2 minute read
Hyperbole: A.M. Foley
Hyperbole
by A.M. Foley
The hype over sporting events comes at us year-round: March Madness from October into April, the Triple Crown and odds of one horse winning, baseball’s World (read: U.S.) Series, Super Bowl LSomething. The actual event rarely equals the pre-event hype. But for contrast between build-up and outcome, nothing beats the justly forgotten 1849 “First Heavyweight Championship” bout, fought on the shore of Chesapeake Bay.
Combatants were billed as Tom “Young America” Hyer vs. James “Yankee” Sullivan. Every label exaggerated reality, starting with “heavyweight.” Hyer might have qualified as a heavyweight, but Sullivan, at an estimated 150
pounds, would be a welterweight. Hyer, a butcher and saloon keeper by trade, was American, but not exactly “young” for a prizefighter. He was over thirty and was established as a successful brawler. Sullivan may have been “Yankee” to his countrymen back in County Cork, or to his fellow convicts sentenced to transportation to Australia by the British. After he escaped to America, no native New Yorker considered Sullivan a Yankee.
By the onset of the Hyer-Sullivan feud, the Great Hunger had destroyed Irish crops four prior seasons. Ultimately, 1.5 million Irish would be driven from their home- Tom “Young America” Hyer
land to the East Coast of America, creating a strong backlash. Hyer’s saloon was a Bowery hangout of a secretive anti-immigrant society commonly called the Know-Nothing Party. (Adherents were to answer questions about its activities with “I don’t know.”) Hyer’s Dutch ancestry conferred a sense of entitlement in New York. Sullivan’s murky past, pugnacious attitude, and fondness for spirits epitomized the Irishman who raised the hackles of a Know-Nothing.
Sullivan was surely looking for a fight in April 1848, when he turned up in a Know-Nothing hangout. The wily scrapper had earned a reputation among his countrymen for being invincible after defeating several toughs Hyer’s size. Given a few drinks, he must have begun believing his own hype.
Sullivan should have remembered the old Irish adage: “Many a time a man’s mouth broke his nose.” He was four inches shorter and eight years older than Hyer, who was still in his prime and ran upwards of 200 pounds. Hyer made short work of the Irishman. When excited shouting drew Officer George Walling into the saloon, Sullivan was slumped at a table “as if he had been roughly handled.” Hyer stood aside prepping a pistol. Walling described what followed:
“‘Put up that pistol,’ I said to Hyer, who looked calm and collected enough, and with no trace
Do something nice for M♥m! Come see us at Shorely Beautiful We would Love to help.
Flooring ◆ Tiles ◆ Rugs ◆ Wallpaper Fabrics ◆ Window Treatments ◆ Cabinetry Countertops ◆ Hunter Douglas ◆ Design Help and more!
410-228-9022
