The Seattle-Portland Cockfighting Feud of 1892
A high-stakes cockfighting match between Seattle and Portland descended into chaos, accusations of cheating, and a referee's decision that sparked a regional sports rivalry.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The cocking main fizzled out early yesterday morning after four battles had been fought, but as far as it went, it furnished sport enough to work the audience up to a rare pitch of enthusiasm. Seattle won the first battle in nineteen minutes. Then Portland took one in ten minutes. The third was won by Seattle in thirty-five minutes. Then there was a fight between a Portland black-red and a Seattle white pile. Referee Hank Halstead decided against Portland, and then the trouble began.
Joe Taylor, the Portland principal, entered the pavilion with the idea that he was being jobbed, and he demanded his rights with considerable acrimony. The beginning of hostilities occurred after the birds were weighed in. Portland failed to show any at the bottom weight, and Seattle claimed the battle. The matter was arbitrated without bloodshed. Then Portland objected to the heels offered by Seattle, and Murphy was ordered to file them down an eighth of an inch. Throughout the match, Taylor protested every point, but his boisterous demeanor was to a great extent affected, serving as a cloak to a premeditated plan of action.
Following the final disputed match, the Seattle boys smiled through their tears. 'It was immense what there was of it,' they said. And some of them bought their breakfast with Portland money. It is not probable that the main discontinued will ever be finished, although rumors that it would be reigned credence yesterday among the fraternity. The agreement specified the time, and that has passed. The money is up, and Mr. Smith says he will go to Portland with his birds, and he does not expect that Taylor will refuse to come to the score on his own grounds.
“Taylor protested every point, but his apparent boisterous demeanor was to a great extent affected, serving as a cloak to a cool, calculating and evidently premeditated plan of action.”
While illegal and cruel by modern standards, the 1892 cockfighting feud reflects a long-standing, often hyperbolic sports rivalry between Seattle and Portland. Today, that competitive spirit survives in the Pacific Northwest’s soccer and cultural scenes, though fortunately without the gambling and bloodsport of the late 19th century.
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