Devil’s Acres

COPAKE — A professional boxing match that lasted for 37 rounds? It’s an awe-inspiring tale in many ways — especially since it was not a modern-day match, with boxing gloves in a well-lit arena, but a bare-knuckle brawl on a farm in Boston Corners almost 150 years ago.This famous fight is part of Tri-state lore, one of the most famous events in the area’s history. Rich Rosenzweig of Hillsdale, brought the tale to life again on Sunday, April 17, at the Roeliff Jansen Community Library — describing the fight as not only a legendary matchup, but also as an event of great historical significance for this area.Rosenzweig’s lecture was as much a story of property and boundary dispute on a federal level as it was about the boxing match — the gritty details of which he unflinchingly recounted. Inspired by the book “Hell’s Acres,” by Clay Perry and John L.E. Pell, Rosenzweig distilled the mixture of “truth, tale and mystery” that surrounds this epic brawl. One thing that’s known for sure is that, back in the mid-19th century, boxing was illegal in much of the country. That’s why Boston Corners was chosen as the place to hold this bare-knuckle boxing championship. Boston Corners had recently become a no man’s land because townsfolk had petitioned to separate from Massachusetts and become part of New York state. Massachusetts was agreeable, but Congress still had to vote its approval.The Boston Corners residents had taken this drastic step because, they said, they had became fed up with the inability of the Massachusetts constabulary to police their settlement, officially part of Mount Washington, Mass., due to the conveniently (for the horse thieves) or inconveniently (for the townsfolk and police) located Berkshire hills. Meanwhile, New York had some criminals of its own, some associated with the famously corrupt Tammany Hall. Those politicians were very aware of the status of Boston Corners as a no man’s land, and decided that it was the perfect place to host an illegal boxing match.Almost overnight, 5,000 people flooded into the area; many of them were people who had, one might say, experience with the law. Rosenzweig shared stories about the delinquency and mayhem that ensued; but the real story of course is the legendary fight. The combatants were a young Irishman named John Morrissey who was a feared political enforcer for Tammany Hall. His opponent was known as “Yankee” Sullivan, who was reigning heavyweight champion. Rosenzweig read aloud eyewitness reports of the fight, including one interview written by Col Card, publisher of The Millerton News and founder of The Lakeville Journal, and another, a gruesome passage about Morrissey’s trainer sucking the blood out of the fighter’s eyes so they wouldn’t swell shut.All things considered, it’s not surprising that the fight did not end without incident. A huge brawl erupted after Morrissey was declared the winner, and the ensuing pillaging of Millerton and other towns was so substantial that it got national attention. This forced Congress, which had been waffling on the decision about the fate of Boston Corners, to place the town on the New York side of the border. Rosenzweig concluded his lecture by highlighting the historical importance of this decision. But for those hoping for more details of the fight, he did include one tantalizing morsel of information: John Morrissey was nicknamed “Old Smoke” because he would never give up a fight, not even after being pinned to a burning-hot coal stove.