Updates

Gunboat Jack, a Bangalore hero of the past

In an article ‘POETIC LICENCE: Of Gunboat Jack and Princess Amina’, Kaleem Omar had mentioned that Gunboat Jack had, in his later years, worked at a boys boarding school at Madras (Chennai) as head of watch and ward and that the US Embassy shipped him back to the United States. Somehow I had missed this earlier. Apparently, Kaleem Omar and me are talking about the same Gunboat Jack. I had expressed some doubt about this in my original post.

This is further confirmed by a mail to me from Sheila Abraham, the daughter of ‘Tiger’ Nat Terry, the famous boxer and a contemporary of Gunboat Jack. Read below what Sheila wrote:

“My father and Gunboat Jack were good friends. Whenever we visited Bangalore, he would it a point to visit him at that hotel, take him for a meal and buy him cigars. We learnt later, while my father was still alive that the U.S. Government sent for him and he went back to the United States, as his health had deteriorated considerably. He apparently must have passed on even before my father, but we have had no news since he left.”

So Gunboat Jack finally went back home after many decades in India.

Sheila has also revealed that ‘Tiger’ Nat Terry scored a historic win over Gunboat Jack. Thank you Sheila for all the input.

Also see: Boxing: ‘Tiger’ Nat Terry – a champion and a gentl...

Savage Kerala

Today’s news paper carried more news about Malathi, the woman who was beaten up at Edapal, Kerala, on October 7. It seems that the Human Rights Commission had taken up the matter on a petition filed by two human rights activists.

The Commission has ordered that the five accused in the case who were arrested by the police, pay Rs.15, 000 each. The amount is to be kept in a nationalized bank. The interest from the deposit is to be utilized for the treatment of the women and the child.

This is an interim order. The Commission decided that there is no need to take evidence from the victims. The case will be finally disposed of after hearing the concerned doctor.

Good news, I must say.

Ends.