Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
On Friday, October 21, 1904, one of the greatest tragedies in St. Louis Police history occurred when two train robbers and three St. Louis Police detectives died in a shootout. The gunfight occurred in a small hotel room on Pine Street. Two days later on Sunday, October 23, 1904, a burglar attempted to gain entry to a realty office at
In the first of the three Shadow films from Monogram Pictures starring Kane Richomond, a number of citizens have fallen from windows to their death. Two of the men seemingly commit suicide in front of Lamont Cranston, the Shadow, and Inspector Cordonna played by Joseph Crehan. Crehan was a character actor who often played policeman in films such as The
If you want to be able to defend yourself, work on your conditioning The greatest technique in the world is only so effective if you do not have the stamina to outlast an attack. Conditioning is one of the most neglected aspects of martial arts training. Cardio Conditioning – Remember the old saying, “Fatigue makes a coward of all of
During April 1885, St. Louis experienced one of its most sensational murders. Two English travelers had checked into the Southern Hotel in early April 1885. C. Arthur Preller and H. M. Brooks, who was going by the alias of Dr. Maxwell, appeared to be very friendly. Although they had separate rooms, they often stayed in the same room together. At
On Monday, March 5, 1900, St. Louis Police Officers Thomas Meagher and Thomas Degnan apprehended men who robbed an East St. Louis Officer of his gun. Ed Sullivan, a 22 year-old transient, robbed an East St. Louis Police Officer of his gun, jewelry and possessions in late February 1900. Officer Thomas Meagher observed Sullivan and Harry Davis walking near Olive
John Camel Heenan was known to 19th Century bare knuckle prizefighting fans as “the Benicia Boy”. Despite an 0-1-1 record as a professional fighter, Heenan claimed the World Prizefighting Championship based on a draw with Tom Sayer in an 1860 English prize-fight. Heenan’s first professional fight had been with the reigning World Heavyweight Prizefighting Champion John Morrissey’s last professional fight
Frank Gotch took the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship from Tom Jenkins in December 1903. Gotch intended on following up this triumph with a match for World Heavyweight Wrestling Championship from George Hackenschmidt. Gotch wanted to meet “Hack” in St. Louis during the 1904 World’s Fair. Unfortunately for Gotch and St. Louis, the match would not occur until 1908 in Chicago,
Sherlock Holmes in Washington (1943) is the third of twelve Universal Picture productions of the Sherlock Holmes franchise. Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce starred as Holmes and Watson respectively in two films for Twentieth-Century Fox and twelve more for Universal Pictures. This film is again set in the 1940s. Holmes and Watson have traveled to Washington, D.C. to keep secret
On Saturday, March 12, 1904, St. Louis Detective James J. Moran led a team of detectives to a room in a row house at 634 South Broadway on St. Louis’ Near South Side. Frank Ward, a suspected safe cracker, rented a room in the row house. Besides Ward, the detectives arrested Edward Seely and John Shumway. Moran and the detectives
H. H. Holmes was America’s first known serial killer in the modern definition of the word. Holmes operated “the Murder Castle”, a Chicago hotel during the 1893 Chicago World’s Fair. Holmes would eventually be convicted of sixteen murders but may have murdered more than 100 people during his operation of the hotel. What is less well known is that St.