Blood on the Diamond: A Baseball Riot Stabs Two Men in Rockford
When a local baseball game between Tekoa and Rockford turned violent, knives, bats, and bricks flew. Two men were stabbed, several beaten insensible, and the town was left reeling from a brawl that started on the field and ended with arrests.
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.
Rockford, Wash. — Two men were stabbed, several others were beaten insensible with blows from baseball bats and 20 people engaged in a rough and tumble battle in which knives, bats, bricks and stones were used, following a baseball game between the Tekoa team and the local nine.
H. Marneek and Tom Akers, both of Tekoa, were the two most seriously stabbed. They are here under a doctor's care at the hotel. Marneek received a wound on the right side, under the arm. It is neither deep nor serious. Akers was stabbed on the right side, between the ribs. He is delirious and his condition is serious. Both wounds were apparently administered with a long bladed pocket knife.
The McLellan brothers, who live on the reservation, a few miles southeast of here, were twice knocked insensible by blows over the head with baseball bats. They are badly bruised, but recovered sufficiently to return home after the melee.
The game was the third and deciding one of a series of three. Each club had won one previously, and each had claimed that it had been jobbed by the umpire. Considerable ill feeling was engendered.
The Tekoa team, accompanied by about 125 residents of that place, arrived here by special train and the game started peaceably. When the third inning was in progress a fight started between two Rockford and one of the Tekoa rooters, but this was stopped.
After the game had closed, with a score of 13 to 11 in favor of the visitors, trouble broke out again. One of the McLellan boys engaged in a battle with a Tekoa youth. McLellan was getting the worst of it, when his big brother came to his assistance. In a minute about 20 men and youths were engaged in a lively rough and tumble. Bats were brought into use, stones and bricks were flying through the air, then knives were drawn.
Spectators say they saw six or more knives brandished in the crowd, but just who stabbed the two injured men has not been ascertained. The stabbing ended the row. The McLellans made off for home as soon as they could. Others who had been knocked out by blows revived.
The Tekoa visitors made a rush for their special train, which pulled out soon afterwards, but not before there had been another smaller fight. This latter resulted in the arrest of a Rockford boy named Baker and of a Tekoa youth who refused to give his name, and who was released on cash bail furnished by his friends.
The two injured men were removed to the hotel, where a doctor was called to attend their wounds. A number of others were badly bruised in the fight. It is claimed that none of the Rockford team took part in the row.
This 1903 account of a baseball riot in Rockford highlights how deeply local rivalries could ignite violence, turning a sporting event into a dangerous brawl involving weapons. While modern sportsmanship rules and security protocols have largely eliminated such physical chaos from minor league games, the underlying tension between neighboring towns—often fueled by alcohol and perceived injustice by officials—remains a potent force in community dynamics today.
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