s:p_slavin
Frank Patrick “Paddy” Slavin (1862 – 1929)
Frank Slavin was born in Vacy, New South Wales, Australia.1) He was the Heavyweight Championship of Australia in 1888, the Heavyweight Championship of England in 1889, Heavyweight Championship of England and the Heavyweight Championship of Australia in 1892. After Peter Jackson won a fight against him in 1892, Slavin took to heavy drinking and his health and fighting skills deteriorated quickly.2)
Slavin was on the trail into the Yukon when he was hired by William Moore to construct a trail from the Chilkoot Summit to Bennett Lake. Moore promised Slavin and his party food and a guaranteed packing rate for their personal goods of 15 cents a pound, but he was unable to keep his promise.3) Slavin arrived in Dawson in partnership with his manager Joe Boyle.4) Slavin fought five serious fights in the Yukon between 1897 and 1902 against Tom Lees, Bill Perkins, Yank Kenny, Nick Burley and Will Devine.5) William Perkins travelled from Australia to the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush. He wrote from Dawson on 4 July 1900 to report that he had fought F.P. Slavin on 3 July. They went nine rounds and Will was paid $1,200 dollars (L240) as his share. The house was packed from floor to ceiling. Will thought he had Slavin beat in the 8th but he left a chance open and the referee counted Will out.6)
Nick Burley was a local Dawson boxer who fought imported champions and he was within striking distance of a championship fight for the middleweight title. He was good friends with Frank Slavin and they fought many times in Dawson. Burley won many times against the former champ who was getting on in years. Burley beat Slavin in a fight on 3 July 1902 and, although Slavin was beat by the first round, he hung in until the fifth for the sake of the patrons. He retired after this fight although they fought exhibition fights in Caribou and Grand Forks in the next year.7) Slavin had been trying to retire since 1898 when he told the local Klondike Nugget newspaper that even if his retirement was not permanent his mining interest would prevent him fighting “Denver Ed” Smith in a sparring contest.8)
Frank Slavin was involved with Joe Boyle on hydraulic Lease No. 1, called the Boyle Concession. Treadgold argued that he deserved a small lifetime annuity for his part in securing the first lease in the Klondike.9) In August 1898, Boyle and Slaven were listed as the proprietors of the Arctic Saw Mill located near the Upper Klondike Ferry. They specialized in sluice and flume lumber.10)
In 1907, Frank Slavin and George Waltenbaugh applied for sixty miles of dredge leases on the Nisutlin River from the mouth down to Wolf River. They were only allowed ten miles each. The following year, they applied for dredge leases on the Wolf River from ten miles above the mouth to the canyon, a further five miles. William Chadsey already had claim to the first ten miles of Wolf River. In 1909, they cancelled their Nisutlin applications and reapplied for ten miles each upriver of the mouth on the Wolf River. Slavin and his wife put in new applications in 1910 as did Archibald Wood, but they were cancelled soon after. The practice of re-application would control the claims without the applicant paying the very high $100 per mile per year. No paying quantities of gold were ever mined, and the river never saw a dredge.11)
In 1905, Boyle brought the Middleweight Championship of the World to Dawson with a fight between “Philadelphia” Jack O’Brien and Jack “Twin” Sullivan. The fight was a draw, and another fight was cancelled when a local clergyman threatened charges under the criminal code. Slavin and Sullivan left town on a tour of boxing performances and lectures on the importance of physical fitness.12) Slavin’s last competitive fight was against Nick Burley in 1907 in Victoria.13) Slavin lasted the sixteen rounds but lost the fight on points.14)
Frank Slavin enlisted to fight in the First World War and served in the same battalion as his son. He was too old for the trenches and was invalided from France back to Canada where he settled in Victoria. His son was killed in the war. He passed on leaving a record of a fine character and a patriotic spirit.15) Frank Slavin was inducted into the Australian National Boxing Hall of Fame in 2005.16)
1)
, 16)
“Frank ‘Paddy’ Slavin.” Wikipedia, 2019 website: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_%22Paddy%22_Slavin
2)
, 5)
, 13)
Tracy Callis, “Frank ‘Paddy’ Slavin.” 2019 website: http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/fpslavin.htm
3)
M.J. Kirchhoff, The Founding of Skagway. Alaska Cedar Press, 2015: 23-24.
4)
, 9)
Andrew Baird, Sixty Years on the Klondike. Vancouver: Gordon Black Publications, 1965: 101-102.
6)
“An Australian in the Yukon: The Story of William Perkins as told through letters to his family.” edited by Sam Holloway. The Yukoner Magazine, Issue No. 27. May 2004.
7)
, 12)
Darrell Hookey, “The Sluggers of Dawson City.” The Yukoner Magazine, No. 5. August 1997: 16-33.
8)
“Local Brevities.” Klondike Nugget (Dawson), 24 September 1898.
10)
Advertisement in the Klondike Nugget (Dawson), 29 August 1898.
11)
Mike Rourke, Rivers of the Yukon Territory: Nisutlin River. Houston, BC: Rivers North Publications, 1996. (First published in 1983.
s/p_slavin.txt · Last modified: 2024/12/22 12:55 by sallyr