Band Concert Programming: Boxing and ... Batons?

I was scanning Crookston Band concert programs from my great-grandfather's scrapbook earlier this week when I saw something I'd never noticed before and laughed out loud (which means something because I'm usually a silently amused person).  At a concert on April 19, 1901, listeners were treated to what seems to be an odd juxtaposition of events: band music followed by a boxing match.

The concert featured guest soloists Mr. Jeremiah Schefstad, described as "the finest violinist in the northwestern United States," and soprano Miss Alma Fontaine.  And it closed with three 3-minute rounds of boxing between Kid Corbett (weight 60 pounds) and Kid Jeffries (weight 70 pounds).

Kid Eli, left, and Kid Seb, right, recreate the 1901 boxing match after Seb's orchestra concert Tuesday night.

I was in St. Paul yesterday, and I couldn't resist stopping in at the Minnesota History Center's library to see if I could find out more about the boxing contest.  Was G. Oliver trying to draw a new crowd for the concert, or was he hoping to expand the experiences of the regular concertgoers?  I was curious.

The April 19, 1901 concert program.  The boxing contest is listed at the bottom.

The day before the concert, the Crookston Daily Times ran a news item on page 8 stating that the reserved seats for the concert had been sold, and that there was great interest in hearing the soloists.  It said this about the boxing: "The ladies have come to understand that the boxing contest will be nothing out of the way, and understand that it will be amusing to them as well as to the gentlemen.”

The only other mention I could find of the boxing was in a April 20 news brief on page 5:

"The boxing match that was listed on the program given at the Grand last night afforded considerable amusement.  The contestants advertised as Kid Jeffries and Kid Corbett proved to be Hector and Charley Rapin."

I'd like to know more about Hector and Charley, and why this was so amusing, but the humor is probably lost to history. 

I do wonder what the soloists thought of the boxing.  I discovered this morning that a biography of Schefstad is available at the Norwegian-American Historical Association, located up the hill from me on the St. Olaf College campus.  According to the NAHA website, Schefstad (it lists his first name as Jeremias) was a Norwegian-born violinist who moved to Crookston in 1888 (10 years before G. Oliver).  After studying in Europe, he returned to the area, working as a teacher and soloist based in Grand Forks, N.D. 

I have not found a mention of boxing in any other Crookston concert programs.  I did, however, find a band and orchestra program from Aug. 11 (year not listed) that featured a different entertainment.  According to the program, during the band's final song, "Charge of the Battalion" by Hall, Master Frank Martin was to "give an exhibition of fancy baton movements."

I don't know enough about this period in band history to explain the boxing and batons; I imagine it must have been typical for that time to include such things to help keep audiences interested in returning.  Perhaps I could ask some of the band experts who'll be in Northfield Aug. 5-8 for the Vintage Band Festival. 

Maybe one of the bands would like to close a concert with a boxing match.  I know a couple of kids who'd be game.