Joe Acton was one of England’s best wrestlers in the 19th Century. 151 pound Acton went through England’s middleweight ranks before plowing through the heavyweights. After beating the best England had to offer including Tom Cannon, Acton decided to test his abilities in the United States. Joe Acton settled in Philadelphia at Arthur […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download In this episode, I discuss why it is a bad idea to time employee’s bathroom breaks, the next family history book, a movie recommendation and can anyone beat UFC Middleweight Champion Chris Wiedman. Affiliate Link – BlueHost is your web hosting solution for blogs, podcast, vlogs and […]
On Tuesday, August 31, 1915, 27-year-old Leo Kraeger began his shift by receiving an order to arrest George Rodgers, a fireman at the Cox & Gordon Packing Company at 1019 S. 3rd Street. Rodgers had fired three shots at Lena Johnson in her home at 1003 High Street on the morning of August 31st. […]
In the late 1990s, my grandfather, Gilbert Ellis, was living with my Aunt Maureen and Uncle Dale. They had decided to have a large garage/shed installed, so Grandpa and my uncle would have a workshop. They had the shed assembled and engaged a local electrical company to run electricity to the workshop. Uncle […]
While a few actors played Charlie Chan before Warner Oland and a few portrayed Inspector Chan after Roland Winters, the main body of Earl Derr Biggers’ Charlie Chan film adaptations occurred between 1931 to 1949. Warner Oland began playing Charlie Chan in The Black Camel (1931). After his death, Sidney Toler started playing […]
Sam McVey would win the World Colored Heavyweight Boxing Championship in an era where the three best fighters were black and frozen out of the title picture. He started 1903 out so well, he would put pressure on World Heavyweight Boxing Champion James J. Jeffries to give him a match. Jeffries refused to break […]
Podcast: Play in new window | Download In this episode, I discuss why I’ve almost completely given up meat, German Expressionism and The Cat and the Canary, a movie recommendation and what we can learn from a professional fighter. Affiliate Link – BlueHost is the web hosting company for your website needs. Excellent customer […]
In one of those strange coincidences of history, the Streetcar Union President Sherman C. Patterson was stabbed by a union machinist named Edward Canty after a saloon disagreement. At a time when several of his opponents in the 1900 St. Louis Streetcar Strike would love to have seen him sent on a train out […]
When I first saw the picture of Cornelius O’Keefe in the book, In The Line of Duty: St. Louis Police Officers Who Made the Ultimate Sacrifice by Barbara Miksicek, David McElreath and Major Stephen Pollihan, he looked like the prototypical turn of the century policeman. With his hair parted down the middle and a […]
This post is a selection from the book From Easy Street to High Noon: Essays in Film. You can order the book by clicking here. Million Dollar Legs (1932) is a comic fantasy about an imaginary country’s participation in the 1932 Los Angeles Olympic Games. The country is Klopstokia, a land of […]