Tweet
Is this a young Black Jack Stevens (who was killed in a stabbing accident by Billy Maher of Dorset Street in 1892) being reported on as Jack Stevens in Sporting Life - Wednesday 28 December 1887? Training under Ching Gook (who disappeared in July 1892), who in turn had trained under Alec Munro (who was killed in a stabbing accident in a Lodging House on Great Pearl Street in 1885).
-
Last edited by seanr; 11-13-2020, 01:50 PM. -
Sporting Life - Saturday 24 September 1892
Linlithgowshire Gazette - Saturday 01 October 1892
-
Thanks for raising this, Sean.Originally posted by seanr View PostSporting Life - Saturday 24 September 1892
Linlithgowshire Gazette - Saturday 01 October 1892
I’ve looked into this case in some depth, Billy Maher being a particular hobby-horse of mine.
According to Billy, he was innocently buttering a slice of bread when Stevens threw a punch at him and in raising his arm to fend off the blow he ‘accidentally’ stabbed Stevens to death.
And if you believe that...
Comment
-
-
Well and truly Hovised.Originally posted by Joshua Rogan View Post
Somehow Maher was acquitted of the charge of manslaughter that was brought against him.
Edit. I had misremembered, Billy was cutting bread and cheese not buttering bread. Silly me.
Here’s Billy!
https://www.jtrforums.com/showthread...ingham&page=17Comment
-
Maher was acquitted with the claim the stabbing was an accident. Thomas Hewington who stabbed Alec Munro was also acquitted as that was an accident, too. Being an East End boxer seems like it could be quite dangerous.Originally posted by MrBarnett View Post
The described weight of Ching Gook's pupil in a trifle under 9st if in shape, Black Jack Stevens professional weight in 1892 is given as 8st 10lb. Could it be the same man? Was Black Jack Stevens jewish?Last edited by seanr; 11-13-2020, 02:55 PM.Comment
-
-
Actually, in some reports it’s cutting bread and butter.Originally posted by Joshua Rogan View Post
The medical evidence said the wound was committed with great force ‘from above’, which doesn’t quite tally with Billy’s version of events.
Bearing in mind that this was also the man who in 1895 attacked William Crossingham’s wife-to-be, Margaret Sullivan, stabbing her in the head and side and throwing her out of one of Crossingham’s establishments, and yet he was kept on in Dorset Street as Anne McCarthy’s minder, you have to wonder whether his acts of violence - including the attack on Stevens - were committed under orders. On one occasion, it was said, he shot a man who had disrespected Ann McCarthy in the face. And Ann McCarthy had every reason to want Margaret Sullivan kicked out of Dorset Street. She would eventually marry Crossingham and deprive Ann of her inheritance.
Comment
-
Ching Ghook fought Black Jack Stevens at the Blue Anchor, this is from The Sportsman - Monday 29 December 1890. So, the two men definitely knew each-other but in the probably fairly small world of East End pugilism that might not be too surprising.
This is the letter from Marian Moscow in Sporting Life which mentions Ching Gook's disappearance. He went missing at the end of March 1892. Grappling with History have posted this same snippet before https://grapplingwithhistory.com/201...-ghook-wanted/
Comment
-
I believe Stevens was Catholic. From memory he had a very lavish funeral and was interred at St Patrick’s where MJK and the McCarthies are also laid to rest.Originally posted by seanr View PostComment
-
Apparently Black Jack was about to start training for a fight with a £400. purse when he was killed. That was a lot of money back then. It makes you wonder how his backers viewed his untimely death.Comment
-
This is how Ben Leeson described the Stevens killing in his memoirs:
“Billy often took the "bank" in a back alley faro den. One night during a dispute the lamp was overturned and the cash box stolen. In the darkness Billy "claimed" one of the gang ( it was a "put up" job, as they feared him too much to attack him openly), but not being certain that he was the leader, let him go while swearing vengeance on the remainder.
A fortnight later Billy was invited to join a party, ostensibly for an outing in the harvest fields. Actually, to use an Americanism, he was to be taken 'for a ride." He accepted the invitation, for though he was suspicious, he had no fear. They provided him with food and drink in plenty, and, as he told me years later, all went well, except for the behaviour of two men who were strangers to him. They were from another district, and doubtless because of his threats on the night of the faro "bank" incident had been brought in to put Billy "on the spot".
Trouble commenced with an invitation to fight, which Billy accepted, and he was getting the best of it, when the man drew a knife. It was an ugly-looking thing, but as Meers told me afterwards, ' I always used to carry a good 'un myself."
He used his 'good 'un" to such terrible effect that his adversary was stabbed to death, and how he managed to secure an acquittal in the face of all the available evidence is quite inexplicable to me.
Less than two years later this harmless, pacific-looking man was again charged with taking the life of another, this time the indictment being reduced to one of manslaughter, but he was again acquitted.”Comment
-
The Sporting Life report of his death states he had just challenged all England. Perhaps he was just about to go fully professional and pursue some kind of English championship?Originally posted by MrBarnett View Post
The Linlithgowshire Gazette report suggests he only went to the hop field at the request of his wife. I do wonder what that letter said.
Maher is described by Sporting Life as a former barman in Spitalfields. Is it known where he served behind the bar?Comment
-
Leeson is not a very reliable source, IMHO, but the idea of someone being ‘lured’ to the hop field to be killed is intriguing.
In fact it was Stevens who went there after hearing that his wife was misbehaving under the influence of Billy Maher’s sister. Maher was already there.Comment
Comment