The Illegal Ring at Richmond Beach
Police stopped an Everett boxing match; at Richmond Beach, Morrisey knocked out Barbour in two rounds.
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.
The glove contest between Ed Morrisey and Jim Barbour, which was stopped by the police at Everett in the second round, was fought to a finish yesterday morning outdoors at Richmond beach, Morrisey being an easy winner in two rounds. When the police interfered in the clubhouse [in Everett], it was between 1 and 2 o'clock Sunday morning. In the meantime, the 200 men who went from Seattle on the Greyhound to see the fight were cursing their luck for the loss of the money which they paid for their tickets. Finally, the manager of the fight decided to give the crowd the worth of its money and about 6 o'clock all went on board the Greyhound, which dropped down to Richmond beach. There on the beach, the stakes were driven and the ropes put up. Morrisey wound up the second round in a hurry. He brought one of his vicious right-hand swings full against Barbour's jaw. The latter went up into the air, gave a half turn around and fell over limp.
“There on the beach the stakes were driven and the ropes put up.”
Prize fighting was a semi-illicit 'vice' that often required fleeing across jurisdictions to avoid police interference. While boxing is now a regulated sport, the clandestine, high-stakes nature of the event highlights how entertainment frequently operated in a legal gray area in frontier-era Seattle.
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