Combat Sports Historian and Martial Artist
Posts about the history of St. Louis, Missouri, family history, classic film, and miscellaneous history.
On Friday, March 13, 1903, the Franklin County Judge William Davidson arraigned William Rudolph and George Collins for the robbery of the Union Bank and the murder of Pinkerton Detective Charles Schumacher. Rudolph and Collins plead “not guilty”. Judge Davidson assigned three attorneys to represent Rudolph and Collins. William Rudolph gave a confession to the St. Louis media, which was
On December 10, 1920, an eighth St. Louis Police Officer would lose his life, the most officers to die in the line of duty in the history of the St. Louis Police Department. Four of the officers’ murders in 1920 would never be solved. This last murder would be one of the four murders never to be solved. Charles M.
The Missouri record for issuing marriage licenses in one day was broken on Wednesday, November 23, 1904 by 151 couples in St. Louis, who wanted to tie the knot on Thanksgiving Day 1904. The previous one day record was 117 couples set in St. Louis prior to Thanksgiving 1903. The Justice of the Peace, R.J. Carroll, set up shop in
My stepdad Ernest C. Diaz married my mother on June 8, 1981. Dad and Mom worked to make sure we had a normal family life. In 1981 or 1982, they decided to take my sisters and me to a professional wrestling show at the Checkerdome (also known as the Arena). Our favorite wrestlers were the Von Erichs. David Von Erich
After my mother married my stepfather, Ernest Diaz, in 1981, he was looking for a way for us to spend time together. I was camping with the Boy Scouts, so Dad decided that camping would be an effective way for us to get to know each other. A friend of Dad’s owned property and a cabin in Greenville, MO. We
Abe Attell was a tough boxer. He won the World Featherweight Boxing Championship twice. He and his brother Monte were the first brothers to be world boxing champions at the same time after Monte won the World Bantamweight Championship. Abe Attell won his first title when he was based out of the West End Boxing Club in St. Louis, MO.
On Friday, October 21, 1904, five St. Louis Police Officers went to a rooming house at 1324 Pine Street, site of today’s Soldier Memorial, to arrest three men suspected of an Illinois train robbery in August of the same year. What occurred next would be one of the most storied shootouts in St. Louis Police history. During the World’s Fair,
The May 9, 1905 edition of the St. Louis Republic’s sport section contained a story about an upcoming match between local wrestler George Baptiste and the touring World Wrestling Champion, George Hackenschmidt. The paper did not give Baptiste a chance against Hackenschmidt, who just beat Tom Jenkins for the World Championship. If the editor knew “Hack’s” condition at the time, he may have
General William Tecumseh Sherman of Civil War fame had deep roots in St. Louis stretching back to 1843. As a soldier, the US Army assigned Sherman to Jefferson Barracks. Sherman was also involved in St. Louis businesses as the St. Louis Street Railroad Company President until he left St. Louis for the Civil War in 1861. After the war,
On April 5, 1920, Frederick Charles Smith, also known as “The Red-Headed Bandit”, walked into the Easton-Taylor Trust Company at 4474 Easton Avenue. Smith had a revolver in each hand and demanded money from the cashier. Fearing for his life, the clerk promptly dropped $15,309 in a sack. John Lanigan, the bank’s president, sat in his office off the lobby