Fatal Prize Fight Leads to Manslaughter Charges
A prizefighter died after a brutal seventh-round beating, and the theater owners hosting the spectacle were bound over for abetting.
Yesterday was the day set for the arraignment of Billy Doyle, the prizefighter charged with manslaughter for beating to death George Shafer in a contest at the People's Theater. While the case against Doyle was continued, Watkins Considine, the proprietors of the theater, were bound over to the superior court for complicity. A witness, Daniel J. Woods, testified that by the seventh round, Shafer was so weak he had to be pushed from his chair by two men. He was covered in blood. When he faced his opponent, Doyle hit him, and he fell. After he was counted out, he was dragged to the dressing room, where he died shortly after at the New England Hotel. The state called the fight a 'bloody, brutal' affair. The theater owners were bound over on charges of 'aiding, abetting, and instigating a prize fight.'
“The fight was only advertised to last six rounds, but when time was called for the seventh round George was so weak that two men had to push him from his seat.”
While organized boxing is a regulated sport today, 19th-century Seattle was rife with illegal, unregulated 'prize fights' that often ended in tragedy. This story captures the transition period where the city began to grapple with the brutal reality of these events through the legal system.
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