Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Weeks ago, I was looking for a copy of Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott from my grandfather’s old library. Grandpa Gilbert P. Ellis had a library that he gave me in the early 1990s. These books and his desk are treasures that will stay with me until the day I die. As a kid, I used to sit in his
Before he was the “Sherlock Holmes of St. Louis”, St. Louis Chief of Detectives William Desmond was Detective “Billy” Desmond. One of the most talented detectives in St. Louis Police history, Desmond met one of the most famous international criminals in history, Eddie Guerin, in the mid-1880s. Guerin robbed the American Express Office in Paris in the early 1900s. French
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
William Muldoon, the World Greco-Roman Wrestling Champion and physical culture proponent, came to Los Angeles on Tuesday, April 15, 1884 to face the local wrestler Fred Bauer. The match took place at the local Turnvereine Hall in Los Angeles. Muldoon was so confident of victory that he stipulated that he would throw Bauer ten times within an hour or he
On Tuesday, November 5, 1901, St. Louis Police captured Ben Kilpatrick and Laura Bullion for their part in the Great Northern train robbery in Montana on July 2, 1901. Before the case was settled, Kilpatrick would serve 10 years and Laura Bullion would serve three and a half years in the Missouri Penitentiary but it would take several weeks for
Gilford Dudley Story (1797 – 1870) is my third great-grandfather. There are six generations between the two of us. I have just recently been able to find information on the Story family, one of the branches of the family my research had not turned up as much information on. For years, I could not find my great-grandmother Dollie Zimmerman nee
On the morning of Saturday, April 22, 1922, a green Paige automobile pulled up in front of the Morris Packing Company at 3000 S. Broadway. One man emerged, looked around and waived for his companion to exit the back seat. After hesitating for a few seconds, the other man exited as the automobile crawled down the busy street. The time
On December 1, 1938 at 5:15 pm, former professional wrestler and all-around athlete George Baptiste passed away at 74 years of age. While enjoying robust strength his whole life, Baptiste’s doctor discovered he had stomach cancer in June 1938. The doctor operated on Baptiste but was unable to remove all the cancer. Baptiste had been living at his country home
Last Monday, I was able to scratch a big item off my bucket list. I attended a Liverpool Football Club game in person. Liverpool FC came to my hometown of St. Louis, Missouri on August 1, 2016 to play a preseason game with AS Roma. My daughter Caity attended the match with me, which made the day extra special. I
Buildings are just piles of boards and bricks without the stories that are attached to them. During November 1912, St. Louis Police Officer Arthur Huddleston was killed by paroled murderer Albert Whitefield. Whitefield had surprised his common-law wife, who was entertaining another gentleman caller. Whitefield attempted to kill her before two St. Louis Police Officers responded to her cries for