The James Reighard Smith building, where the Albright Kaiser wrestling match was held in 1911. This building was known as the Family Theater, and the bus terminal. It was torn down and today the Milton Post Office sits at this location on North Front Street.
On February 1st 1911, a wrestling match in Milton ended in a riot. Francis Arnold, conductor of the L.M.& W. trolley, smashed open the glass case holding a fire hose and ax, threatening the crowd to get them under control. Railroad police were summoned from Sunbury to escort the Williamsport crowd home, and as a mob attempted to rush the dressing room Albright was in, Officer Henry Page of Williamsport held them off at gunpoint. Charles Kaiser, Albrights opponent, helped the officers escort Albright to safety, as the street lights were kept off in town, to hide Albright from the mob.
In late January 1911, The Sun Gazette reported that a match would be held between Con Albright of Rochester, and Charles Kaiser, "Milton's Own", on Wednesday February 1st. "A large delegation is expected from Williamsport, and the seating capacity of the theater will no doubt be taxed to it's fullest extent. More interest is being taken in this event than in any previous match, on account of the manner in which the match was made and the circumstances that brought these men together"
Albright was an unknown, picked by Williamsporters specifically to beat Kaiser. The bad blood does not appear to have been between the two wrestlers, but rather between Williamsport "Sports backers" and Kaiser.
According to the Danville Morning News, "The cause dates back to Kaisers residence in Williamsport prior to his going to Milton. He never got along well with the sporting element of the former town, and refused to wrestle in the athletic club there. going to Milton, he arranged a dozen or more wrestling matched in teh past year, and always showed such clean sportsmanship that he got the support of the best people of the town.
Some of the Williamsport men with whom Kaiser had the trouble were backers of Albright, and put up $100 that he would throw Kaiser. The latter put up $100 of his own cash."
The event on February 1st was indeed a packed house. More than 600 were in attendance. Extra chairs were added to the stage area to accommodate the crowd. The preliminaries were "all interesting and kept the audience in good humor" according to the Miltonian. They included "the little boys, Fred Hafer and Albert Glant" putting up a spirited bout, followed by Tom Bennet of Milton against Lee Fogleman of Williamsport, this being the "second time these two have met on the mat without a fall being recorded for either." George Kaiser, brother of Charles, then wrestled Harry Fogleman.
"There was some little difficulty before the match, the question weighing in but this was finally fixed up and the match commenced, " said the Williamsport Sun Gazette. The Miltonian, in their article wrote: "Instead of the delay being occassioned by he question of weight, the real cause was that it took nearly two hours of pow-wows and borrowing from one another until the one hundred dollars stake money could be raised among these 'sporty backers' to cover the money Kaiser posted with the agreement stated it should be up." The $100 put up for the fight in 1911 would be the equivalent of roughly $2,700 today.
Finally, the main event began. The wrestling between Kaiser and Albright went on for between 25 and 30 minutes.
Miltonian Editor Fred Hastings was one of those seated in the seats on the stage that night. When recalling the match years later wrote:
"As the evening progressed it was evident the challenger was no match for Milton's Mr. Kaiser, and when it became apparent to him he was losing the match he deliberately hit Kaiser in the face, expecting only to be disqualified.
Today the audience would yawn and wonder what would happen next, but not then. In a split second the loyal and outraged Miltonians were on their feet, yelling for the scalp of the visiting wrestler. Irate fans in the rear walked on the tops of the seats to get to the stage, because the aisles were packed with milling men and women. "
Inside view of the family theater, year unknown
In a flash Kaiser's brother was on the mat and grabbed Albright. The next instant the crowd swarmed-upon the stage and the air was full of fists and chairs aimed at the luckless Albright. He was quickly beaten to the floor and in the mob which rushed him, was unable to get to get on his feet.
Two Milton officers, with the assistance of Kaiser, succeeded in getting Albright safely into his dressing room.
The Williamsport Gazette would report that ".. Officer Henry Page of this city [Williamsport] who held the hallway while the Milton officers tried to quiet the mob and get them on the outside of the building.
The mob tried to rush Officer Page and demanded that he let them get at Albright but he held them
back. When they attempted to rush him he drew his gun and coolly advised them that it was a dangerous thing for them to monkey with."
The Miltonian rebutted that claim, saying:
"The moment the trouble began they [the Williamsport backers] scattered to the four winds and no Williamsport man was to be found anywhere. A worse scared lot of cheap-skated never struck Milton, any back-woods village would have been ashamed to own that crowd, and no doubt some of them now regret their disgraceful and cowardly act. Then their 'brave' officer who gave details to the Gazette and Bulletin who has less nerve than a village constable, instead of doing anything brave was so frightened he forced his way through a side exit and hurried to a telephone to learn if the railroad police of Sunbury were to come up on the train they intended to take home, as they feared trouble at the station. he was the joke the entire crowd, and we hold the 'Ideal City' has no more like him."
The Gazette went on to report:
"In meantime hats were being smashed and coats torn in the melee in the auditorium and on the stage, and more than one man bears bruises today he received in the mix-up.
Word was telegraphed to Sunbury for the Pennsylvania railroad officers to come on the first train and assist in quelling the riot.
The Danville Morning news reported that many of Albrights backers were intoxicated, and "that was the prime cause of the general disturbance."
The officers and Kaiser, who came promptly to the aid of his assailant succeeded in getting him out of the building and to the hotel, while the mob was still thirsting for blood and howling to be allowed to finish the job.
Hastings later recalled that the street lights were kept off, so that the crowd could not see Albrights escape.
When train time came, Officer Page spirited Albright out the back way and got him to the railroad without his being seen, concealing him in the darkness while he and the Milton policemen sought to control the mob which had gathered at the depot hoping to get one more chance at the wrestler. But when the train came in, the Pennsylvania Railroad Officers from Sunbury stepped off and with their assistance Albright was placed on the train in safety and started on his journey to Rochester N.Y. where he resides.
Parties from this city [Williamsport] who witnessed the scene say no wilder or more bloodthirsty mob can be conceived than that at Milton last night while the riot lasted.
The match was awarded to Kaiser on foul"
The Miltonian did not appear to disagree on those points, but did go on to add:
To praise Kaiser's conduct and reaction, saying that Kaiser did not once forget himself and resort to contemptable tricks, and that "right here we venture the statement that Kaiser is a better sport and cleaner gentleman than any of the gang which brought that tough here to wrestle him."
The Danville Morning news concurred, saying "Kaiser showed a commendable spirit in walking with his opponent to the station to prevent further violence from being done him. The former was awarded the fight on a foul. Albright said that he was nearly all in during the bout and struct Kaiser to stop it. he did not intend to hit him as hard as he did. He also probably did not realize what the consequences would be."
According to the Miltonian, not every man from Williamsport was to be considered contemptable, there were some in the crowd who believed in "fair play and were loud and sincere in their praises over the manner in which Kaiser conducted himself". The Miltonian's contempt was reserved for the "toughs", or "sports backers". The policemen from Sunbury were on the job, ordering the "sports" onto the smoking car where they could be watched, and kept separate from other passengers on the train, as they returned to Williamsport.
Kaiser and Albright would face each other again weeks later, with no further incident. By April of 1911, Kaiser was the "Middleweight Champion Of The World".
April 1911, Binghamton New York
A week before Kaisers match against Ernest Pineau in Carlisle, Kaiser mailed a letter to the Evening Herald, along with the clipping from the Miltonian detailing the riot in Milton. He wrote:
that he was not surprised the "Williamsport knockers" had tried to injure his reputation here [Carlisle] as they had tried to do so before.
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Note - newspapers spell the Milton wrestlers name both as Kaiser, and Keiser, sometimes using both spellings in the same article.
"Milton saw a full grown riot last night at the opera house. The occasion was a wrestling match between Charles Kaiser and a man named Albright. The house was packed, bad blood between the wrestlers making it a match which was expected to be worth seeing.
There was some little difficulty before the match, the question weighing in but this was finally fixed up and the match commenced. Between 25 and 30 minutes of wrestling had taken place when Albright dealt Kaiser a stinging blow to the jaw. In a flash Kaiser's brother was on the mat and grabbed Albright. The next instant the crowd swarmed-upon the stage and the air was full of fists and chairs aimed at the luckless Albright. He was quickly beaten to the floor and in the mob which rushed him, was unable to get to get on his feet.
That he was not seriously injured was due entirely to the fact that two Milton officers succeeded in getting him into his dressing room. There they were joined by Officer Henry Page of this city [Williamsport] who held the hallway while the Milton officers tried to quiet the mob and get them on the outside of the building.
The mob tried to rush Officer Page and demanded that he let them get at Albright but he held them back. When they attempted to rush him he drew his gun and coolly advised them that it was a dangerous thing for them to monkey with.
In meantime hats were being smashed and coats torn in the melee in the auditorium and on the stage, and more than one man bears bruises today he received in the mix-up. Francis Arnold, conductor of the L.M.& W. trolley, smashed open the glass case holding a fire hose and ax, threatening the crowd to get them under control.
Word was telegraphed to Sunbury for the Pennsylvania railroad officers to come on the first train and assist in quelling the riot.
The three officers and Kaiser, who came promptly to the aid of his opponent, succeeded in getting him out of the building and to the hotel, while the mob was still thirsting for blood and howling to be allowed to finish the job. Some of them shouted "Lynch him" and he would have fared badly if they could have gotten hold of him.
When train time came, Officer Page spirited Albright out the back way and got him to the railroad without his being seen, concealing him in the darkness while he and the Milton policemen sought to control the mob which had gathered at the depot hoping to get one more chance at the wrestler. But when the train came in, the Pennsylvania Railroad Officers from Sunbury stepped off and with their assistance Albright was placed on the train in safety and started on his journey to Rochester N.Y. where he resides.
Parties from this city [Williamsport] who witnessed the scene say no wilder or more bloodthirsty mob can be conceived than that at Milton last night while the riot lasted.
The match was awarded to Kaiser on foul."
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In 1911, Hastings was a bit harsher, specifically towards the Williamsport "sports backers" who brought Albright to Milton.
"... the tough who was brought here by a gang of roughs from Williamsport soon learned that he was no match for the local man and when sure defeat was only a few minutes away, Albright did just what he was advised to do by the "sports" who drive Tri-State base ball and every other clean sport out of the town which advertises the place as 'The Ideal City For Home Or Business' and struck Kaiser a cowardly and vicious blow to his throat, which precipitated a small riot and demonstrated what sports these backers were"
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