The Pugilist’s Surprise
A strongman looking for a wrestling match in early Seattle learns that a quiet demeanor doesn’t always mean a lack of spirit.
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.
A local conferree recently out for a walk at an early hour in the morning encountered a man drawing a wagon. The stranger hailed the fellow: 'Watch bold, look here, is that the shop with this wagon?' 'I never drink,' truthfully replied the good man. 'Well, you can take a cigar.' 'I never smoke.' The man dropped the arm, looked hard at the matter, and asked, 'Do you chew?' 'No, sir,' was the reply. 'You must get mighty lone, friend,' insisted the man. 'I feel all right; I feel first-rate.' 'I'll bet you even that I can put you on your back,' remarked the stranger. 'Come how, let’s wrestle.' 'Never.' 'Well, let’s take each other down for fun, then. You are as big as I am, and I'll give you the under hold.' 'I never have fun wrestling,' said the member. 'Well, I am going to try you.' The stranger offered a neck hold, but had only just commenced to feel the show when the other lifted him off the ground and against the street lamp with such force that he gasped half a minute before he could catch his breath. 'You keep away from me,' said the stranger, picking himself up. 'Wait till I report,' replied the other. 'What's the use of lying and saying you didn't have any fun in you, when you’re buck full of it! But don't you try to break my back, will you?'
“What's the use of lying and saying you didn't have any fun in you, when you’re buck full of it!”
Early Seattle was a rough-and-tumble port town where public displays of strength were common, reflecting the city’s identity as a place for the tough and hardworking. Today, while the street-lamp wrestling matches are gone, the city still wrestles with the tension between its quiet, unassuming neighborhoods and the high-intensity growth that constantly tries to put its residents on their backs.
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