Patrick Henry Ryan, the Trojan Giant(1851 - 1900)

It is quite strange that a native son who achieved such unique fame with his fists has left so little verifiable evidence of his antecedents either on local parochial records or on the folklore of his home town! Even an interview with his grandson, John Asher, in August 1990, elicited no new personal information on his famous forebear.

From New York State Public Records we can verify that Paddy was born on 15 August 1853, naturalised in 1861, married in 1870 , died on 14 December 1900 of Uremia at Albany Avenue, Green Island(West Troy), N.Y., in a rented house and that he is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery, Green Island. Paddy's death certificate shows his father's name as John and his mother's maiden name as Catherine Ryan. Official Catholic records tell us that he was married in St. Patrick's Church, Green Island, on 12 October 1870 to Mary Anna Gettings and from the census return of June 1900 he had two living children, Nellie and John, born in Dec 1877 and June 1884, respectively.

Though Paddy's death certificate does indicate that his mother's maiden name was Katherine Ryan, this information, no doubt, was provided by his widow who, herself an American by birth, may have known Paddy's parents only by hearsay. For this reason I contend that Paddy's father was also named Paddy and his mother was Katherine Fogarty... this accords with some local tradition. Further, a search of the Thurles Parish Records records show no Patrick Ryan baptised in the period, 1850 - 1855, with parents, John Ryan and Catherine Ryan.

Paddy and Katherine (Fogarty), however, did have a son, Paddy, baptised on 14 March 1851; this is two years and a day earlier than official American records but then who hasn't dropped a year or two from time to time! Remember ten-year-old Paddy arrived in the United States in 1861 and may not have been very sure of his own age, or, in later years fame and vanity may have caused him to shed a couple of years. To illustrate how easily a few years can vanish one only has to look at the census of 1900 to see that Paddy's daughter, Nellie, was born in 1877 but in the census of 1915 she is still only 34 , instead of 38!

There is another likely set of parents... John Ryan and Johanna Ryan, who had a son named Paddy baptised on 29 March 1855; one doubts that any man would claim to be two years older than he really was... but anything is possible.
Again, because the journalistic sources in the United States seem to be inconsistent - even contradictory - I will quote directly from each source and attempt to keep a rough chronological sequence.

Early Days in Troy

Extract from, " Evening Herald", April 4, 1983:

...At the age of 15, fate gave him (Ryan) a push towards his destiny. He was strolling along the New York waterfront when he spotted a fight on a moored barge. Mick McCoole, the selfstyled Deck Hand Champion of America, was hammering a husky but unskilled stevedore. As the stevedore crashed unconscious to the deck, the crowd closed around McCoole, anxious to pat his shoulder, shake his hand. Only Ryan looked unimpressed and McCoole, a good reader of faces, was suddenly angered by what he saw.

"Do you reckon you could do better?' he asked. Ryan smiled slightly.

"I couldn't do worse," he said and already he was calmly taking off his jacket. He proceeded to beat McCoole by the sheer power of his (fists) and it needed three buckets of water to revive the Deck Hand Champion.

By natural progression, he became the bouncer in the roughest taverns on the waterfront, and a streetfighter on the lines of that portrayed by Charles Bronson in the film of that name.His backers wagered huge sums upon him and, ever a quick learner, he elected to take out his own stake in the game.

Ryan was known to carry a gun on his person night and day. Before a street fight he would often hand it openly to one of his seconds for safekeeping. With his big frame (he weighed well over 200 pounds, handsome face and swashbuckling ways, he became the darling of New York society, pursued by the richest women in the big city...

From...'Body, Boots & Britches', by Harold W. Thompson:

...Like many another canawler he was a real 'Tip' from Tipperary. In the years of his might he wore green stockings, black trunks ornamented with green shamrocks, and a red-white-and-blue belt.

He arrived in America at the age of eight, just as the Civil War was beginning. Four years later, at old West Troy (Watervliet), he saved little Judy McGraw from drowning in the canal. His leap from the bank to a raft from which he dove resulted in a rupture which compelled him to wear a truss even in his formal fights; but he was so little handicapped by the injury that he could do a man's hard work in the shops (Workshops) of the D & H railroad, and a little later win the combats required of a locktender on the Erie Canal. About 1874 he opened his famous bar at the old Sidecut, where his ability to discipline unruly patrons impressed Jimmy Killoran, athletic director at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. By 1877, Kllloran's training had prepared his protege for professional boxing.

Ryan's earliest fight remembered in legend was the one for a Purse of twenty-five dollars at Green Island. His opponent, a certain "Blueskin", came into the ring (so) heavily greased that Paddy's knuckles kept slipping off until Killoran had the happy idea of rubbing them in the dirt. In another early bout against a man named Myers in the Gaiety Theater at Albany, the strenuous Killoran went at Ryan with a chair-leg between rounds for not exerting his full strength. "He says he's sick ", was Paddy's respectful excuse. In the next round, Myers was knocked out.

Probably the fight with "Professor" Miller of Australia was one of these early encounters. The Professor was introducing at Boston his scientific method of scoring. The boxers smeared their knuckles with lamp-black between rounds, the officials counted the marks made by the blows; then the smudges were washed off, and a new round began. When it was announced that Ryan had won by a score of 29-9, the Professor so far lost his temper and caution as to start wrestling, an art at which he claimed to be the Australian champion. But Paddy, trained in a hundred tussels on the canal, accomplished a cross-buttock throw. The next moment, the Professor went crashing over the footlights into the orchestra pit, doing such damage to the piano that he was compelled to pay for a new instrument.

It was the code of the Sidecut that anyone pretending to skill as a fighter should be compelled to demonstrate his talents to any number who cared to lock him into a bar-room. At the the old Collins House, West Troy, a dozen earnest experimenters secured the door and announced to Ryan that they intended to "kick him apart." At the end of the affair, those who unlocked the door (from the outside) found twelve recumbent forms, an incredible number of smashed bottles, and a bent stove-shaker. Though it involved only four opponents, I prefer the fracas described by Paddy's veracious trainer, Mr. Kllloran: "I had been over to see Ryan that day, and he had not been in his place. So I kept along the street until I came to a saloon kept by a man named Sullivan. This was in what was then called Durhamvllle. I thought Paddy might have stopped in there.

Sure enough, there was Ryan sitting on the little wooden stoop, his face in his hands. And he was a sight. "He was cut all over the face and head and his clothes were hanging to him. Said I: 'What's the matter, Paddy?' 'Matter?' said he. "Look Inside." I didn't have to go in the place to look. There wasn't a light of glass in the windows or the top of the door, and the floor was as if there had been a riot there. I found out from Paddy that four had set on him and had locked the door while they went at him. And it wasn't him all that time that wanted that door open - it was the four of them. Ryan told me he had fired one fellow through the window. It looked it. " 'Come on home,' I says, starting away, but Ryan didn't get up to go. I said.'what are you waitin' for?' And Paddy said, looking up the street: l'm waiting for them to come back.'

From 'The Champions of the American Prize Ring":

...During the early part of April, 1878, Johnny Dwyer and Joe Goss were fulfilling an engagement at Harry Martin's Grand Central Theatre, Troy, and while they were there Ryan and his friends indulged in considerable fight talk. On the 10th of said month the two rivals happened to meet in a saloon, when each gave expression to his feelings, and the upshot of it was that Ryan's backer put up $40 against a like sum in support of a bet that Dwyer wouldn't make a match for $1,000 a side, to fight in Canada, within 50 miles of Buffalo. The principals and their backers met at the appointed time, and before separating a match for $2,000 and the championship, to be decided between March 15 and 25, 1878, was ratified.

On July 22, Ryan, accompanied by his trainers, Joe Goss and Jim Turner, came down from his training quarters at Sandlake, N. Y., the two former having been engaged to spar at an entertainment gotten up in Brooklyn by Kenny, the bill-poster. The attendance at the affair, which took place at Prospect Park Fair Grounds that afternoon, was light, and as the promoter wouldn't live up to his agreement as regards remuneration for services, Paddy and Joe declined to appear.

That evening while on their way to and within a few blocks of the ferry to New York, the trio were assaulted by eight or nine persons, Ryan being knocked down, stabbed on the left side near the kidneys, and kicked in the face, cutting his lip and knocking out two sound front teeth. His companions were but slightly hurt. Ryan was conveyed to the house of Charley Johnson, then Dwyer's principal backer, where his wounds were dressed, the stab being found of little consequence, although narrowly escaping a vital part.

Next day Ryan left for Troy, not wishing to be detained as a witness against the half-dozen whites and Negroes who were arrested for offense... Finally the match ended in a fizzle, as neither could agree to a stakeholder...

Unpublished Data Base, Tracy G Callis, Boxing Historian, Va, U.S.A.:

... Ryan was a boxer-wrestler who had bull strength; a better wrestler than boxer, he was not brought along properly to improve his boxing skills before taking on better men of the day. If he had been taught correctly, he might have been much better. Ryan was elected to the Boxing Hall of Fame in 1973...

...April 29, 1879 against William Miller, New York City, NY (Irving Hall). This was a boxing match though Miller was a boxer-wrestler... Exhibition.

...May, 1879 against John Dwyer, New York, NY. This was a barroom fight which occurred sometime after the Dwyer-Elliot fight of 9 May 1879..."

Reports of the Ryan - Goss/ American (World) Heavyweight Fight

From...'Body, Boots & Britches', by Harold W. Thompson:

...After some three years of desultory boxing, with Troy as headquarters, Ryan's great day arrived. A certain Johnny Dwyer, claiming to be the American heavyweight champion, fought an exhibition bout at Troy with the English and European champion Joe Goss. That aspirant trained at Sand Lake. When Dwyer failed to keep his appointment, Goss challenged Ryan, who could now claim the American title by default. The epic Ryan-Goss fight took place - on June 1, 1880, at Colliers Station, West Virginia.

It was a contest with bare knuckles by the old Marquis of Queensbury rules: A round ended when either man "fell," even if he only dropped to one knee, as was discreetly done when need was felt for intermission. If you struck a kneeling opponent, you forfeited the bout. Long before those eighty-six rounds were finished, Goss was repeatedly trying the wily trick of snarling. "Paddy, you Irish son-of-a-bitch," just before falling to his knee. But Killoran's warnings were heeded; Ryan did not foul and the fight went on until both faces were "beaten to a jelly" ...

When the bell rang for the opening of the eighty-seventh round, Goss did not come out of his corner: Ryan had won in one hour and twenty-eight minutes. The King of the Erie Canal was the Champion of the World...

Excerpts from a radio script by Lorraine Maloy, "York State Yarns":

.... in the days when Watervliet was called west Troy... the Sidecut was the Barbary Coast of the Erie Canal. Many of its sons grew up fighting. In those days, a man with two fists had plenty of chance(s) to try his mettle on gangs. To he a champ, you had to beat not only one man, but his whole gang , too.

Paddy Ryan of the Sidecut, once the bareknuckle champion of the world and "the handsomest man in America", stood six-two in his socks and weighed 220 pounds. he was a strong as a bull, but always a gentleman. He wore a frock coat, a high silk hat and light tan pants, and when Paddy threw out a bunch of roughnecks they didn't mind much... Paddy was so polite.

Paddy Ryan was smart, smarter than most. After his early years... of 'canawl-fightin', he was discovered by Jim Killoran, a Troy sportsman. Jim taught him the fine points of boxing, and Paddy trained in Killoran's gym near Green Island Bridge. Killoran arranged a number of fights for Paddy... but fights had to be bootlegged in those days. A champ had to stay one jump ahead of the sheriff, as well as his opponent.

More than once Jim Killoran chased through the Sidecut, looking for his protege after a fight had been arranged. Once he found Paddy sitting on the porch of a saloon, his clothes in ribbons and every pane of glass in the place lying in splinters. Paddy explained. He'd been in the saloon when a bunch of ruffians locked all the doors and jumped him. Naturally, all he could do was throw them out the windows.

As a professional, Paddy fought many times locally and then went to West Virginia to fight Goss, the English heavyweight. Paddy arrived with his trainers, wearing his distinctive black frock coat and stovepipe hat. The audience included a large number of West Troy canawlers. Afterward, the papers said, "The delegation from Troy and other places in New York State behaved in a gentlemanly manner ". Undoubtedly, this was unique.

The fight went 86 rounds with bare fists and Iasted an hour and 21 minutes. Goss failed to Ieave his corner in the 87th, so Paddy won the $2,000 purse. The New York papers carefully explained that Goss's teeth "were not knocked down his throat. He has false teeth and he had taken them out before the fight " .

After that battle, Paddy took a powder with the West Virginia sheriff hot on his heels. He hid out in Ohio and other places, and finally got back to the West Troy Sidecut. But the sheriff traced him there. Paddy received him kindly and offered him refreshments. In the meantime, a couple of pals sent for a cabby and bought Paddy a ticket to Canada, and he beat it across the border...

From the Times-Union, Albany, N.Y., Newspaper, Sunday, 12 March 1978:

...While the new champion was returning to Troy, He was set upon by a gang at a railroad stop in Virginia. During the fracas, Paddy was stabbed in the abdomen. By feigning death, he escaped further injury. His friends in Troy wanted to see him in action upon his return. The ever-obliging Paddy, aided by his wife, picked the stitches from the wound and the new champ climbed into the ring to show his neighbors how he could move.

The last of the Trojan warriors (three fighters from Troy held American Boxing Titles) hung up his ring uniform of green stockings, black trunks with green shamrocks, and a red, white, and blue kit...
The John L. Sullivan - Ryan Fight

From 'The Champions of the American Prize Ring":

...There has never been a prize fight in America that created such a wide-spread interest as the match between Paddy Ryan, of Troy, N. Y., who was backed by Richard K. Fox, proprietor of the POLlCE GAZETTE, to fight John L. Sullivan, of Boston, Mass., for $2,500 a side and the championship of the world. The battle was fought at Mississippi City, Miss., on February 7, 1882. Sullivan weighed 193 pounds and Ryan 195 pounds. Sullivan was the first to enter the ring. Tom Kelly, of St. Louis, Mo., and Johnny Roche, of New York, seconded Ryan. Billy Madden and Joe Goss seconded Sullivan. Alex Brewster, of New Orleans, and Jack Hardy, of Mississippi, were chosen referees. Jim Shannon, of Brooklyn, N. Y., was umpire for Ryan, and Arthur Chambers for Sullivan. James Keenan, of Boston, Mass., Sullivan's principal backer, was present. Ryan's principal backer was represented by Wm. E. Harding, of New York.

At 12:53 o'clock Ryan cast his shawl and began to peel his shirt. He was followed by Sullivan in two minutes. After the fighting shoes of the men had been properly laced, Wm. E. Harding, representing Richard K. Fox, of the POLICE GAZETTE, Ryan's backer, entered the ring and, handing Ryan a roll of bills, he said:

"There's the thousand dollars, Paddy, that Mr. Fox said he would send you to bet Sullivan. Please count it and see if it's all right. As the Troy pugilist was counting over the bills on his knees, Madden called for one of his assistants, who gave Sullivan $1,000 to bet with the Troy man. Sullivan took the money, and at once crossed over to the Troy man's corner, where he said:

"Mr. Ryan, I will bet you $1,000 that I win this fight"

"All right, put up," was the Troy man's reply, and the money was given to the stakeholder.

Ryan's appearance was not favorably criticised by the sports. He did not look to be in as fine condition as it was expected that he would be. He appeared soft, and his arms and shoulders seemed even smaller than they did at the time of his exhibition. His eyes looked bright, however, and his face ruddy. His best points were his loins and waist. Sullivan stripped was the perfection of a pugilist. The muscles on his back, arms and shoulders stood out in great knots, and his legs, though smaller than Ryan's, were muscular and strong. A white kid plaster concealed the small of his back and loins from the public gaze. His eyes were as bright as diamonds and his face paler than that of his opponent. As he stretched out his arms to be rubbed an involuntary murmur of applause swept over the ring. He seemed to be a much larger man than his adversary, despite difference in height, and looked, as an old sport said, "like a dead sure winner. As soon as both men doffed their shirts the ring was cleared for business and time was called for. The following is an accurate report of the fight by rounds:

Round 1 -- Ryan led off, but was short, and in an instant Sullivan let fly left and right, both of which failed to reach the placed (sic) aimed at. A pass with the left from Ryan after breaking ground brought Sullivan within reach, when he let fly with his left and right, the last one with such force on the neck of Ryan that the latter was knocked flat on his back, and when he was lifted up and was carried to his corner he seemed badly shaken.
Round 2.-- Ryan, notwithstanding his poor success in the first round, came up resolute and confident. Sullivan, in fine humor with his success in the first round, and appearing to hold Ryan very cheap, crossed the score and was the first to lead. He sent in his left, and followed it up with a right-hander alongside of Ryan's left jaw, while the latter landed a left-hander on Sullivan's left cheek. In an instant they were clinched, and fought with their right hands at their heads, while they held on to each other's necks with their left hands. This kind of work lasted, however, but a few moments, when Ryan tried his hand at wrestling, and then there was a fierce struggle, which ended by their going down heavily with Ryan on top of Sullivan.
Round 3. -- Paddy walked up to the scratch gamely with great coolness. He seemed anxious to commence hostilities, while Sullivan moved up quickly, and was somewhat excited. As soon as the men were within reach of each other Ryan led off with his left, but was met by a righthander in the face which laid Paddy flat on the ground.
Round 4.-- Ryan still presented his defiant front at the scratch, coming quickly at the cell of time. He let fly his left, hand at Sullivan's face, but his blow did not reach the intended spot. Sullivan replied by planting his right on Paddy's jaw, and, following this up, got in a second one in the same place, driving Ryan before him. Sullivan looked angered, and rushed at Paddy, delivering left and right rapidly, and after dreadful slugging at the head by both parties Ryan went down, bleeding freely from nose and mouth. Both men were carried to their corners.
Round 5.--Paddy, although having had much the worst of the fighting thus far, and bleeding badly from nose and mouth, besides his face being lumpy from the hand work of Sullivan, came up gamely. Sulliven was first to lead, missing with his left and then trying his right, with which he was also unsuccessful. Ryan replied with a sounder with his right alongside the head, when, getting close together, they clinched and fought at half-arm distance, with their right hands at the face for some moments. They continued to struggle for the fall for a few seconds, when Sullivan got Ryan on his hip and threw him heavily a cross-buttock. Round 6. -- Ryan led but missed his mark, quickly followed by Sullivan, who was also out of distance. These blows were with their left hands, but they quickly let fly with their rights and both reached home. Paddy, instead of going to his corner as he had a right to do, got up and went on fighting. He, however, seemed to have lost his power to do mischief, while the blows delivered by Sullivan on Paddy's face and the side of his head were terrible. They came again to clinching, and pegged away at each other's heads with their right bends while they held on with their left. In the fighting Paddy landed heavily on Sullivan's chin while he had his month open, which seemed to daze the latter for a moment or two, and after he had at last floored Ryan with a right-hander, he was breathing heavily as he was being carried to his corner.
Round 7. -- Ryan looked week but savage when he came to the scratch while Sullivan seemed roused and angered. They were soon clinched and fighting with their right hands, their lefts being around each other's necks. In rushing in at Sullivan, Ryan landed a right-hander on the chin, which made Sullivan put down his hands for a moment and look at Ryan in a bewildered way. He was breathing hard at the time, as if exhausted. The cry was at once raised that he had had enough, and that if Ryan could take the lead for a round or two there would be some doubt about the issue. This was, however, not to be, for Ryan's hitting power was going fast. Sullivan recovered sufficiently in a few moments, and then knocked Ryan about right and left until the round was closed. When Ryan was taken to his corner it was discovered that his truss had shifted, and he was in great distress from the mishap.
Round 8.-- Paddy came up rapidly from his corner and met Sullivan on the latter's side of the scratch and commenced fighting, but his blows had little force. Sullivan missed right and left, and the hopes of Ryan's backers were increased. Sullivan soon began better work, and a give-and-take round ensued, in which Ryan fought with new life. Sullivan, however, had no mercy, and ended the round by a knock-down blow.

Round 9 and Last. -- When the men met in the centre of the ring they had little strength, and both missed their leads. They quickly clinched, having tumbled together in their desire to do each other mischief, but Sullivan, being much the stronger man, delivered several telling right-handers on Ryan's jaw and temple, which knocked him about without his being able to return the blows, and sent poor Ryan down all in a heap. The game fellow had now to allow his seconds to throw up the sponge in token of defeat, after one of the fiercest and most determined battles of modern times. Time of the nine rounds, eleven minutes.

The morning after the fight, when the news came that Ryan had his jaw broken and was suffering, Richard K. Fox telegraphed him, asking if he was in need of money, repeating his offer to back him again for $5,000, and proffering sympathy and financial or other assistance. Ryan was well attended and wanted for nothing.

The battle was a short and terrific one. Early in the fight Sullivan won first blood by a clipping blow that left its mark and resounded with a sickening thud all around the ring. He followed this by a clean knock-down blow that carried Ryan off his feet, and laid him prone his full length on the ground. The excitement was very great at this point, and the Sullivan crowd burst out into loud cheers.

Paddy was game throughout, and came up like the Trojan he is before the sledge-hammer blows of his antagonist, getting in with vigor and a gameness that were declared admirable on all sides. He was making a gallant fight in every respect, but after the fifth round it was detected by his friends that Sullivan's blows were telling the more severely. Ryan showed signs of distress, but was prompt in his response to the call of time, his friends, who were present in great numbers, cheering him on with wild cries and points of advice in regard to the aiming and landing of his blows.He kept his head well and fought a tactical battle, but his opponent's rushes were terrific, and left him no alternative but to be with him in the sledge-hammer business. After the sixth round, in which Suliivan delivered some of his most powerful blows in rapid succession with but light return, it was evident that Ryan was losing ground rapidly, and thereafter it was a foregone conclusion that Sullivan must win. Nine desperate rounds had been fought in eleven minutes, when, on the call for the tenth, the gallant Trojan was unable to respond to the call. All that his seconds could do for him could not bring him into trim to face his opponent at the scratch within the stipulated time, and the fight was therefore awarded to Sullivan.

Throughout Ryan made a gallant fight, and bore his punishment manfully. He was terribly punished, and showed the signs of it in his body and head. No man could have borne such a succession of terrible blows with a better grace...

Other Contests/Exhibitions/Events

Unpublished Data Base, Tracy G. Callis, Boxing Historian, Va, U.S.A.:

Aug 26 1880.... Charlie McDonald, Ottawa, Ont. Canada..... Exhibition

Jan 3 1881....Charlie McDonald, Cincinnati, Oh..............Exhibition

May 18 1881....Joe Goss, New York City, NY (Irving Hall)..Exhibition .

.........1882....John Red Leary, New York City, NY (Owney Geoghegan's)....This was a barroom fight in the Bowery.

Mar 10 1882/3...Jack Brooks, Milwaukee, Wi..................Exhibition

Nov 5 1882/3...Mike Kane, Ogden, Utah......................Exhibition

Oct 21 1883.....Jack Waite, Butte City, Mt. (Waite was Champion of Montana)

Oct 23 to 27.... 1883.....Ryan and Company Exhibitions in Helena, Mt, Ogden, Ut, Salt Lake City, Utah

........................1885.... James Dalton

Jan 19 1885....John L. Sullivan, New York City, NY(Madison Square Garden?)... Lost

........ 1886....Harrison (of Canada), Chicago, Illinois.... (PrivateFight).............Won (Harrison challenged Ryan; Harrison was backed by Duncan C. Ross)

Sep 13 1886....Frank Glover, Chicago, Illinois (Cheltenham Beach). Police Gazette (Oct 2 1886, p10) states that Ryan arranged for police to stop fight if he was losing; it was possibly stopped during round 1 or just after; the bout was fought in a boat in the rain. Oct 25 1886....Frank Glover. Arrangements were made for a private purse fight to the finish; Ryan left town. Ryan later ignored another challenge from Glover.

Nov 13 1886.... John L. Sullivan, San Francisco, Ca............................ Lost

1887

Ryan operated a thriving sporting saloon in Philadelphia, Pa.

Feb...Opened a gymnasium in St. Louis, Mo.

Mar...Ryan refereed the Joe Soto - Gus Brown bout in San Francisco, Ca.

Apr... Ryan managed a variety theatre in San Francisco, Ca.

Oct...Jack Burke, San Francisco, Ca. (Authorities prohibited the bout.)

Dec 23... Joe McAuliffe, San Francisco, Cal (CAC)...............................Lost. This bout was for the Heavyweight Championship of the Pacific Coast; Some sources place this bout in New York. This bout was fought with gloves.

Jan 23 1888.... Patsy Cardiff (This bout possibly never took place. Many bouts were set and cancelled during these years for a variety of reasons such as money, injuries, authorities etc.

Apr 17 1889.... Ryan refereed Joe Bowers - Jack McAuley bout in San Francisco, Ca.

Nov 26 1891... John L. Sullivan, San Francisco, Ca. (Pacific AC)........... Exhibition.

From Fame to Obscurity

From the Times-Union, Albany, N.Y., Newspaper, Sunday, 12 March 1978:

...Like many other fighters, Ryan finished his days operating saloons in New York, Albany, Chicago, and San Francisco. During this period he"invented" the well-known Libation, Tom and Jerry, named after the Getting boys, who were his brothers-in-law. A large tub of the punch was kept on the bar in Chicago, free to all comers...

A quiet, gentlemanly fellow known for being a soft touch for any hard luck stories, Paddy Ryan lived to prove "Nice guys finish last." He died in rather straitened circumstances in 1901 in Green Island near his old home...

Postscript

Taped Interview between John Asher (Paddy Ryan's grandson) and Rev. Dr. Maurice Dooley, P.P., Loughmore, Co. Tipperary, Ireland:

This interview took place in the U.S. in August 1990 at John's home in Glen Drive, North Greenbush in Troy, N.Y. John's preferred address is 885 Palermo Road, St. Augustine, Florida 3286. John, following in the Catolic tradition of his famous grandfather, is proud of being a 4th Degree Knight of Columbus and a Rotarian. He's even prouder of having all his funeral arrangements made and paid for, to include the service by Monsegnior James J. Breslin, who, incidentally, was ordained from St. Patrick's College here in Thurles.

John recalled that his grandfather ran a very large saloon on Lasalle St. in Chicago and it was here that his son, John, was born. He recalled that he was told that he worked in the railroad yards in Green Island which was a large terminus. He even remembered the Brigid McGrath that was a witness at his grandfather's wedding (Much of what John Asher related, however, was told to him by his uncle Gettings). Paddy Ryan also ran a Grill with Paddy Gettings called the "Tub of Blood" in Green Island. When John was shown a picture of his grandfather wearing a tophat he recognised it immediately and said that his sister, Adelaide still had that hat.

John Asher was tall and well muscled and attracted much attention himself as he had been trained in fisticuffs by his uncle Gettings... He was pursued, when only a teenager, by a fight promoted who wanted him to fight under the name Paddy Ryan ('A New White Hope'). The promoted assured him that he had nine bouts already lined up for him . John's mother, Nellie, was determined that he would have abetter life than his father or grandfather.Cosby, the fight promoter, went a step too far when he actually followed the family into the pew at the church one Sunday to attempt to get permission from his mother; she quickly set him straight.

No family genealogist, John Asher could only recall that his uncle, John Ryan, had three children... Alma, John & Harry...all dead. Alma married John Miller... they had a daughter... seems to have lost contact with cousins. His mother like all the women around Albany Avenue in Green Island used to do quilting and that periodically Nellie would get bundles from her peripatetic father, Paddy, and they'd contain amongst, other things, "gold certificates" which they'd sew into quilts (Note: This may refer to the red and gold silk bands that were wrapped around quality cigars and woven into Log Cabin pattern quilts...see Orange County Historical Museum collection.).

John Asher remembers his mother and uncle Getting telling him that Paddy Ryan had racehorses and ran them at Saratoga Racetrack, New York... but his money was made mostly on whistle stop exhibitions around the country...many times accompanying John L. Sullivan. John Asher's father, Frank, worked on railroad too; he was a coach builder... and in John's own words 'they weren't well off... in fact, I didn't know the that we were poor...not until very much later in life...we were very happy and my mother, Nellie, was a wonderful woman and very happy-go-lucky...'

John, himself, after graduating university, quickly advanced to became Senior State Accounts' Officer for the State of New York, a with state car and hotel suites in Syracuse (State Capital) and in New York city (Commodore Hotel)... all this in the late 1930s and early 1940s. It was while holding this senior position that he was approached by a prominent contractor friend who had large contracts with the U.S. Government overseas. He was persuaded by a big pay increase to take charge of the contractor's overseas office in Athens, Greece.

In this period quite a lot of shipping had been sunk causing obstructions in the harbours in Salonika, Piraeus, Volos and Corinth...the sea canal bridge. Much of the work involved underwater clearance by the company's divers. John , who stayed in the Grand Bataan(?) hotel in Athens, was approached one evening by a stranger, while having a martini at the hotel bar. The conversation was simple and direct...
Stranger: "Hello, John".

Asher: "Hello".

Stranger: "Your John Asher... can I talk to you ?"

Asher: "I am and who are you?"

Stranger: "I'm from the U.S. Government."...you know this country. ..and can speak the language... we'd like to have you come work for us..."

Asher: "Holy Smokes, I don't know...I'll have to think about this... Do you know how much I now earn here?"
As John then observed - just like his grandfather - he was hired in a bar...both to fight in different arenas...

John's new undercover mission, for which he was provided a crew of Greek fishermen, a Greek flag of convenience, and a U.S. owned minesweeper, was to monitor traffic in the Aegean Sea and relay the information to the U.S.Intelligence Centre in the Dardanelles. Most of the surveillance was on Kikes (Some type of small Russian boats coming from the Black Sea into the Aegean) which entailed landing on the many small islands and tying up near the suspect boats and engaging the crews in casual conversation and that way attempting to find out what was on board... in their guise as Greek seamen. Many times they would receive instructions from U.S. Intelligence to shadow some suspected boat on its way toward Palestine or other Middle Eastern destination.

He was also assigned to Rhodes in the postwar period when the UN was negotiating with the Israelis. John had quite a loose remit and carried his own jeep on board so that he could travel easily from port destinations. During this time John travelled widely in the Holy Land, Turkey and, incidentally, visited the original Troy, after which his own home town was named. He travelled among the Kurds and in the Aras River area, Azerbaidjhan(S.S.R.). He was even presented with a beautiful pistol by a powerful chief he had befriended. Although the Kurds were friendly, John would never turn his back on these fierce tribesmen. He says that he never saw any women among them!

John also travelled to Katmandu in Nepal (Tibet) where he met an American priest from Chicago who had become Tibetan and who used call John, Mr Tammany (Tammany Hall, N.Y.).

He also travelled in Iran and lived briefly in Teheran where he had many Iranian friends... before the Muslim theocracy came to power. He laughed as he recalled how easily you could organise a demonstration there... a few placards distributed...a few emotive slogans, and the rent-a-crowd spilled from the bazaars and put on a great display of anger or elation as the occasion required.

Even now, fifty years later, John was very reluctant to reveal details of the many exciting and covert adventures he had as a U.S. secret agent.