The Dollop with Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds - 170 - The Bowery Boys and Boxing

Episode Date: May 5, 2016

Comedians Dave Anthony and Gareth Reynolds examine the Bowery Boys and their love of boxing. SOURCESTOUR DATES REDBUBBLE MERCH

When you're staying at an Airbnb you might be like me wondering could my place be an Airbnb and if it could what could it earn? You could be sitting on an Airbnb and not even know it. That in-law sweet guest house where your parents stay only part-time Airbnb it and make some money the rest of the year whether you could use a little extra money to cover some bills or for something a little more fun. Your home might be worth more than you think. Find out how much at airbnb.ca slash host. Hello you are listening to the dollop. It's American History podcast each week. I read a story from American History to

my friend. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. That lacked enthusiasm. Even like a slight interest in being here. I'm very interested in being here. I would describe that as a void. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. I can do it like a news reporter. How they always do that. Gareth Reynolds who has no idea what the topic is going to be about. Do you want to look who to do? I'll do one bottle. People say this is funny. Not Gary Gareth. Stay okay. Someone or something is tickling people. Is it for fun? And this is not going to become a tickly podcast. Okay. You are queen fakie of made-up town. All hail Queen Shit of Lies though.

A bunch of religious virgins go to mingle and do my frame. So we are on the All Things Comedy Network. You guys there are tons of great podcasts on the All Things Comedy Network. Go check out allthingscomedy.com. That's what I'm saying. That's my point to you. 1840. Why do you shout it? Is it is it dad anger? What is it? I don't have any dad anger. What are you talking about? Bowery boys. Okay. We're an anti-Catholic lower Manhattan gang. You often fought with the Irish Five Points gangs during the 1840s, 50s, and 60s. They stood out from other gangs because they dressed well in a uniform of red shirts and

black trousers that were shoved inside of skin calfskin boots. It's not like white stripes. A little bit. Okay. They also had slick, slicked black hair or back just back hair. Sure. Back. Wait, not back. Not back. They didn't have back hair. Back hair. So it was slicked back. So they had hair on their backs. No, it was slicked back hair. It wasn't slicked back. Sorry. So they would style the hair on their backs and may have paused the incorrect time. They would put like some Vidal Sassoon in their back hair. This was when back hair and back hair fads were in. Okay. What it wasn't just let's have back hair was

like what do you want to do with the back? So we're finally doing the hair back podcast. Correct. Okay. And they also wore black stovepipe hats. Okay. Now it looks starting. Like who came up with this? The first guy. Sounds like Kanye maybe. Really? Yeah. This is what we're doing. We don't look intimidating at all. We look like a musical. That's why we're going to tuck our pants into our calf skin. I think we're saying the same thing. No, we're not. Bowery boys, your night. Let's all kiss. What? Let's all kiss. I don't want to kiss. Come on. Put on your hat and kiss a man. It's your problem. We're the Bowery boys. Put on your hats.

Kiss a man. All right. Starting to feel like the gang is just a way for you to date. What? Yeah. I think it's a way for you to date and meet other guys. What? We want to beat people up. We are going to beat people up. We shout. But I feel like for you it's different. Let's suck each other's dicks. Okay. What? Okay. This is what I'm talking about. What? Nobody else has like a their own. We are the Bowery boys. Nobody will mess with us. We've got stovepipe hats and we're all fucking each other. No, here's the thing. This is like you have a personal agenda. Is somebody we're very I'll take my pants off if someone's not going to do it for me. We're very open

about having gay people in the Bowery boys. We think it's totally fine. I am too. They deserve to be in the gang. If you're gay, welcome aboard. So we're just mostly about fighting and stealing. Same here. Same here. I don't agree with their lifestyle, but wait to each their own. People who steal stuff? No, the gays. Yeah, but you keep gays. It's just like icky. You know what I mean? Hold my hand. Okay. So we're going to I'm going to go join the I'll come with you. No, I'm enjoying another gang. I'll come with you. You're the worst leader we've ever had. You're my soul mate. And unlike all other gangs, they were actually employed as printers, mechanics,

bar bouncers, butchers and similar jobs. Okay. So most of the gangs did not have jobs. Their job was to be a gang. These guys actually job jobs and then part time. Yeah. Hence they get afford the fancy clothes. Right. That's where it's coming from. Well, when they weren't working, they were in the saloons and alleys of the Bowery fighting or robbing people. Their biggest enemy were the dead rabbits gang. Name is named after dead rabbits. Okay. The Bowery boys were also volunteer firemen. Okay. Aligned with the know nothing party. Okay. Later with the Democratic party, the Bowery boys were members of different firehouses. This was common for gangs at the

time. The dead rabbits, the roach guards and the pug uglies also mostly belong to firehouses. The roach guards had the worst name. The pug uglies aren't winning any contests. The pug is not great, but the roach guards. The roach guards is pretty terrible. It gives you the impression that they're just guarding roaches. Right. Okay. We're the cats pajamas. That's terrible. Come on. Many a fight broke out between the gangs at Fires. At Fires? Yeah, we know this already when we did the firemen episode. Oh yeah, they fight each other. The Bowery boys. They're fire fighters. The Bowery boys always sent their biggest man to take control of a

fire hydrant once the fire alarm sounded. Okay. He'd grab an empty barrel. This is a bad start. He'd run to the fire plug near the building that was on fire. He'd put the barrel over over the fire plug and then he'd fight off everyone who tried to take the barrel off. Wait. Wait. They're fire fighters? Well, the Bowery boys wanted to put out the fire. Right. They didn't want the other gangs to put out the fire. So nobody can put out the fire? The first thing they would do when they got to the fire is he would run first before they got the truck ready. They wouldn't be getting the truck ready. Oh. And he would run there first and he would put a barrel over. So even if other fire departments were there, they couldn't do

anything. They couldn't do anything. And it would always be the biggest guy. So I guess the greater good wasn't being put first. I mean, it depends what you mean by the greater good. Saving people from fires. Okay. That wasn't. Yeah. That wasn't. Right. Needless to say, putting a barrel over a fire plug and fighting people off took great fighting skill. Yeah. The Bowery boys loved to fight and they also worked for politicians. A lot of their fights were done for New York politicians. They would intimidate voters at polling places into voting for a specific candidate. Thank God we're far past that. They were also what was known as repeaters. Men who would vote over and over in different

districts, they'd get cash and helpful influence from politicians that they helped. I wanted you to say different outfits. So they'd have, no, that would be awesome if they changed for every time they voted. Yeah. They just keep coming in. They would just have a list of their name and their supposed apartment, like forged documents. Right. I live here and they just go fight about 20 times. Again, it just speaks to a time when voting was really weird. July 4th, 1857, the Dead Rabbits led a group of street gangs from the Five Points to the Bowery to attack a clubhouse of the Bowery boys and another affiliated gang, the Atlantic Guards. Much better. The best name so far, the Atlantic Guards. Bowery boys is little boys. Boys is

not a name you want to associate. I mean, it sounds great when you're... Well, plus we just got a gap into their behind the scenes meetings and they sound a little weird. They do sound a little strange. The two gangs then met in the street outside of the clubhouse and the dead rabbits were driven back and forced to retreat. But the fighting did not stop. A few cops showed up to stop the mayhem, but mostly the cops did nothing. The police inactivity led to an escalation of the battle. The fighting continued for three days. What? What? It's like cricket? It's a lot like cricket. How do you fight for three days? Well, with iron bars,

paving blocks, brick bats, axes, pitchforks and pistols. That's a list. That is a list. Sounds like the Anchorman fight. Right. The number involved was said to be between 800 and 1,000 gang members. Eight 1,000 gang members were fighting with axes and guns and pitchforks for three days. Yeah. And the cops are just like, they're doing the show. I am staying out of this. Absolutely, yeah. I wouldn't go near it. No way. You guys go ahead. I guess just kill each other and then we're better off. It's like sleep training with a baby. Just let them cry it out.

Yeah. And it's exactly like sleep training with a baby. While the fighting was going on, other criminals flooded into the area to loot while the gangs were distracted with each other. Those guys are always the smartest. The looters are always the smartest. No, they look at it and they go, oh, you guys, everyone's going to be panting. You're going to go home with a black eye. I'm going home with a flat screen. Right. I mean, I know that they are very rare. I know that they didn't have, they had Vizio. They did have Vizio. But they didn't have what we have now. They didn't have 3D HD, but they had flat screens were starting around this time.

This was, yeah, flat screens started in, I think, 1830. Right. Yeah, exactly. We're saying the same thing. The larger police force, a larger police force then showed up and arrested some, but the gangs put up barricades to keep the cops out. Jesus of their fight. Yes. Let's join forces to keep the cops out. Yeah, that's exactly what they did. They probably called the truce and then put up barricades to keep the cops out so they could keep killing each other.

Probably a nice little lowland conversation where he's like, hey, they're here. They're told me, what do you say? We go ahead and fuck the cops, which we shut the fucking cops on and I'll go back to poking you in the fucking eye. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, sounds good. Well, say, though, hey, I like your hat. I like your fucking style. I do. I was just about to say, I like to cut of your jib. I'm going to mop the fucking Florida in five fucking minutes once I get this nail through. I'm going to eat your fucking brain. Let's get the wallet. Get the wallet. A political boss who had a lot of influence over the gangs was called in by police,

but he was also driven away. Finally, the military was called Jesus and they came in cracking heads. The gang scattered and retreated. So over the three days, eight gang members were killed and well over a hundred injured. Jesus. The dead were carted away and buried under houses and buildings, as was gang custom at the time. Annoying custom for a homeowner. That's exactly right. Could you not? Excuse me. Excuse me. Fuck off. No, but I don't want to. No, but it's not. It's my home. Fuck off. Yes, but it's my home.

Right. Here's me saying something. Fuck off. We're putting Tommy in the dirt. Respect the dead. Okay. Just, I have a deposit. Oh, you have a deposit. Go ahead. What does Tommy have? Does he have his fucking life? I'm sorry your friend is dead. I am sorry that your friend is dead. Okay. Just saying. I have a deposit. Yeah, I don't know what your fucking deposit is. Well, I'm putting Tommy under your house. That's not the deposit I'm interested in. So, well, that's your deposit. Okay. Well, bury your friend under my fucking house then. There you go. There you go. Okay. Still alive. Needless to say, the Bowery boys enjoyed a good fight.

And therefore, they loved the illegal sport of boxing. Okay, the illegal sport. Illegal sport of boxing. Okay. Just after sunset on February 1st, 1867, a train pulled into New Haven, Connecticut, state train station with a load of Bowery boys. Okay. Okay. There, they met up with boxer Billy Warburton and marched off towards the small town of Milford. All right. Warburton was to box Horatio Bolster, who was a local Connecticut fighter. Okay. The New York Tribune got into the fight and sent a reporter along to report on the action. The crowd set up a makeshift ring beside the banks of the Housatonic River. There were Yale students, gamblers, thieves, pickpockets, other fighters,

and of course, the Bowery boys. The Bowery boys were taking all the bets. Then they set about drinking and partying all night. Okay. At around nine in the morning, Warburton tossed his fur hat into the ring. Sorry, he's partying? The guy who's fighting? Everyone's partying. I didn't realize he was partying. That's a boxing match. Exactly. That's my point to you. So they got there at night and they went over to a field near the river and they set up a boxing ring. Drank and partied all night. All night. And then at nine in the morning, one of the boxers throws his hat in the ring. Throwing your hat in the ring meant you were ready

to challenge another gentleman to a fight. So it's kind of like keys with a drunk driver. You're like, give me your hat. You ain't tossing until you can make some fucking better decisions. If you're tossing your hat now, you'd fucking regret it. I don't know what you're saying. You'll thank me later. I don't know what you're saying. You're not ready to toss your hat in the ring yet. Okay, I don't know what you're saying. I agree with you. Yeah, yeah, yeah. The hat sat in the ring for an hour. So it had little meaning? We'll get to it. I mean, what's the, just say you're ready then.

The crowd got bigger and bigger and everyone pushed against the ropes. Then around 10 a.m., bolster threw hid his hat into the ring. Oh, Jesus, just getting the fucking ring. Now the fight was official. And now the hats fought. Now the fight was official. What if they had arranged a hat fight? Look at them go. Oh, shit, they're not doing anything.

Throw some booze at them. Don't worry, the stove pipe's going down into far. Look at that fur hat. I'm not betting on that right now. Warburton was in this corner of fur hat. Hey, how you guys doing? Warburton was the taller. What if you forgot your hat? That's tough. Warburton was the taller and heavier fighter. Bolster was also so drunk at this point, he could barely stand on his feet.

They're both shit-faced? Yeah. Okay, sure. The betting odds heavily favored the not-as-drunk Warburton. Yeah. You know what? Just looking at these two fellas, I'm going to fight. I'm going to bet on the fella that can stand up. Well, I've done a lot of homework figuring out that I'll tell you, Warburton's hook normally would be what I would say would win a fight like this. But both fighters are just so incredibly intoxicated that I'm just going to bet on the one who's standing better.

Okay, then. All right. I'll take your money. That's not what I was saying. What's your name? No, I don't want to get it wrong. Man with the face. All right. Put that man with the face, you bet on both of them. Just a reporter.

So this is just before the creation of the marquee of Queensbury boxing rules, which were much closer to today's modern day rules. It includes like a one-minute between rounds, no hugging or wrestling, a 10-second count, gloves, no shoes, with spikes and boots, et cetera. No shoes with spikes? But for this, none of that applied. None of the rules. You never thought you'd need to put that rule in the boxing rule book.

So shoes with spikes are allowed. They are? Yeah. It was part of boxing. Shoes with spikes were allowed. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Just not because there were some rules. So you couldn't have like half inch spikes. You just have like quarter inch spikes.

Boxing was kicking. Boxing was like a crazy death match. Okay. Got it. So the reason those rules were created is because of the rules and fights like this one that was about to take place. The rules in this fight included bare knuckles, shoe spikes, headbutting, eye gouging, and really anything you wanted to do. The fight could go on for as many rounds as both men could handle.

The only thing you couldn't do was hit a man when he was down. I'm shocked that that's a rule. And all the things you just said, but if he's down, that's respectful, respectful. Now you can't grind your shoe on his face when he's on the mat. But it's boxing. What do you mean you can't grind your shoe on his face? It's boxing.

This sport's gone to shit. What the fuck? This used to be a sport for men. I'm going to go watch Murder Club. That's a sport that I could get behind. That's just really hit a guy in the head with a club, yeah? They kill guys, yeah. They just kill a guy.

I love that sport. It's great. Very competitive. Bolster had what I would describe as the worst boxing strategy ever. So he would let Warburton hit him two or three times, and then he would flop to the ground smiling. Now he's super drunk. Right.

No, that's puzzling. So he's being a little mischievous with his intoxication. Sure. But it seems like he's burning energy. Not in burning energy, but how are you going to win? Right. You have to punch the other guy at some point. Some point.

Yeah, you got a box. This went on for five rounds. Jesus. Finally, Warburton couldn't take the bullshit anymore, and he snapped. In the sixth round, Bolster flopped again, but Warburton still went after him, punching him and punching him as he was on the ground. He had to be dragged away, and he was disqualified.

So that was a good strategy. Yes. The worst. Because what he did was he just took advantage of the only rule. Yes. Until that dude broke the rule. It's Warburton broke the rule. The crowd was livid.

They had expected to see at least 12 rounds, if not many more, of two guys trying to murder each other, and a crowd full of angry drunk guys. This was obviously not a good thing. A massive brawl broke out between all of the spectators. I just, I don't even, I wonder how even, I like how. You're just so aggravated by what you just saw that you need to beat up the man next to you.

Well, the guy who went, yeah, I won. You punched that guy. Oh, you won? I'm going to fucking kill you. The, the huge brawl. The energy, the energy shift in that environment must have just been so palatable. Just tremendous.

Yeah. The huge brawl flowed into the town of Milford. Milford was known. So these are like cartoon brawls where like, it's just like a cloud of smoke that's rolling around with like a random fist and head every like couple seconds. Totally, 100%. Okay.

Milford was known for shipbuilding, farming, and oystering. And there was a small but growing industrial area. It was also a beach resort town for residents of New Haven and Bridgeport. Although it was February, so they probably weren't there. What was not known for was riots. The crowd went bug fuck when it got into Milford. They smashed all the windows and destroyed fences

and vandalized whatever was in front of them. Finally, to calm things down, someone came up with the idea of an impromptu boxing match that they arranged by the railroad tracks between two different random men. I love the idea of stopping a fight for a fight. Well, they stopped the big fight for a little fight. All right. I know how to stop this.

You and you, you want a box? Yeah. All right. That is good. Out everybody. Come on. I'll call. Everyone gathers around.

Sorry, I hit you so hard, Ted. The two random guys were named Breaney and Arnold. I love that the Tribune is still there. Yeah. Well, they went to they went to watch an Axel boxing match in two boxes and now they're just reporting on a random railroad track. Yeah.

He went to a fight and two more fights broke out. Quote, they fought up and down the enclosed track in the most disgusting and beastly manner for a space of 20 minutes. Chewing, biting and gouging each other without molestation or interference from the delighted crowd. Breaney had his upper lip and part of his nose eaten off. I'm going to be sick.

What? He got his nose and lip bitten off a little. Yeah. Off. Yeah. When I was in high school, there was a guy named B.J. Newsom who was just a fucking monster of human being. Shout out to B.J.

And he was getting in touch with Dave on Facebook. If you hear this, he was being an asshole to a bus driver, public bus driver, not a school bus driver, public bus driver. And the guy, the bus driver ordered him off the bus and B.J. Newsom got into a fight with a bus driver and bit off the tip of his nose. What? Yeah.

It was a good ride. It was a good ride home. But I bet that stop button was hitting like we all had to actually get off the bus. Why? Well, if you what happened, here's the thing about here's the thing about public transportation. If you start eating the guy who drives the public transportation,

you can't be publicly transparent anymore. Right. Oh. Does that make sense? Man, kind of. Yeah, kind of no. All right. So Brinley has his upper lip and part of his nose eating off.

Eating isn't bitten, by the way. And his head was nearly kicked to pieces. Dave, why are we laughing? I mean, that is that is so awful. But the idea is insane. His head gets kicked to pieces. And everyone's like, yay. Like to say that someone's head almost got kicked into pieces.

Oh, fuck. So I assume he was a loser because that's the description of the fight. When our reporter left the depot at the junction. Poor reporter. How's the weekend? How's the story? Oh, it was a weird one. Um, I don't know.

I went to see a boxing match and I came back with PTSD. I don't, um, I don't want to be a reporter anymore. I don't think I want to be a person. I kind of don't even want to be a person. I'm going to try to get buried under someone's home soon. Kind of feels like where I'm headed. Uh, when the reporter left Arnold was up on the platform of the station, lying unconscious and unheated as any dog, bleaching in the sun.

So that's the other guy, the guy who didn't get his head kicked in is who didn't get his face eaten off is the guy lying unconscious. Where's, and they just left him there. Where's the other guy? Well, he's the winner. Oh, the other guy won. The guy who had his head kicked in. Yeah.

He won. He won. He won. He won the fight. Well, I act out as he won the fight. The other guy's unconscious. The other guy's in whizzes. Is the other guy's head in pieces?

Ah, fuck, I don't know. And while three, uh, county police stood in a distance of about 20 feet, whittling sticks and debating whether they should or should not arrest this reporter who was present. Pro-rest the reporter! Oh, they should have. Ah, fuck should they have. Yeah.

Excuse me, sir. Can we talk to you? Yeah, I'll tell you guys whatever you want to know. It looked like it was sort of instant. You're under arrest. For what? I hear what? What squeak?

You're under arrest. What about the guys who punch in the guy and the guy they eat the guy's face? The guy eat a guy, the guy eat a guy's face. You kicked the guy in the head and the other guy's unconscious. Yeah. What about those guys? You're going downtown. Downtown.

Oh, no, I'm just a reporter. I report things. Yeah, you're going, uh, you're going away for a long time. I'm a storyteller. For your behavior today. Okay. And we're just going to let the stuff be. America has some issues.

That'll be the headline of my story. Yeah, that won't be a story. He'll be in jail. Now, it turns out the people of the town of Milford were furious. This event caused them to hire a professional police officer to stop anything like this happening again. What did they have before? Nothing. They were just a little quaint town.

They didn't need it. So they just had like Andy Griffith just like, Yeah, but back then you like, if there was a criminal, I guess, you know, there was probably a volunteer guy that kept the piece, but now they had to hire professionals because they were like, well, it's too much like a superhero. Like a superhero. Oh man. That's what the story's about.

It's about Aquaman. It is, isn't it? I knew it was headed there. So the Bowrie boys obviously still like their boxing. In 1869, a boxing match occurred in Mystic, Connecticut. This time there was no riot, but instead the Bowrie boys seized control of the train on the ride home and robbed all of the passengers. Jesus, it's like they're getting it done.

It's hard. It's hard to hate them because their game is so strong. So strong. It's hard to hate them. I mean, they're riding home. They're drunk. They're like, well, look at all these fucking people. We haven't robbed.

Well, let's rob them. Getting robbed by a wasted guy too. State law enforcement realized wherever they put cops to stop trouble, the New York City promoters would just switch locations and do the fight somewhere else. It was like whack-a-mole, but they still kept watch. In 1870, the police found out that the Bowrie boys were planning another match in Connecticut and that they were coming back to Milford. This time to Milford.

I love that they're going back. I mean, that is obviously like a fuck you. Well, it is years later. Yeah, but still, that is still fuck you. Well, it's so if it is a small town. Yeah. I mean, it's it's like a tour. This time they're going to Milford's Charles Island.

The fight was scheduled for April 13th, 1870, between Edward Tuey of Brooklyn and James Kerrigan of New York City. I can't believe these guys are Irish. The fight organizer was named Ready the Blacksmith. The fight organizer was named. Ready the Blacksmith. R-E-D-D-Y. Yep.

He was a Bowrie boy who had been born in London. All right. My name's Ready. That's about right. And I'm Ready. Yeah. And that's it. Yeah, I just thought of introducing myself.

Okay, that's fair. I might be coming back in the story, but no, who knows, you know? He got his nickname due to his red hair. I got the nickname. How I got the nickname was actually based on my hair color. It was. And because he was a blacksmith. And because obviously being a blacksmith.

So yeah, if you're a blacksmith, what do they always say? Should be called a redsmith. Why? You're black. So that's part of it too. Yeah. A little insight into my background. Yeah.

Ready made burglary tools. Also, I started a little side business. Yeah. You know, leaner times. Yeah. You know, Mazda feed. So actually make a got nice line of burglar equipment. At this point, he was a criminal legend in New York and owned a combined grocery store and saloon on Broadway and Houston Street.

I'm going to go get drunk and shop. I'm going to go to drunken shop. Ah, fucked up. I'm going to get some eggs. I mean, that's so great to shop wasted. It's awesome. I bought a lot of bread. He's really opening up.

They're opening up bars and Whole Foods. I know that. Yeah, I got a buddy of mine who fucking loves to go to Whole Foods. My Texas friend, he goes to Whole Foods and he brings the hammer down. Ready controlled a lot of the criminal activity in New York's Bowery District around 1870. He also loved fighting and gambling. Oh, and he had killed three men.

Also, a quick side note of murdered multiple times, but he got off all every time with a self-defense verdict. Okay. Yeah. Hey, you're coming at me, which is so easy back. I mean, like you think about how like they investigate stuff now. I mean, they just like down to like a carpet fiber. They could figure out what exactly happened.

This is the time when you could just murder a man and be like, Oh, he's come at me with a fucking spoon. I think it's kind of like that again here. Yeah, it's true, actually. He had been arrested numerous times since he arrived in New York in 1848 at 13 years old. I'm sorry. Yeah.

He. Hey, mom, I'm heading to America. I'm heading to America. Dave. Ah, he's 13. He was 13 when he arrived. He's not 13. Okay.

It's this is 20. Okay. No, not even 20. For a second. Wait, so this is 1870. Oh, yeah. Yeah, this is 22 years later. Yeah.

I've come to America. Conform myself. Yeah. Figure it out. Start with gambling ring. Maybe we'll see. How old are you? 13.

Oh, you're so cute. Yeah. Yeah. I won't ever be corrupted. On one election day, like a good Barry boy, he was arrested with 15 property tax bills in his pocket. There we go. From a different address, he was going to vote 15 different times.

Not a boy. I'm the best. He once was caught after he robbed a man and fled to California instead of facing justice. He was supposed to wait in California until his victim could be persuaded to change his story. But when he was on the train, he helped a woman get back into her compartment

after she had locked herself out. Train security watched how smoothly he wasn't opening the lock and quickly concluded that he had to be professional thief. Wow. So they held him and returned him to New York. Luckily, when he got back, the robbery victim had said he had made a mistake. A different guy.

It was a different. No, not a guy. Sir, what happened to your nose? Oh, oh, yeah, yeah. That. So, OK, I was climbing. Yeah, yeah. I was climbing a big mountain.

Right. Yeah, yeah. And when I got to the summit of the mountain, yeah, yeah, I thought I'm going to put an American flag in here and say it's for America. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. And then I fell.

Yeah, yeah. And your nose came off. And my nose fell off. Yeah, yeah. OK. And then I came down. Yeah. And there's no flag in the mountain.

Fell down before. Right. If that happened. And yeah, yeah, yeah. And he didn't do it. Ready. He didn't do it. No, not ready.

Ready is great. I love ready. No, but the other day you said that he threatened to murder you. No, you know, I think it was from that mountain fall. I was really I was all sort of rewired. I was just off. I said a lot of stuff. Yeah.

So so yeah, I think this is pretty much closed up and I can just get back to my life. I doubt that. Huh? Nothing. You're going to die. Excuse me. So ready shows up in Connecticut

to put on a two heat Kerrigan fight. But that night he admit his match in Connecticut. Connecticut governor, Marshall Jewel. Jewel was a businessman who ran a great governor name. Yeah. Who ran a tannery and made leather goods during the Civil War. Now he was running the state and the people were disgusted by the box boxing matches that were popping up

without anyone being punished. Participating or organizing a fight at this time was punishable by five years in jail. OK. Anyone attending could get two years in jail. That is interesting. Wow. But the New York gangs and their fighters

had managed to get into the state. Fight often caused trouble in towns and get back to New York without being caught. Now Jewel was determined to stop it. To Ian his crew left Brooklyn for Charles Island on a ship named Pope Catlin. At the same time fighter Kerrigan. Pope Catlin.

Yeah. That's the name of the ship. OK. At the same time the fighter Kerrigan got there on a series of different boats in Bridgeport. People heading to the fight started hearing rumors that police were actually going to try to stop this fight. And it turned out to be true.

Police started rounding up the near 100 people who had already gathered on the island to see the fight. When word got out another group hopped on a train in Bridgeport and headed back to New York. But at Fairfield the train was taking longer than usual to leave the station. And it finally pulled out just the locomotive left. They had unconnected the cars from the locomotive.

Now that's the whole point. That's what a train is. That's the farts all fucked. So they were stranded. Then the National Guard rolled in aboard another train and quickly started arresting all the gang members at gunpoint. Wow.

The jails all throughout Connecticut were packed with fighters promoters gamblers in pickpockets. Jesus. The Pope Catlin steamer when it arrived was impounded and taken into custody was ready the blacksmith and Tui. The New York Sun had ran a headline the next day. Keep them Connecticut. But at that point co-workers are co-workers.

I call them co-workers. Sure. Ready the Smith's co-workers had already bailed him out and he was back in New York reading the headline laughing. But ready the blacksmith and Governor Jewel weren't done with each other yet. In 1870 the Bowery boys still had a had a very well known reputation throughout New England for breaking up polls

smashing ballot boxes and disrupting New York City elections. So Governor Jewel forged a telegraph from the guy he was running against to make it seem like he was going to bring the Bowery boys up to Connecticut to smash the polls in Reykjavik. So he makes this fake telegram and he pretends like it's sent from his opponent. He is playing him saying that he's going to send guys

into smashing. He's playing them so well. Right. He's playing them. So this would ensure that Jewel would lose. Right. Well. Because they were because in the fake telegram he's making

OK. He's making it seem like the Bowery boys are coming up to stop him from getting elected. Right. Which would have which to the pop in the mad. The Connecticut voters. It looks like well what are we going to do. We can't vote for Jewel.

This other guy is playing this game. Right. Even though the other guy didn't do anything. Right. Right. Wait. Can't vote for Jewel or can't vote for the other guy. They were coming up to stop people from voting for Jewel.

Right. But but but the what it will do to the voters is it will make them want to vote for Jewel. Yeah. To make them want to. Right. OK. That's but but in their mind they're going to be stopped

from voting for Jewel. Right. OK. Like if the Bowery boys come they're not going to be able to vote. OK. All right. The press jumped all over the story.

And then. Flies love shit. Jewel had someone bring cash to ready the blacksmith. OK. Ready and his gangs showed up in Connecticut the Sunday before the election. Well we've got a big bag of money. But it was just for show.

Here we are. That was enough to flip everyone out. And everyone voted for Jewel. So he just created such fear. That everybody that he just would win in a landslide. Yeah he the guys that he that he caught. Right. Sent back to Connecticut for being these violent gang

members. He then used pretending they were coming to stop him because right. So he's against them already. Yeah yeah. So he pretends like they're all coming to stop him from getting elected when in actuality. He's paying them just to show up and walk around.

The couple days before the election. He did actually pay ready to just show up. Yeah. He paid them to show up and walk. He got like a Kim Kardashian DJ fee. And then they all went back and then he won the election. Dude that's. It's the greatest politician.

That's good politicianing. So he won another term. Things didn't go well for ready to blacksmith. He was forced to close his slun in 1875 because his kidneys were failing. That's not surprising. He died within a year. Governor Jewel went on to.

I'm dead now. That's it for me. That's it. Signing off for the last time. Ready to blacksmith. Ready the dead. I hope that God is ready for ready. All right.

That's enough. What just try work on my last word. We're done with you. We'll cast that kind of a quick shot. No. Can I plug some dates. A bit flappers on the main room. Governor Jewel went on to become the postmaster general

of the United States and Republican Party chairman. He died in 1883 of pneumonia. It came on very fast when Jewel asked his doctor. How long does it take for a man to die. The doctor said in your condition or governor. It's only a matter of a few hours. Oh Jesus. Give it to me.

Give it to me. Let's straight back to what's the top. Anyway. Hard to come up with a bucket list for that time frame. Anyway that's what America used to be like. Good. Always fun. Always fun to learn about a new little wrinkle

in this warped mind of ours. If you want to please donate to patreon that helps us out a lot. Like I said you can go to the band camp Dave Anthony page and click on merchant there. You'll find our posters on sale which we'll sign. I'll also shave this mustache and put it in a bag and someone come by. Gareth is going to sell his mustache.

We signed cards.