Montana Standard, When Cornish Wrestling Was Popular in Butte (1959)
ECHOES Of the Long Distant Past
From Files of the Anaconda Standard
When Cornish Wrestling Was Popular in Butte
[Photograph: A group of eight men posed outdoors, several wearing the distinctive loose canvas jackets characteristic of Cornish wrestling.]
Back in the 1880s, when the above picture was taken, Cornish wrestling was a big attraction to the sports minded people of Butte. Contestants came all the way from Cornwall, England, on occasion to test their strength and skill against the Butte wrestlers—and, it is reported, they lost. Left to right, those in the picture are identified as William Bennetts, (an unidentified trainer), “Lucky” Williams, Freddy Prymm, a trainer; Bill Prymm, (an unidentified trainer), Marshal Fulford who for 14 years was Butte’s Cornish wrestling champ and met all comers, and Con Noonan, wrestling fan and miner. Cornish wrestlers wore jackets in contests.