Martial Artist, Historian and Writer
Rosa or Rose Elker was born in St. Louis on February 5, 1890. Aunt Rose
A 122-year-old brick house dominates the street scene at the corner of Whittier Street and
On October 12, 1853, 23 year-old John Morrissey would meet 40 year-old “Yankee” Sullivan for
Director Otto Preminger uses all six cinematic tools (connotation and denotation, codes, syntax, mis-en-scene, montage,
Instead of writing about self-defense this month, I decided to write about one of my favorite Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events, UFC 49: Unfinished Business. UFC hosted this event on August 21, 2004 at the MGM Grand Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Be warned, this post may contain spoilers, so you should watch event before reading this synopsis. The night
On July 7, 1939, Twentieth Century-Fox Films released the final Mr. Moto “B” film starring Peter Lorre as Inspector Kentaro Moto. Mr. Moto Takes a Vacation (1939) finds Mr. Moto accompanying the Queen of Sheba’s Crown from its discovery in an Egyptian archaeological site to a San Francisco museum. Mr. Moto suspects the arch criminal Metaxess, who authorities believed was
St. Louis Chief of Detectives William Desmond was known for his ability to gain confessions from criminals. Unlike other detectives, who would sometimes use physical intimidation, Desmond eschewed the “third degree”. Chief Desmond believed information obtained by beating suspects was completely unreliable. Desmond would start a discussion with the suspect. After putting him or her at ease, Desmond would let
On January 5, 1900, four days before a showdown with Bantamweight Boxing Champion Terry McGovern, Featherweight World Boxing Champion George Dixon made an announcement to chill the spine of all his supporters. Dixon announced that win or lose, he would be retiring from the ring after the bout with McGovern. The last thing a manager wants to hear before a
My second great-grandfather August H. Elker was born in Hanover, Germany on May 22, 1848 in the year of revolutions in Europe. Whether related to the revolutions or not, August’s family travelled to America in 1854. After landing in New York City, the Elker family made its way to St. Louis, Missouri. St. Louis had a large German Catholic community, which
On April 7, 1939, Twentieth Century-Fox released the seventh of eight Mr. Moto “B” movies. Mr. Moto in Danger Island (1939) begins with Mr. Moto on a ship headed to Puerto Rico. Mr. Moto, played by Peter Lorre, and several passengers are watching a wrestling match. Twister McGurk, played by Warren Hymer, is wrestling Sailor Sam, played by Ward Bond.
St. Louis Police Sergeant Peletiah Jenks handled a number of high-profile cases as the Third District Police Station Desk Sergeant. One of the most infamous cases involved Charles F. Kring, who shot his lover Dora Broemser on January 4, 1875. After killing her, Kring turned himself in to Sgt. Jenks at the police station between 7 and 8 pm. Charles
Wrestling promoter Samuel Rachman created the International Wrestling Tournament in Spring 1915 to highlight the abilities of Aleksander “Alex” Aberg. Aberg was the Russian Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion. Rachman believed Aberg could beat any wrestler. Rachman also wanted to lure Frank Gotch, the last undisputed World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion, out of retirement to wrestle with Aberg. Gotch wrestled George Lurich in
Last week, I was picking up my oldest son Kenneth from his new job. Kenneth’s workplace is located next to the Baptist church, where he and his brother Caleb attended preschool. I tried to remember how we discovered the preschool because we didn’t attend the church nor were we Baptists. For the life of me, I couldn’t remember how we
At our fantasy football draft this year, one of the other owners asked me who I thought was the best mixed martial artist of all time. I told him that based on skill, the greatest mixed martial artist of all time was Jon “Bones” Jones. However, Jones’ frequent problems outside of the Octagon would keep him from being considered the