I was coming from New Orleans on the _Duke of Orleans_ at one time,
and had won a few hundred dollars from some of the passengers, but
had quit playing, and was standing in the hall talking to some
gentlemen that had played in the game, when a big fellow stepped
up and said he believed we were a set of gamblers, and had divided
the money he lost in the game. I gave him the laugh, and that made
him hot. He then pulled off his coat and said he could whip any
man in the crowd, and he kept his eye on me all the time. I told
him I could lick him for fifty or one hundred dollars in a fair
rough-and-tumble fight down on deck. He said if any one would see
he had a fair show he would fight me. The mate asked me if I was
going to fight him. I said, "Yes." So he told the big fellow he
was an officer on the boat, and that no one would interfere if he
wanted to fight. So he put up his fifty dollars in the mate's
hand, and I covered it; for those days I would rather fight than
eat, and I could fight for a man's life. We went on deck, and they
cleared a place for us. While this was going on I offered to bet
him fifty or a hundred dollars more that I would make him squeal.
He said he had no more money to put up. We stripped off and got
in the place prepared for us. He struck at me with one of those
old-fashioned Dutch winders. I ducked my head, and he hit that.
I knew it hurt him, for he did not use that duke any more. I got
in under him, let fly with my head, and caught him square in the
face. It made him grunt, but the next time I got one in on him I
made him look silly, for the blood came out of his ears and nose.
He said, 'That will do."
The mate took him up stairs, and had the barber wash and patch him
up. I changed my clothes, as they were covered with the fellow's
blood. I asked all hands to take a drink, and my man came up and
joined us. I then paid the bar bill, and gave him back the balance
of the fifty dollars I won from him on the fight. He claimed that
it was his first whipping, but he could not stand the old head; it
was too hard for him.
I have had a great many fights in my day. There was a fellow
tackled me on the levee in New Orleans at one time when I was all
alone, and he had a lot of his friends with him. I got him down,
and was getting the best of him, when some of his friends began
kicking me pretty lively. I guess I would have been licked that
time, if it had not been for some men on a ship, who saw too many
on one; so they came to my assistance, and then I made the fellow
squeal in a short time. They had it in for me for a long time,
but finally gave it up as a bad job; and I was glad of it, as I
never wanted to kill a man, which I expect I would have done if
they had not let me alone.