Dan Stuart's Fistic Carnival

By Leo N. Miletich

Book Overview

Dan Stuart's Fistic Carnival is your ringside seat to the wildest, craziest, most unbelievable sequence of events in the history of boxing--a colossal clash of giant egos, pulpit-pounding preachers, grandstanding politicians, and indominable lawmen that reverberated from the marble halls of Congress to the muddy banks of the Rio Grande. And it's all absolutely true Never have so many done so much to stop so few. The year was 1895, and Dallas gambler Dan Stuart had a modest idea: promote a boxing carnival featuring a match for the heavyweight championship of the world between Gentleman Jim Corbett and Fighting Bob Fitzsimmons. What could be simpler? But before the final bell sounded, there were chases, arrests, threats, fiery sermons, political posturing, and poltroonery. Four governors, two presidents, and the U.S. Congress were outraged; three militias had been called up; and the Texas Rangers carried orders to shoot to kill. State and federal laws were passed expressly to prevent the match, poems and satires were composed, and mobs of thousands flocked to a quiet frontier border town to catch the action. Before that final bell, John L. Sullivan fought a goat and fell off a train, cowboys and Indians played football, Bat Masterson and Judge Roy Bean got involved, Mexican rurales closed the border, two hundred gamblers hurtled across the Texas wilderness on a rail odyssey, and a lion got smacked in the kisser with a punching bag. And Dan Stuart's dream of the Fight of the Century threatened to become the Fiasco of the Century. This richly detailed true epic of a fight and the hard-punching (and sometimes loony) political and religious turmoil surrounding it will entertain not only sports fans but all who appreciate a well-told tale that demonstrates once and for all that truth can be stranger than fiction--a lot stranger.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 089096615X
• ISBN13: 9780890966150
• Release Date: October 1994
• Publisher: Texas A&M University Press
• Length: 264 Pages
• Weight: 1.08 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Fun and fast-paced.

"Dan Stuart's Fistic Carnival" appears to be a slight history of a long-forgotten boxing match at first glance, but Leo N. Miletich has undercovered the real significance of this event. The heavyweight Championship fight that gambler and "sport" Dan Stuart tried to bring about set off reactions that reverberated from state capitols to the Capitol Hill. These events occurred in 1894, at the height of the Gilded Age and the beginning of a great progressive movement in America. Dan Stuart of Dallas, TX promised he would set up a series of boxing matches which would bring revenue to Dallas and the chance for some serious wagering. Stuart unwittingly stirred up a political and religious hornet's nest as his attempts to stage the match were thwarted in Dallas, El Paso, California, Arizona, New Mexico and Mexico. In fact state and national political leaders took unprecedented action and haste in drafting and passing legislation to prevent the "fistic carnival" from taking place. Then, as now, many people considered prize fighting immoral, and judged the crowds that such a spectacle attracted as the dregs of society. However, Stuart was just as determined as his opponents and he was going to keep his word at all costs. The story that follows mirrors today's events: some people still protest boxing and deride its followers; boxers still do their best fighting in the press with their mouths and demand hugh sums of money; and it's still foolish to try to draft moral legislation for a vocal minority. The actions taken by the governor of Texas left many contemporary observors shaking their heads and wondering if that's all the governor of the largest state at that time had to worry about. Unfortunately, the same things still occur today. Stuart, the self-professed sport and gambler, comes out of all this as a decent guy who promised a big fight, and who means to keep his promise without ending up in jail or dead. How he does it is the basis of some of the most fun reading I've had in years. In the long run, this story isn't really about boxing, but about how fruitless it is to try to legislate an issue that's morally unpopular with some, but treated favorably, at worst indifferently, by the majority. Miletich deserves special praise for his abiltiy to tell this story in a fresh manner, liberally using contemporary newspaper accounts and editorials. Highly recommended.