The Instructor Who Knocked His Man Down Three Times — Then Refused the Win
A Saturday-night bout at Ballard's Twin City Athletic Club turned into a lesson in prizefight ethics: James W. Barbour put Seattle's George Linz on the floor, picked him back up, and turned down the decision because the house had paid to see a fight.
Haller City, April 15 — Special. A boxing contest took place before the Twin City Athletic Club of Ballard City Saturday night between James W. Barbour, instructor of the club, and George Linz, Seattle, in which Barbour knocked his man out in the third round. The fight was for $100 a side and receipts, and as the receipts were light Linz refused to go on, but as the people clamored for a fight he finally agreed to go on. Barbour knocked him out in the second round, but picked him from the floor, and about fifteen seconds expired before he was able to continue. Barbour refused the decision, as he wanted to give the people something for their money. It was evident from the start that Linz was not in it, and he was knocked out again in the third round, when Barbour again picked him from the floor and carried him to his chair.
“Barbour knocked him out in the second round, but picked him from the floor ... as he wanted to give the people something for their money.”
In 1896 Ballard was its own city — a mill town that would not be annexed to Seattle until 1907 — and prizefighting sat in the grey zone between club sport and illegal gambling, staged indoors and paid at the door. Nearly everyone in this account is a professional: a paid instructor, a purse split plus receipts, an opponent who balked when the gate looked thin. Today Ballard's gyms and fight nights run on the same arithmetic — promoter, gate, and a fighter deciding whether the money justifies the damage.
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