Jack Johnson and The Fight of the Century

jack-johnson

After Jack Johnson became champion, a lack of strong contenders caused public pressure to mount on James J. Jeffires, the retired former heavyweight champion, to end his retirement and fight Johnson.  Jeffries was considered the first and most credible of the “White Hope” contenders. In his prime, Jeffries probably couldn’t beat Johnson.  At 35 years of age and nearly 300

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Ira Cooper Unravels Money Order Theft

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On February 22, 1924, unknown suspects took $20,000.00 in American Express Company money orders from the Mercantile Trust Company in Downtown St. Louis.  Initially, the American Bankers Association hired private detectives.  After the detectives were unable to discover any serious leads, the association turned the case over to the St. Louis Police Department. When the bank association turned over the

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Hannah McLaughlin Desmond (1879 – 1904)

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On January 7, 1903, St. Louis Chief of Detectives William Desmond married 24-year-old Hannah McLaughlin in a ceremony he hoped to keep secret.  The 46-year-old Desmond always said he would never marry due to the dangers of his job.  However, he was clearly smitten with Hannah McLaughlin. In March 1897, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch printed the first rumors of an

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Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. (1941)

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On December 27, 1941, Republic Pictures released the first chapter of the fourth Dick Tracy serial, Dick Tracy vs. Crime, Inc. (1941). Once again, Ralph Byrd played Detective Dick Tracy. In this series, Dick Tracy works with “The Commission” to attack crime but suspects one of the members of the commission is the mysterious Ghost. The Ghost’s henchman Lucifer, played

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