Dufur Draws with Cox

Henry Moses Dufur specialized in collar-and-elbow wrestling when Dufur wrestled professionally in the 1870s and 1880s. Born on May 5, 1844, in Richmond, Vermont, Dufur wrestled primarily in the northeastern United States.

On June 27, 1878, Dufur wrestled a return match with a wrestler named Cox at the Boston Baseball Park in front of five hundred fans. Five hundred fans made up a good crowd in the 1870s. As so often happened in a legitimate contest, the match turned into a long stalemate.

Dufur entered the ring wearing a red jacket. Cox wore a green jacket. Wrestlers contested matches in collar-and-elbow wrestling in tights and tight-fitting jackets like a judo Gi top. Dufur weighed one hundred seventy-five pounds for the match. Cox weighed one hundred sixty pounds.

Referee J. G. Lathrop started the match at 3:19 p.m. Cox wrestled defensively throughout the match.

Dufur took the offensive in the match by trying to secure a toe lock, but Cox shook it off. Dufur also tried a trip, but Cox evaded the maneuver. Dufer switched to an inside lock, but the referee stopped the match when the action pulled Cox’s jacket over Cox’s head.

Dufur continued to switch back and forth between toe lock and inside lock attempts. Cox warded off the attempts, so Dufur tried a grapevine. Cox remained defensive throughout.

After the referee demanded Cox do something, Cox tried for a hip lock. Dufur threw Cox onto one hip and shoulder not enough for a fall. However, the near fall caused Cox to resume his defensive wrestling.

By 7:50 p.m., Cox had not tired out Dufur after over four hours of Cox pretending to be a statue, but the referee showed the match had fatigued him. Lathrop suggested both men agree to wrestle or agree to a draw.

Neither the wrestlers nor the crowd wanted the match to end. Lathrop let it continue but at 8:15 p.m. with no noticeable progress in the match Lathrop announced his intention to declare a draw. The crowd booed lustily.

Frustrated with both the wrestlers and the crowd, Lathrop walked back to the dressing room. Lathrop, the President of the Union Athletic Association, sent an assistant back to the mat area to announce the match as a draw. The assistant also quickly returned to the dressing room area before the crowd turned ugly over the unpopular decision.

Dufur continued wrestling professionally until losing the Collar-and-Elbow Championship to John McMahon. Dufur retired to his home state of Vermont before moving to California a few years before his death. Dufur died in Ontario, California on April 10, 1917, at seventy-one years of age. He left behind a wife and two sons.

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Sources: The Boston Globe (Boston, Massachusetts), June 28, 1878, p. 2 and The Bennington Evening Banner (Bennington, Vermont), May 18, 1917, p. 1

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