American Stick-Fighting: Hell comes to Frog Town

An excerpt from Dashiel Hammett’s  1924 short story “Nightmare Town”

Steve rocked back against a building front from a blow on his head, arms were round him, the burning edge of a knife blade ran down his left arm. He chopped his black stick up into a body, freeing himself from encircling grip. He used the moment’s respite this gave him to change his grasp on the stick; so that he held it now horizontal, his right hand grasping its middle, its lower half flat against his forearm, its upper half extending to the left.

Read the rest here:

http://fencingclassics.wordpress.com/2012/01/15/american-stick-fighting/#more-1851

Faction Fighting Documentary

Here are links to a three part Irish Language documentary on Faction Fighting. I had my doubts at first but was pleasantly surprised. Highly recommended.

Na Chéad Fight Clubs (P1)

Na Chéad Fight Clubs (P2)

Na Chéad Fight Clubs (P3)

Wake poem and artwork 1825

Found by Maxime Chouinard

Drinking, dancing, fighting and carrying on at an Irish wake! Looks to have the rare image of a woman holding a shillelagh…and smoking a pipe.

Political Cartoon Faction Fight 1846

Found by Maxime Chouinard

John Doyle 1846
Listed Personalities (left to right)
Herbert of Lea, Sidney Herbert, Baron, 1810-1861 #5914
Graham, James, Sir 1792-1861 #5740
Aberdeen, George Hamilton Gordon Earl of 1784-1860 #4221
Wellington, Arthur Wellesley Duke of 1769-1852 #696
Peel, Robert Sir 1788-1850 #589
Sheil, Richard Lalor 1791-1851 #5823
O’Connell, Daniel 1775-1847 #574
Russell, John Russell, Earl, 1792-1878 #5597
Palmerston, Henry John Temple 3rd Viscount 1784-1865 #5598
Grey, Charles Grey, Earl, 1764-1845 #5606
Bentinck, George, Lord 1802-1848 #5732
Disraeli, Benjamin Earl of Beaconsfield 1804-1881 #204
Embedded text
I’m for the fellow with the whiskers. – I’ll break a head or two before it’s all over. – Die game, Bob. – We must give in. There’s no standing against such odds

Harpers Weekly 1871

New York Times November 10, 1895 p. 30

IRISH FACTION FIGHTS – From the Westminster Review. The Origin of these senseless, brutal, and cruel conflicts is more or less shrouded in obscurity. It is abundantly clear that neither politics nor religion had anything to say in the matter. They probably originated in ‘hurling matches,’ a species of hockey, once a favored amusement among the youth of Munster on Sundays and holidays after “last mass.” These matches were generally played between neighboring parishes or counties, in some large convenient field or on a bit of “commonage.” The matches naturally caused a good deal of rivalry and jealously; disputes, of course, were inevitable, and it was only natural than a hot-blooded Tipperary gorsoon, finding himself getting the worst of an argument with a Limerick logician, should have recourse to the unanswerable and readier argument of the stick. The “hurley,” “common” or crooked stick used in the game was especially adapted for this species of argument; and judiciously applied, as a rule, immediately silenced an opponent. A ponderous “shillelagh” waved aloft, a piercing “whoop,” a dull thud, and a groan were the signals for a general scrimmage. In a twinkling, the whole filed was a seething, yelling mass of ferocious, wild-eyed, skull-cracking demons.

Such contests took tremendously and grew rapidly in popularity. By degrees a petty quarrel become a matter of well neigh national importance, and whole parishes and baronies took it up and vindicated their champion’s honor whenever opportunity permitted and then fates were propitious. Every male, and, indeed, may old ones, too, were members of some faction or another and thus year after year and generation after generation, the feud grew and throve, and not a man knew what on earth he was fighting for. The leading factions in County Limerick were the “Three-Year-Olds,” and the “Four-Year-Olds,” so called because of a petty dispute as to the age of a bull in the remote past. In County Waterford the factions were called the “Shawnavests” and the “Corrawats,” while in Tipperary the “Magpies” and the “Blackhens” were the most notorious. Although, of course, the women were non-combatants, never the less they belonged to one faction or another, and, did an opportunity present itself for wreaking vengeance, neither sex nor age afforded the least protection. Chivalry, sad to relate, was conspicuous by its absence.

New York Times December 5, 1857

Version:1.0 StartHTML:0000000168 EndHTML:0000001857 StartFragment:0000000489 EndFragment:0000001840ERIE RAILROAD STRIKE. Two Hundred Men Discharged at Peirmont – They Drive Off New Employees. Twenty-Five Metroploitan Volunteers Dispatched to the Scene of Riot. THE RIOTERS ARMED WITH MUSKETS AND CANNONS.

 

…Heedless of their threats, however, the Superintendent came to the city and hired two hundred laborers, who were got together and sent ip to Piermont on Thursday. They found upon their arrival the whole place up in arms and ready to give them a warm reception. They attempted to land but were warned off, but being placed alongside the dock by the steamboat there was bo alternative but to land and vindicate their claim to hold the place against the rebels. Clubs, stones, and missles of all kinds were now put in requisition, adnt he invanding and repelling forces were joined in a fierce contest. The new comers were seized and pitched into the dock, they were pummeled with shillelaghs and fists until they were obliged to beat a retreat. They entrenched themselves on board the boat, put their wounded under the care of the surgeon, (the cook,) and waited for thte steamer to carry them back to the City…

The Cork Examiner, 25 January 1882

LIMERICK INTELLIGENCE ————— (FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT.)

Limerick, Tuesday.

AFFRAY WITH THE MILITARY

Last night, some soldiers of the 76th Regiment paid a visit to the old town, and for some cause or other, not as yet well explained, they came into collision with a number of civilians, with the result that something like a riot occurred. The military were outnumbered, and had, considerably, the worst of it, the Rifles in the end having to seek shelter in the Castle Barracks from their assailants. Stones and bricks were seen flying after the Rifles, and matters at one time became so serious that the military guard had to turn out at the barracks to keep back the crowd. An officer, who was passing up at the time, received a stroke of a stick in the leg, and some of the soldiers were also cut and scratched. No arrests have been made in connection with the occurrence.

L’opinion publique, Vol. 8, no. 30, pp. 354 (26 juillet 1877)

Burlington Weekly Hawkeye April 4, 1863

Burlington Weekly Hawkeye
Burlington, Des Moines, Iowa
April 4, 1863

RIOTS IN IRELAND
[London Correspondence of the N.Y. Tribune.]

     From Cork and Dublin, too, we get news of actual riots attendant upon the wedding festivities [of Prince of Wales]. The following is an authentic narrative of the scenes which occurred in Cork on Tuesday: About 10 o’clock in the evening a stone was hurled at the windows of a chemist in Winthrop street, which was immediately followed by several others, breaking a quantity of glass. When the crash of the windows was heard, the crowd set up a cheer, which drew the constabulary towards them. At their approach they were assailed with stones and sticks and groans given for them. Stone throwing continuing the police charged and cleared the street at the point of the bayonet, in doing which several persons were knocked down in the rush and injured.
     When driven out of Winthrop the mob ran on to Pembroke street, where they took up a position opposite the Commercial Hotel, and stretched from the Hibernian on one hand to the Post office on the other. Here stone throwing again commenced and the place had to be cleared by the mounted constabulary.- After they had passed on, however, the mob again returned and battered in the window of the Hibernian Hotel, and the illuminated devices outside the house.
     The Commercial Hotel was next turned on, and in less than ten minutes almost every pane of glass in the front, facing Pembroke street was broken. At times the showers of stones thrown from hundreds of hands were really terrifying, breaking in as they frequently did at one volley, the entire sashes of the window, while others of the stones rebounded off the walls of the house, fell among the people, inflicting in many instances severe cuts and bruises.
     A scene of utmost disorder here prevailed. Numbers of people fled terror stricken, while the ruffians who remained only redoubled their efforts on beholding the consternation and destruction they were causing. Such was the determination of the mob that scarcely any force could quell them. Although they ran at the charges of the constabulary, they returned and did not stop until they had made almost a complete wreck of the windows of those who illuminated.
     The organization of the rioters seemed complete. In one of the rows the Mayor received some rough usage. At midnight the military was sent for and one company soon arrived, but their services were not required. After they had retired, however, a set of ruffians broke in the windows of the Crown-Solicitor.- Two arrests have been made. The city is now tranquil.