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BOXING. Life of William Poole... 1855.

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New York: De Witt & Davenport, [1855]. [84] pp., 8vo (240 x 155 mm). 4 engraved portraits. Text in two columns. Original printed tan pictorial wrappers, uncut. Condition: spine chipped, faint dampstain on some leaves. scarce pamphlet on a famous political murder with an appendix containing among the earliest accounts of boxing in america. Bill "The Butcher" Poole was a bar owner and one of the Manhattan leaders of the Know-Nothing Party. On February 24, 1855, during a confrontation with a political opponent a fight erupted and Poole was fatally shot by a man named Lewis Baker. The Know-Nothings, capitalizing on the killing and staged an enormous funeral for Poole with the procession estimated at an astounding 200,000 people. Baker was captured (he had fled to the Canary Islands) and was tried three times for the killing, each trial resulting in a hung jury. An "Appendix," pages 68-83, contains sketches of Thomas Hyer, the American boxing champion, and the pugilists Sullivan and Morrissey, along with "a full account of the Great Prize Fight between [Hyer and Sullivan] for ten thousand dollars, won by Hyer..." Three of the engraved portraits are of the three boxers; the fourth is of Poole. Sabin 64038 (Sabin 64039 has a dated 1855 title-page, is 80 pages long, and has a slightly different title).

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