A Literal Fight to the Finish
Two men arrested after a saloon brawl left both participants biting each other's thumbs.
George Brown and T. Daniel, both colored, entered into a fistic argument in a South Pacific Avenue saloon last night and when discovered by Police Captain Olsen, each fighter had the other's thumb in his mouth and was chewing viciously. It looked too much like cannibalism and besides each one was badly battered up, so they were sent to the police station on a charge of fighting.
“Each fighter had the other's thumb in his mouth and was chewing viciously.”
This brief report highlights the raw, often violent nature of saloon culture in early 20th-century Tacoma. The tone of the reporting is characteristic of the period's dismissive and often caricaturing view of street fights involving Black residents.
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