SCENE AT END OF WRESTLING MATCH

Chronicle (Levin), 10 May 1947, Page 6

SCENE AT END OF WRESTLING MATCH

-Jfress /.ssodiation

By Teiegr~rfc-r

VV xiLjLiliN LtLUJN , May i). A' police oliicer, .'8ub-Inspector A. C. McHugh, appeared to Be in danger of being mobbed in the Wellington Town Hall last . nigbt," and he left the hall urider the protection of an escort of constables. Sub-Inspector McHugh was the police representative at the professional wrestling bout Between Kay Bell and Paul Boosch. ' • . ; When proceedings ,in the ring bbcame somewhat hectic in . the final round, oue of* the wrestlers was, sent flying through. the ropes almost 'into the lap; of .the sub-inspeetor. .. The bfficef proixiptly called the atten^ tion of the referee and ordered hfin to stop the bout.' This- referee - Jenkins did, subseqehtl'y declaring " the; bout "no decision.,'' ' ' The sub-inspeetor explained to thePress amid an uproar from the crowd that he had stopped the bout because Bell had deliberately thrown his opponeht out of the ring. . This Bell later- demed. He said he had siinply rolled Boesch, and the latter had slipped through the ropes. "I'm not a dirty said Bell. Soon after the sub-inspeetor left the Press table; the crowd started to mob around him. There' was a torreht of hooting and jeers from all parts of the hall, and from one section he was counted out. One individual — obviously incensed at the sub-inspeetor 's ruling — was very abusive. Had it not been for. the hasty intervention of several other policemen, the ineident may have developed seriously. As the police party made their way towards the exit, bedlam was let loose in the hall. An outcry of protest, unprecedented in . the Town Hall, rose from the big crowd. The police finally reached the custodian's office outside which the constables mounted guard. A large section o'f the crowd mingled around ■ the main entrance waiting for the sub-inspeetor to come out, but after a while the crowd ' dispersed without further ineident'.