The Agreeable Recreation Of Fighting

In keeping with the recreational aspect of fighting there were rules of combat even in brawls. Though supporting one's comrades was expected, in most cases justice required roughly even sides. Justice Murphy was indignant when he heard a case in which six members of the Callaghan family had assaulted and beaten Bernard Faddin outside a pub on Christmas day. Faddin had been alone except for his sister, and the uneven sides offended the judge who sentenced the Callaghans to sixteen months each. In another case, the quarter sessions chairman laid out the rules as he saw them: "If the fight had been left between Whelan and the prosecutor who at first struck each other, the law would take a very lenient view of the case." But, ganging up was not acceptable. Nor was continuing to pummel a defeated opponent. When John Delaney came to the assistance of a friend who was already winning a fight the judge was incensed "The fact of Delany coming to the other's assistance, and then, as proved, they both kicking him while down rendered the case a very treacherous one." For his treachery Delany was sentenced to twelve months, while his friend who had started the fight was sentenced to only six months.(32)

The rituals involved in fighting included the wheel, the removal of one's coat and in some cases the naming of seconds. Wheeling was the recognized signal of a willingness to fight. As the Mayor of Limerick explained, "Wheeling, as it is called is an old practice in this county. When a person 'wheels' he means a quarrel." The courts routinely began enquiries into assaults by determining whether any of the participants had wheeled. Making such a challenge rendered the legal consequences less serious regardless of the physical injuries. Pat Derrane's sentence for hitting Pat Hannon in the head with a chair was reduced to two months after Hannon admitted wheeling that he had "never met a Derrane in Arran as good as himself."(33)

Even in cases of homicide the challenger deserved the consequences. John Galligan of Tipperary was plowing in a field when Patrick Doyle, a farmer and cattle dealer who was drunk at the time, went into the field and knocked Galligan down because he had failed to join in a brawl the previous day. Galligan responded by kicking Doyle in the head and chest, then continued his plowing for four hours while the fatally injured Doyle lay on the ground. Before his death however, Doyle gave a dying deposition admitting that he had started the fight. Galligan was acquitted. As was the man who killed John Cudahy in a brawl after Cudahy shouted "Is there anyone able for me?" The longest sentence given for a homicide after a challenge was one year for John Doyle who killed Michael Quinn in a boxing match. Quinn had initiated the fight and both men had their coats off. The twelve month sentence presumably reflected the fact that Doyle had violated the rules by kicking Quinn in the stomach three times after he was down.(34)

While wheels might include insults or references to past grievances, a challenge to see who was the better man would usually suffice. One assault victim explained that "he was always a manly man, ready to meet anyone singly in a fight." However, the concern with manhood did not preclude female participation. Even though the fighters of Ireland often used gendered terminology in challenges and terms such as "bitch" and "slut" were particularly offensive epithets for men, women were also quick to respond to a challenge. In one case a defense attorney successfully argued that two women accused of encouraging a homicide could not have been using disgraceful language because at the time they "were in fisticuffs on the road." Women who resorted to violence might take the same pride in prowess as their men. When a prosecuting attorney asked Margaret Brennan if it was true that she was the rowdiest woman in Kilkenny, she replied, "What's it to you?" Regardless of gender, if the fight had been agreed to the injuries sustained were often viewed as an inevitable and acceptable side-effect. At a Mayo fair in 1892, Anne Mullee, a widow selling sheep at the fair, got into a fight with John Mullen. She swung at him with a razor and he hit her in the eye with an ashplant. The judge said the case was too trivial to consider.(35)