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QUIZ: How much do you know about Boston's mayors?

Former Boston mayors Tom Menino, Kevin White and Ray Flynn enjoy a laugh at White's statue dedication at Faneuil Hall in Boston in 2006. (David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)
Former Boston mayors Tom Menino, Kevin White and Ray Flynn enjoy a laugh at White's statue dedication at Faneuil Hall in Boston in 2006. (David L Ryan/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

Not every big city mayor gets the chance to punch a newspaper publisher in the face. But it happened in Boston.

In 1926, ex-Mayor James Michael Curley, aka The Rascal King — aka the guy who turned his prison stint into a campaign slogan by saying "He did it for a friend!" — slugged the publisher of the Boston Telegraph. On State Street. In the middle of the day. Surrounded by people just trying to get their lunch.

“I told him he’d have to keep Mrs. Curley’s name out of his paper, and stop printing lies about me. One word led to another, and finally I let him have it,” Curley told The Boston Daily Globe.

The publisher, Frederick Enwright, told it different, saying Curley socked him on the back of the neck, and that he turned around and popped the mayor in the eye before a crowd of "Curley thugs" set upon him.

Curley, who relinquished the mayorship earlier that year, would be back in the corner office by 1930.

Mayor James MichaMayor James Michael Curley's scuffle with as newspaper publisher was front page news for The Boston Daily Globe in 1926. (Screenshot)rl Curley's scuffle with as newspaper publisher was front page news for The Boston Daily Globe in 1926. (Screenshot)
Mayor James Michael Curley's scuffle with as newspaper publisher was front page news for The Boston Daily Globe in 1926. (Screenshot via The Boston Globe archives)

Being mayor of Boston is serious business, but after two centuries, the office and its inhabitants have produced some trivia-friendly moments. Test your own trivia skills with this quiz about some of Boston's mayors.

Photos and illustrations from WBUR, The Associated Press, the city of Boston, Boston Public Library and the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum were used in this story.

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