The Underground Prize Fight Near Tacoma
Welterweight boxers James Ryan and Barney Curtis face off in a secret bout outside Puyallup, evading legal scrutiny.
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 scientific and hard-fought battle took place early Sunday morning in the vicinity of Puyallup. The contestants passed under the names of James Ryan and Barney Curtis, welterweights, but those in the secret knew that Ryan was Jimmy Smith of Denver, a noted scientific pugilist. The men had been in training for five weeks, Smith at Sumner and Curtis at Puyallup. They had been quietly matched by sporting men of Tacoma and Spokane. A railroad official acted as referee. In the first round, Ryan smashed Curtis on the jaw and floored him. Before ten seconds had elapsed, Curtis was up and at it hammer and tongs. A stinger on the jaw floored Ryan, but only for a moment. In round sixteen, Curtis, like a dazed man, was a target for wicked blows from Ryan. He was knocked clean across the ring against the ropes, and as he returned, making a right-handed swing, he received a terrific blow on the jaw that sent him to the ground to rise no more until time was up, and the referee decided the fight in Ryan's favor.
“A railroad official acted as referee.”
In the 1890s, prizefighting was frequently banned, forcing promoters to host bouts in 'secret' rural locations or under assumed names. Today, while boxing is heavily regulated and professionalized, the sport remains a focal point for regional civic identity and athletic debate.
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