Disgraceful Scenes at the Archer Avenue Barns - a Free Fight
True human nature was never more aptly illustrated than by a little incident witnessed by twenty or thirty men at the Archer avenue car barns, corner of Pitney avenue and the old Archer road, last evening. That locality of the city is rather thinly settled and the car barns is the central point for those who live in the locality, and upon whose hands time often hangs heavily. In that sense the barns partake largely of the nature of the village saloon.
Shortly before dusk yesterday evening there was a small riot at the locality in question which all arose out of a dog fight. About a dozen men were assembled, when a character known as "Butch" Henning sauntered up and took a seat on a bench near the door. "Butch" led his prize pup "Sluff" by a small rope and the pup quielty assumed a position between his proprietor's knees. A few minutes later another man arrived also leading a pup by a string. The latest arrival took a seat only a few feet away, and in less than a minute the two pups were snarling and growling at each other, each evidently on the look out for trouble.
The meeting was purely accidental, but as soon as the attention of the owners of the dogs was drawn toward their respective animals it was noticed that they ressembled greatly and were apparently a good match for a fight. The owners of the dogs did no[t] appear to be unwilling, and the crowd was more than anxious for a fight. This spirit was of course not productive of peace, and in a very few minutes the dogs were let loose and engaged in a vicious fight.
Sometimes Sluff was on top, chewing his opponent's lip or thorat, and sometimes it was exactly opposite, and Sluff was getting chewed. The crowd was about evenly divided as to sympathy, but when the fight between the dogs became brutal, and Sluff was howling with pain, the owners of the dogs took the fight up, and were settling it between themselves. This created more excitement, and in a few moments the friends of both dogs and dog-owners on all sides were engaged in a hand-to-hand combat.
About this time two police officers arrived, and succeeded in quelling the riot and separating the belligerent canines. Several black eyes, bloody noses and skinned heads was the result of the melee.
Daily Inter Ocean (Chicago, IL), August 6, 1888, pg. 3
