Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
1909 was probably the worst year of Parker Lonzo Bator Zimmerman’s life. He lost both his ten month old daughter Ida May Zimmerman and his second wife Mellie Bollinger Zimmerman. Before Parker’s death in the Cape Giraurdeau Tornado of 1949, he would bury two more of his children. Both of them were adults. I can only imagine how hard 1909
On January 29, 1940, First National Pictures, the Warner Brothers “B” film company, released the spy thriller British Intelligence (1940). The film is set in Britain during World War I. Released almost two years before the attack on Pearl Harbor, the film showed that Hollywood and probably most of the countries sympathies were with Britain and the Allies. While British
On November 1908, three bishops and an abbot dedicated St. Francis de Sales Church, “the Cathedral of South St. Louis”. Built to serve the growing German Catholic population in St. Louis, the huge church would become the home to many families including my great grandparents, Eduard and Magdalena Mosblech, and their 14 children. The St. Louis Archdiocese dedicated the church
The International Wrestling Tournament occurred in two phases between May 19, 1915 and December 31, 1915. Fifty wrestlers would compete in the first phase of the tournament including World Greco-Roman Champion Aleksander “Alex” Aberg. The second installment had 40 wrestlers including up and coming star Ed “Strangler” Lewis, who joined a month into the tournament on November 22, 1915. The
The few people who know about the prizefighter Paddy Ryan probably know him as John L. Sullivan’s victim. Sullivan beat Ryan for the Heavyweight Prizefighting Championship in 1882. Ryan was a good fighter in his own right though. Ryan was born on March 15, 1851 in Ireland. His family emigrated to Troy, New York. Ryan was known through out his
On the evening of June 1, 1879, St. Louis Police Officer Charles Printz was walking his beat near 505 Marion Street on St. Louis’ South Side. It is not clear if Charles Sanders actions attracted Printz’s attention, or Printz just stumbled upon Sanders. Whatever the circumstances, Printz walked up to Sanders, who had a revolver in his right hand. When
Warner Baxter returns for a fourth time as Dr. Robert Ordway in The Crime Doctor’s Courage (1945). The newly married third wife of Gordon Carson asks Dr. Ordway to look into his first two wives’ mysterious deaths. Authorities declared both cases to be accidents. Kathleen Carson, played by Hillary Brooke, has begun to doubt the official verdict. Dr. Ordway arrives
Recently, I was searching for information about my Great Uncle Francis’ marriage to my Great Aunt Rosemary Kalt. What I discovered was an unexpected genealogy treasure, a picture in the July 5 edition of the St. Louis Star-Times of my great grandparents and 12 of the 14 Mosblech children. I had never seen a picture of my great grandparents, Eduard
Juve vs. Fantomas (1913) is Louis Feuillade’s second film adaptation of the popular crime series by Marcell Allain and Pierre Souvestre. Rene Navarre plays the role of Fantomas and his many aliases. Edmund Breon portrays Inspector Juve. George Melchior plays the role of Jerome Fandor, a young journalist, who assists Juve in his investigations of Fantomas. Juve and Fandor are
St. Louis Chief of Detectives William Desmond had respect for the “old school criminals”, who plied their trade in St. Louis during the late 19th Century. However, he did not have the same degree of respect for the thug tactics of the “new school criminals”. These criminals made up for a lack of finesse with great violence. Chief Desmond said