 On mid-January, 1855, Hyer was reported to have been struck and injured in the head twice by the butt of a heavy revolver in an incident at New York's Platt's Hall below Wallick's Theater, by the former boxer Lew Baker, a rival of the Bowery Boys gang.Also present was Henry Young and Jim Turner, a former boxer and friend of Baker, who also briefly assaulted Hyer.Hyer filed an assault charge against the three men two days later.