6.—Wasdell, game, rushed in furiously, receiving a severe hit in the face, through his guard. The round ended by O’Donnell hitting him off his legs.
7.—O’Donnell well on the body. The men closed, but broke away. Wasdell made another attempt to seize his opponent’s hand, but O’Donnell frustrated his endeavour by a severe blow.
8.—Wasdell was quite done over. O’Donnell fought him as he liked, showing great good humour. He forbore hitting him hard, and pushed him down.
9.—Wasdell would not be denied; he rushed in, when O’Donnell hit him severely right and left in the face, and he fell stupefied. On coming to, he acknowledged O’Donnell to be the conqueror.
In weight and length of arm Wasdell had the advantage, but in science he was the merest novice, totally ignorant of the art of boxing, and scarcely as clever as may often be seen in a street fight.
On the 5th of June, only two days after the above battle, there was a grand field day at Padnall Corner, on Epping Forest, wherein Jack Warr and Quirk, for 100 guineas, and George Maddox and Coady having exhibited their skill, Smith and O’Donnell entered the ropes for forty guineas a-side. Of this the reporter simply says: “The third contest between Smith and O’Donnell was utterly unworthy of detail. O’Donnell proved the victor in five rounds.”
As upon principle throughout these biographies we have avoided the suggestio falsi so shall we eschew the suppressio veri. Jack O’Donnell is one of the warning examples of the effects of dishonest companions. He became connected with a gang of known “putters-up” of robberies; among them two men named Samuel Carter and John Jose. With these men he was apprehended for stealing from a public house kept by Jonathan Kendall, bank notes to the amount of £60. At the September Old Bailey Sessions, 1806, the three were found guilty of stealing, but “not in the dwelling house.” The offence, however, was then capital, the amount being above forty shillings, and they were sentenced to transportation for life. Berks and another of the gang, James Travers, who appears to have been Joe’s tempter, were convicted at the same sessions. (See Berks.)
BILL RYAN (SON OF MICHAEL RYAN, THE OPPONENT OF TOM JOHNSON)—1804–1806.
This boxer had a short career, for a reason that will fully develope itself in the next few paragraphs. He was the son of the “renowned first champion of the same name.” Pierce Egan also informs us that Bill was “a much superior fighter to his veteran sire,” which is an opinion worth as much as you please, recollecting that Pierce was then placing his legs under Tom Belcher’s mahogany, and Tom had been beaten by Young Ryan. As the “historian” dismisses him in half a page of large print, we will preserve what we find of him in contemporaries.
“On Friday, November 30, 1804, Tom Belcher, brother of the nonpareil Jem, met Bill Ryan, son of Michael Ryan who fought Johnson, at Wilsden Green, which has become a favourite spot for these encounters. By the articles, Monday was fixed, but a difficulty having arisen, it was postponed. At ten o’clock the combatants having arrived a ring was formed. Belcher first, in high spirits, threw his hat into the ropes in defiance. Ryan smiled at Tom’s style of bravado, and bowing to some bystanding patrons, got within the enclosure. Belcher was attended by George Maddox and Joe Norton, and Ryan seconded by Tom Jones and Dick Whale. In a few minutes they set-to. Odds six to four in favour of Belcher.”