull-and-bear contest. They staged many of these exhibits and advertised heavily in the local newspapers. In Mokelumne Hill in December of 1851, a huge arena was built that could accommodate a crowd of 6,000. Here they staged a particularly vicious battle between a Grizzly that was renowned for its ferocity and a winning record against several bulls. After the bear killed the first bull, two more were sent in the ring at the same time. The bear finished them off in short order but was killed a week later when a bull gored it to death.
In one contest in the Southern Mines, the bull quickly gored the bear to death without any fight. Believing they had been cheated, the enraged spectators tore the grandstand and bull ring to pieces. On another occasion, the fray lasted only thirty seconds. This time a Grizzly killed the charging bull, breaking its neck with a single swipe of a massive paw. The miners, who had been promised a battle royal, stormed the ticket office and ran the promoters out of town.
One of the most exciting bull-bear contests took place inside a huge tent in Sonora in 1851. The owners of the bull ring had secured a magnificent bear at the cost of one thousand dollars. He was large and weighed at least 1300 lbs. He was tied to the center of the ring with a piece of chain and stalked with a savage dignity. Three bulls were turned into the ring. All three took one look at this monster of a bear and tried desperately to exit the ring, refusing to fight. They were withdrawn at this hisses of the spectators.
A huge, splendid black bull was sent in. His eyes were flashing fire and he was fearless. He took one glance at the bear and, without hesitation, charged. The bear rolled himself into a ball and the charging bull raced past him. The bear with slashing teeth, locked onto one of the legs of the bull, causing a large laceration. After a vicious battle lasting several minutes, the bull was a bloody mess and the bear had been gored severely. The bull jumped over the fence and landed in the grandstand, killing one spectator and injuring several more. He escaped and ran into the hills. The final chapter of this particular bull has not been recorded.
As barbaric as such events may seem by today’s standards, the spectators admired the courage of the animals and saw in the contests more than a simple sporting event. The violent ferocity of these contests had a special appeal to the Forty-Niner. The contests reflected the violence and brutality so common in his life. Most failed to see the brutality of the bull-bear fights.
The popularity of these contests lasted most of two decades until the state passed a law preventing animal violence, thus stopping these activities at the protests of those who saw the events for what they were: A brutal and barbaric display of pain and death of the involved animals, solely for the entertainment of people.
Tom Hyer v. Yankee Sullivan February 2nd, 1884.
The attractions of the bear and bull fights were the same which drew men to bare-knuckle prize fights. Many Forty-Niners from New York and other areas of the East were part of the sophisticated urban boxing fans. Few men from the rural South, Midwest or the Border States had ever seen a professional prizefight. During the early years of the Gold Rush the finest boxers in the nation flocked to California and the newly popular sport flourished in San Francisco and the mining camps.
Organized fighting became one of the most popular spectator sports in early California. However, from its earliest years the sport was connected with criminals, gangsters, gamblers, saloon keepers, firehouse bruisers and political ruffians. In an era in which organized sports and recreational activities were unheard of, young men had few ways outside of work and war to exercise their competitive, combative and physical skills. Bare-knuckle prize fighting and glove sparring helped fill this void.
Sullivan versus Corbett
The popularity of prizefighting during the 1840’s came at a time when traditional patterns of social behavior and the bonds of family where breaking down. Young men abandoned traditional jobs in farming and trades to seek employment in urban factories and mills. With fewer opportunities of achieving economic independence or economic success, they increasingly rejected the older generation’s ethic of work, frugality and sobriety.
The pursuit of leisure rather than work came to be a primary goal in life for many young, citified American men of the 1840’s. Young, unmarried men congregated in firehouses, clubs and saloons where they found companionship in drinking, sparring and brawling. Personal honor was all-important; a man only had honor if other men said he did. If a man’s honor was challenged, a fist-fight or worse was usually the result. Fist-fighting became not only a way to preserve a man’s honor but also a popular and professional sport. Fighters began to battle for money as well as for honor. In time, a class of pugilists developed who were professional bare-knuckle fighters.
The greatest bare-knuckle champs in America came to California during the Gold Rush. Famous names of the times, such as Chris Lilly, Yankee Sullivan, Tom Hyer, John Morrissey as well as heavy hitters such as Dutch Charley Duane, William “Woolly” Kearney and Billy Mulligan all made their appearances in San Francisco and the Mother Lode.
Yankee Sullivan in fighting form.
Yankee Sullivan was the most active and prominent prizefighter of the Gold Rush. America’s first great bare-knuckle champion, Sullivan was born in County Cork, Ireland in 1813. He had gotten into trouble with the law early in his adult life in England, was convicted of burglary and murder. He was sent to prison in Australia. (At that time, Australia was the dumping ground for convicts from Great Britain).
After a short stint in the Australian prison, Sullivan escaped and made it to New York where he adopted his first name of Yankee and wore an American flag as his colors in the fighting ring. Yankee learned his fighting skills in the back alleys of England and refined his skills in the Australian prison.
After a series of successful fights in New York, he was the promoter of the famous Chris Lilly-Tom McCoy fight in 1842 in which McCoy was killed in the ring. Sullivan was convicted as an accessory to manslaughter and he wrangled a pardon through his many political connections.
In 1849, Sullivan migrated to the Gold Rush after he was defeated in a $10,000 fight in New York by the great fighter Tom Hyer. Yankee Sullivan’s experience as a political thug in New York stood him in great stead in California. He took an active role in the first election for city officers in Marysville in 1850.
It is said that Sullivan used his strong-armed tactics to bully voters into supporting candidates of his persuasion. Thus, several like-minded men were elected to office in Marysville and the reputation of that town’s first city council and elected officials were tarnished from the outset.
Yankee Sullivan was the first of many champion prizefighters to tour California’s mining region. With his friends Billy Mulligan and Woolly Kearney he staged prizefights and gave sparring exhibitions.
Like the bull and bear contests, bare-knuckle prizefighting paralleled the violence of the Gold Rush. It went hand in hand with the three indulgences of the Forty-Niners, drinking, gambling and fighting. The cultural clashes of the time were played out in the ring: American against foreigner, English against Irish, Protestant against Catholic, North vs. South.
Cockfighting was another common entertainment.
In the Gold Rush, fighting appealed to one of man’s primal instincts. It had a special significance to men who were responsible for their own welfare, safety and honor. A man who was expected to fend for himself in a new, strange and violent land could readily identify himself with the skill, courage and strength of a solitary fighter in the exhibition ring.