Category: Biographies

The Life and Adventures of Ben Hogan, the Wickedest Man in the World

The life of any man is interesting as it reveals human nature and discloses character. Biography is in itself a combination of all those elements which go to make up literature. It is humor and pathos; it is poetry and prose; it is the sternest tragedy and the broadest farce....

Chapters

55. CHAPTER XXVIII.

A study of the illustration to be found in the beginning of the book will give a fair idea of our hero's physiognomy. It will be observed that he has a pleasant and strongly-out...

54. CHAPTER XXVII.

The reader who has followed these pages to the present point will, I think, admit that the life of Ben Hogan has been one of strange adventure and untiring activity. It would be...

33. CHAPTER VI.

It was in this manner that Ben Hogan first entered the Oil Country--a region where he was destined to become more notorious, perhaps, than any other man who ever entered it.

27. CHAPTER I.

Benedict Hagan, whose name has become familiar in the altered form of Hogan, is a native of W├╝rtemberg, Germany. With his parents, he immigrated to this country at the age of e...

38. CHAPTER XI.

There, at the invitation which had been extended to him while in Rochester by Kehoe, the well-known Indian club manufacturer, Ben consented to appear at a sparring exhibition gi...

28. CHAPTER II.

After remaining in New York for a short time, Hogan returned to Syracuse, where he opened a boxing-room. His rates for instruction were certainly low enough, the price for a les...

53. CHAPTER XXVI.

And now, dear reader, after having given you some insight into my turbulent and, for so far, misspent life, I stand before you and before Heaven with uplifted hands and tearful...

43. CHAPTER XVI.

Not long after Ben's return to Petrolia from the country cousin trip, a couple of fellows came into his place--they were residents of the town of Brookville--and claimed that on...

46. CHAPTER XIX.

Reaching that city at about the time when the Palmer House was first opened, the two friends spent a week in a thoroughly lively manner. They found plenty of ways in which to sp...

44. CHAPTER XVII.

We come now to an incident in the career of our hero which gained wide publicity at the time of its occurrence, and which is still remembered among all sporting men.

41. CHAPTER XIV.

The town of Parker's Landing takes its name from one of its residents who is familiarly known as Old Parker. At the time of which I am writing, Old Parker owned a good deal of p...

42. CHAPTER XV.

This house was once the property of Ben Hogan. Upon leaving Parker's Landing, as already narrated, he made his way to Pittsburg, accompanied by Kitty and Lizzie Topley, and carr...

50. CHAPTER XXIII.

It was in the town of Indiana, at the same time during which the counterfeiting game was in operation, that there occurred an incident which serves to illustrate Hogan's readine...

32. CHAPTER V.

On his way to the Canadian border, Ben met with an interesting little adventure. He was accosted on the boat which took him to Albany by a gentlemanly appearing fellow, who show...

37. CHAPTER X.

The exhibition was very largely attended, and excited a good deal of interest. When the men made their appearance they were greeted with applause, and their movements were close...

36. CHAPTER IX.

It can be easily imagined, after the events narrated in the preceding chapter, that Hogan began to believe the oil regions were not the safest spot for him to tarry in. He, ther...

45. CHAPTER XVIII.

The fight itself, whatever may be the view taken of it, was unsatisfactory. It was marked from the beginning by a desire on the part of Allen and his friends to resort to foul m...

51. CHAPTER XXIV.

While our hero was in Grand Rapids he made still another effort to bring about a match with Tom Allen. To effect this end, he published a challenge of which the subjoined is a _...

49. CHAPTER XXII.

Upon his arrival in Syracuse, Ben went into training with the expectation of making a match with his old antagonist, Tom Allen. His ground for believing that such a match might...

40. CHAPTER XIII.

It occurred to him, however, that he might keep within the letter of his agreement, and at the same time carry on his business on an enlarged scale. This is how he accomplished...

26. CHAPTER XXVIII.

The life of any man is interesting as it reveals human nature and discloses character. Biography is in itself a combination of all those elements which go to make up literature....

48. CHAPTER XXI.

Being well fixed in the way of money--he had made five hundred dollars in a few hours at faro--he went around one night to Owney Geoghegan's notorious resort on the Bowery. It w...

47. CHAPTER XX.

At that time, for want of anything better to do, he went largely into the banking business--the faro banking business. In his tours about town he fell in with a party of first-c...

31. did. The stranger, who was supposed to bring with him the mail, was drawn

"This man has more power than I have. You had better make peace with him, for if he says you may go, you may; and if he says you can't, why you can't!"

29. CHAPTER III.

Shortly after the Oswego venture, Ben drifted once more to the West, and after a series of exciting adventures, which space prevents me from narrating, he brought up in the city...

34. CHAPTER VII.

Continuing to recount our hero's adventures while in Babylon, we shall find that they partook both of a tragic and comical character. Illustrative of the former, the following m...

39. CHAPTER XII.

On his way to that city, and while in Cincinnati, he met with O'Baldwin. Ben had intended, on arriving in St. Louis, to give a sparring exhibition, but O'Baldwin got in ahead on...

35. CHAPTER VIII.

In the woods about Babylon were bands of thieves, who lived by plundering the strangers that came within their power. Wild, desperate men were these, who held human life of no g...

52. CHAPTER XXV.

The summer of 1877 found our hero and his friend at Saratoga, where they spent a couple of weeks, and then journeyed to New York. There they made the Sinclair House their headqu...

30. CHAPTER IV.

As already stated, Ben, on his return from the South, made his way to Albany. The work of enlisting soldiers for the war was at this time under full headway. Hogan was by no mea...

19. CHAPTER XX.

1. CHAPTER I.

16. CHAPTER XVI.

2. CHAPTER II.

6. CHAPTER VI.

4. CHAPTER IV.

5. CHAPTER V.

20. CHAPTER XXI.

13. CHAPTER XIII.

22. CHAPTER XXIV.

8. CHAPTER VIII.

18. CHAPTER XIX.

3. CHAPTER III.

15. CHAPTER XV.

21. CHAPTER XXIII.

24. CHAPTER XXVI.

7. CHAPTER VII.

11. CHAPTER XI.

14. CHAPTER XIV.

9. CHAPTER IX.

12. CHAPTER XII.

25. CHAPTER XXVII.

10. CHAPTER X.

23. CHAPTER XXV.

17. CHAPTER XVIII.