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Inquest Called in Death of Referee;
The Seattle Sunday Times, March 3, 1940
Professional wrestling in Seattle, under a temporary ban pending three investigations into the death of John Stevens, 50-year-old wrestling referee, must be eliminated permanently, Seattle citizens said yesterday. Stevens died of heart disease Friday night in a Civic Auditorium dressing room shortly after he was thrown from the ring during a melee of wrestlers and their seconds. The fracas was one which has been repeated at professional wrestling "exhibitions" many times, and public officials and citizens were united in a declaration that the wrestling business should be subjected to a thorough investigation. George Adams, secretary of the State Athletic Commission, yesterday announced all wrestling shows banned in Seattle pending a study of the situation. Coroner Otto H. Mittelstadt announced an inquest into Stevens' death would be held at 10 o'clock Tuesday morning in room 356 of the County-City Building. Mittelstadt, who will be aided by Prosecutor B. Gray Warner, said the inquest would go into the crowd-luring "horseplay" which resulted in Stevens' death and would attempt to fix responsibility for the incident. Adams predicted that if wrestling is permitted to continue, referees will be subjected to the same physical examinations as wrestlers. "Wrestling shows have been staged here for seven years (sic) and this is the first time there has been a serious result from the 'acting,'" Adams said. "Wrestling is in no sense a real sport and we have never permitted it to be anything except a show or exhibition. It's simply a rough tumbling act, which a certain number of persons enjoy and demand." In a third inquiry, Joseph Little, city building superintendent, tomorrow will study the report of W.J. Coyle, manager of the auditorium shows. Little indicated he might present the question to the City Council of whether the city should continue leasing its public buildings for this purpose. August Sepp, promoter who staged the wrestling show, last night issued the following statement: "I am not at liberty to discuss the situation at this time for I will undoubtedly be called at the coroner's inquest of Jack Stevens' death Tuesday morning. However, I don't think there is any person in Seattle who can say that I ever told any wrestler to go in the ring and use any rough methods whatsoever." "I have spent eleven years of my life here, bringing my wife and family to Seattle, and intend to remain here for many years. The death of Stevens naturally grieved me for he was one of my closest personal friends. I have encouraged the wrestlers to use only clean tactics turing all the time I have been in the promotion business in Seattle and never have encouraged them to fight with the referees." Mittelstadt said members of the Athletic Commission and city officials connected with the leasing of the public buildings to wrestlers would be subpoenaed to the inquest. Stevens died in a dressing room shortly after he was pushed from the ring and his head hit a steel post. He had just awarded a bout to John Katan, Montral. The other wrestler, LaVerne Baxter, Monroe, Ore., protested. Then followed a familiar scene. Wrestlers, their seconds and Stevens engaged in a tussle. A spectator tossed a bottle into the ring. Stevens was pushed to a corner, rolled under the ropes and fell out of the ring. After an autopsy, it was declared that Stevens had died of heart disease. "This occurrence is most unfortunate," Warner said. "For the advancement of strenuous athletics as a whole, strict supervision of participants' condition should be maintained if these sports are to survive with public favor." "There was a time when football became an unnecessarily dangerous institution because supervision was lacking with the result that physically unfit players were permitted to continue, often with fatal results. Football, then, did not have the universal public favor it now enjoys." "This is true of all sports. The day was when boxing was little more than an invitation to manslaughter. As a result, it was outlawed in most states because of the pressure of public opinion. Today, under regulation, that public prejudice has been overcome to a large degree." "It should be a condition precedent to any contest that the referees must be as physically fit as the contestants and subject to the same check, so tragedies of this type will not reoccur. In the final analysis, the continued existence of such sports depends on public favor. My office will do anything it can to clean up this situation." "Baxter told me a beer bottle, thrown from the audience, hit him during the fracas after the bout was over," Mittelstadt said. The coroner declared he had forced Baxter, due to wrestle in Yakima and one other Northwest city this weekend, to cancel the matches and hold himself in readiness for the inquest. "During the excitement, Baxter said he kicked at Stevens," Mittelstadt said. "At that moment, Stevens rolled under the ropes and fell from the ring, Baxter told me." Meanwhile, Seattle's citizenry was thoroughly aroused. Many persons were frank in declaring that "wrestling must go." Others criticized a situation which permitted a referee of middle-age, in poor physical condition, to enter a ring and attempt to control the actions of large, powerfully built young men. Some of the comments follow: Henry Foster, director of physical education at the University of Washington -- Many people have wondered for a long time why these affairs have been permitted in city-owned buildings. Certainly a referee in professional wrestling is just as much a participant as the wrestlers. He should be subject to the same examination as a wrestler. Professional wrestling is a vicious sport and appeals to mob hysteria. Our sports ought to be on a higher plane. Mrs. Virginia Field, 4760 20th Ave. N.E. -- I've never thought much about the wrestling matches. Such a thing as this never has happened before, and probably won't ever happen again, but I think a man refereeing a sports event should be examined first. If that man had a weak heart he shouldn't have been permitted in any kind of sports at all. George Kosmos, bowling alley concession operator -- I get to pretty near all the wrestling matches -- but I didn't happen to be present Friday night -- and I've done some wrestling myself, though not professionally. I know what a referee is up against, and he's got to be in good physical condition himself, as well as knowing about wrestling. It was poor judgment to let that man go into the ring if it was known he had a poor heart, and it WOULD have been known if physical examinations were compulsory, as they should be. The Rev. P.A. Klein, pastor of the Dunlap Baptist Church -- I agree with every word contained in The Times' editorial and want to offer my support as well as the support of many others who feel as I do toward a campaign to clean up this sport. I certainly endorse your words wholeheartedly. |
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