Dan Harrigan: New Brunswick Boxing Legend ....Or Not!

By Wayne Harrigan


Dan Harrigan

Nearly fifty years ago, the Fresno Bee, a California newspaper, carried sportswriter Billy Mahoney’s interview with Dan Harrigan whom he described as “a rough, tough Irishman who wore the lightweight boxing crown in Canada in the 1890s”. But therein lies the mystery. Who was this native of Saint John, New Brunswick? Is this claim to the Canadian lightweight boxing title valid?

At the time of the interview, Dan in his early 80s reflected on his life, the difficult early years in New Brunswick and the rest of his life spent in California.

Born May 21, 1875, in Saint John, Daniel Patrick was the son of John Harrigan who had arrived in the city from County Cork, Ireland, and Catherine Harrington, who was born in Saint John. Dan’s father died in a logging accident in Houlton, Maine, in 1877. After just four years in school, Dan quit to help support his family. At age 14, he went to work in a rope factory. One of his fellow workers and boyhood chums was Amos Smith, who later became the welterweight boxing champion of the world and one of boxing’s immortals. His ring moniker was Mysterious Billy Smith. Smith, born in Little River, Digby County, Nova Scotia, had left home in his early teens and before he turned 20 was fighting professionally. In 1892, in San Francisco, Smith knocked out Danny Needham in Round 14 to capture the welterweight title. When asked to compare the old time fighters with those of the 1950s, Dan stated “It can’t be done. Why Mysterious Billy Smith would have torn the guts out of any of these present day fighters…. Today the fighters sleep till noon, do a few miles of roadwork and then a few rounds in the gym. Then they ride around in cars or sit in cocktail bars all night. Compare this with the old timer who got up at 5 o’clock every morning, and did 10 miles of roadwork. After breakfast and a rub down he would take a walk of five miles. Back to camp for a short nap then chop wood for an hour. Lunch, then a nap followed by a game of handball. Later two hours of bag punching and sparring. Supper and a long evening stroll and in bed by nine. Two months of this schedule and a man was ready for 10 or 100 rounds if needed.”

It was the summer of 1895 at the rope factory’s annual picnic when Dan attracted great attention. Observing a fight near the picnic grounds, he strolled over to find a bully beating up the little bookkeeper from Pidgeon’s Mercantile Store, the business owned by actor Walter Pidgeon’s father. Harrigan knocked the bully out cold; when jumped by another man, he laid him out as well. Sam Bowery, owner of Saint John’s largest saloon, quickly informed Dan that he had knocked out Shinty Moore, the lightweight champion of Canada.

That was all that was needed. Arrangements were made for a championship fight between Harrigan and Moore for October 5, 1895, in a rented Saint John hall. Just before the match, the hall’s owner backed out and another was hired on the Black River waterfront. Here’s Dan’s description of what followed: “Buggies loaded with fans, boxers and the referee were rushed to the new site and it was two o’clock in the morning before the boxers met. A storm started and the high waves forced water into the warehouse flooding the floor. The ring was pitched on the floor and the boxers had to wade in ankle deep water. Fighting with 2-oz gloves, the pace was hot and heavy in the first round.” Harrigan caught Moore with a hard right cross in the second round which knocked out Shinty, and Dan ruled as the new lightweight champion of Canada”.

A few months later Harrigan and Eddie Connolly fought a 14-round draw. Connolly, who was born in Saint John in 1876, later became lightweight champion of Great Britain and one of America’s leading boxers. The men Dan Harrigan fought and defeated in Canada included Jumbo Flood, Willis Sears, Bob Campbell, Bob Falkner and Dan Littlejohn. He later lost his title when he was defeated by Littlejohn in 15 rounds. Rothesay author, Brian Flood’s 1985 book, “Saint John: A Sporting Tradition 1785-1985”, mentions that Connolly “beat a contender Dave Harrigan”. Mr. Flood says:

“Here is my take on that story. I would believe it to be true. Family oral history is often fairly accurate. My guess is the Dave Harrigan in the book is Daniel Patrick Harrigan unless he had a brother named Dave. There is definitely a Dan Littlejohn. He fought at the turn of the century and was a Maritime champion. So the idea that they were out barnstorming together makes perfect sense to me. Did he beat Eddie Connelly? He could have. The information I gleaned from reading the sports pages of that era said that Connolly beat a Dave Harrigan. Given the fact that Connolly went on to become a renowned fighter, I would tend to agree with the version that Connolly won. However, bear in mind how oral family history is recorded. You have a tendency to tell the version that puts the family in the highest light. On a given night, he could very well have beaten Connolly.” New Brunswick boxing historian, Jerry Doiron of Moncton, discovered that Dan Littlejohn lost a match to Mike (Twin) Sullivan in Saint John in June 1902. He found another Saint John fight in 1897 where Ned Harvey and Jim Flood fought to a draw. Could Jim Flood be nicknamed Jumbo?

It was an accident that probably shortened Harrigan’s career. It happened while training for a bout with George Dixon in Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1897. Dixon, born in Africville, Nova Scotia, in 1870, would become world renowned as "Little Chocolate", one of the greatest world boxing champions the world has ever seen: the first Black World Champion. While Dan was stacking logs as a body strengthener, the logs rolled on him crushing one of his legs. He was saddled with a “game” leg the rest of his life.

Mahoney’s account continues: “After losing the title in 1898, Harrigan moved to a small logging town in New Hampshire. He was on his way into a bar there when he was knocked to the floor. Before he realized what had happened, he was in a fight. He tossed punches and took some, but the finisher was a boot to his head which cracked his skull. He continued to fight as more men charged him, but finally managed to escape through the back door. He walked over the top of the mountain to get back to camp, a distance of 12 miles. He fainted then from the loss of blood.” Not long after this, he decided to return to the Maritimes.

In 1900 while on a barnstorming tour with Dan Littlejohn, Dan met and married Kathleen (Catherine) Duff of Dalhousie, New Brunswick. When Harrigan returned to Saint John with his bride, the townspeople made him a present of a saloon for his recognition as a top fighter. He operated the saloon until 1904 when the couple with their two young daughters left for Fresno, California, and a new life in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.

Dan Harrigan, early 1920s

The Harrigans settled in Fresno and then moved to Millwood where they operated a saloon and hotel. In 1907, the constable of Millwood was killed in an altercation. The town officials, knowing of Dan’s prowess as a boxer, offered him the job, which he held for the next three years. There were six more children born to the couple. Harrigan soon learned fate plays no favourites. His young daughter was killed in a fall from the balcony of the hotel. Then the hotel burned and Dan and his family were lucky to escape with their lives. Everything else was lost. In 1917, wife Kathleen was killed in a car/train accident leaving Dan with the large family to raise alone. Through the years Dan and the children had little contact with the family in Canada. On February 2, 1932, Harrigan and Dixie Kid, the former world’s welterweight champion (he beat Joe Walcott in 1904 to take the title), opened a boxing gym in Fresno. Dixie Kid, born Aaron Lister Brown in 1883, died in Los Angeles in 1934. On opening night Dan and Dixie Kid boxed a three-round exhibition match. Until his death in 1959, Dan Harrigan maintained a keen interest in boxing. His grandchildren remember him saying “Put up yer dukes.”


Dan Harrigan, Fighter in the 1950s

And one of those grandchildren, Rayene Sperbeck of San Diego, California, is on a quest to learn more about her grandfather and his life in New Brunswick. A few years ago she and husband Jim visited New Brunswick for the first time and spent time in Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton gathering information on the Harrigans of New Brunswick. So far, no official record has been found of the boxing success of Dan Harrigan. The Sperbecks returned to New Brunswick for another visit. If anyone reading this article has information about Dan Harrigan or the other Canadian boxers- Jumbo Flood, Willis Sears, Bob Campbell, Bob Falkner, or Dan Littlejohn, please contact Wayne Harrigan of Moncton at e-mail wbharrig@nb.sympatico.ca