On This Date in Minnesota History: June 9

June 9, 1904 – Three lumberjacks who attempted to beat a newsboy on Washington Ave. in Minneapolis this afternoon, found that the boy had a champion who was willing and able to take his part even at great odds.

The boy had in some way displeased the strangers and one of them caught him by the collar and struck him across the face. The boy cried help and a Negro man who was passing interfered. The lumberjacks resented the interference and an altercation followed that ended with one of the men striking at the Negro. His blow was deflected like lightning and an instant later he found himself stretched on the sidewalk by a heavy swing from the hero’s right.

As the lumberjack went down, the other two made a rush at the Negro. A right and a left in quick succession laid the two beside their companion and before they could regain their feet a policeman was on the scene. He learned the cause of the trouble and allowed the men to go, believing that they had been sufficiently punished.

The hero turned out to be Charles C. Smith, better known in sporting circles as “Thunderbolt,” the Negro prize fighter.

The Minneapolis Journal; “Three Bullies Badly Jolted. ‘Thunderbolt’ Smith Lays Boy Beaters Low in One, Two, three Order.”; June 10, 1904; p. 6.

Photo of unnamed newsboy

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/2f/7e/40/2f7e4073613bce98cec8e67e9a7bc313.jpg

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