Courtesy of WWU Center for Pacific Northwest Studies (1990s)
The story of Billy "Wild
Man" Hardy, otherwise known as
Mr. William Absolom Hardy to his bill collectors has
often been told in
the Cascade Club by newspapermen and members of the "400"
society.
The very eccentric Billy, who came from Arkansas, resided in the Mason Block
and
was co-owner in the 1980s of the Fairhaven Pharmacy.
His partner, R.C. Higginson, was
somewhat more subdued and lived
several miles north of Hardy and thus wasn’t often
forced to answer up
for most of the excitement his reckless partner stirred up in the
Mason Block or the surrounding neighborhoods.
As the tale goes, fighting ranked
as an all-time favorite among the
local sports of that time. The growing feud between
"Wild Man" Hardy
and the Great Express Company employee (whose office was next
door)
was decided to be settled with a fight. The two scowling combatants readily
agreed
to the joust and a room was obtained in the Mason Block where the
Marquis of Queensbury
rules were read aloud to the cigar-chomping
multitude which jammed in around the ring. The
two men stripped to the
waist and at the call of time, the two hard-knuckled pugilists
sprang at
each other and pounded home. The fight was becoming vicious, and by the
fourth
round both men were so winded that they had difficulty raising off
their chairs and the
referee was forced to declare the whole match a draw.
That wasn’t the only fight
Hardy got himself into.
Three weeks after his last brawl, while strolling along Tenth
Street,
he managed to cause a fight with a passerby.
The "Michigan" crew. Standing from L to R: Cook, Charles
Mason of Roche Harbor, Clyde Daly, and Huber;
Lower down are Harry Benson, Bill,
Pete Johnson, Charlie (Dane), Henry Hansem (boss), John (Norwegian), Alex Fritz,
Tony Munyous (Spanish), (Bull Cook), and "Wild Bill" c1915
Courtesy of WWU Center for Pacific Northwest Studies
