Episode 92 – Shot for Working?
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In this episode, I discuss the murder of a professional wrestler in the 1860s, who gamblers thought worked a match to bilk them out of gambling money.
Update
I knew J.H. McLaughlin wrestled professionally in the late 1860s. I finally found a match between McLaughlin and Homer Lane. Homer Lane won the match.
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Divided Championship is now available on Amazon in e-book, audiobook, paperback, and hardcover.
Alexa Bliss Injury
The bomb that is John Cena’s heel run
Summer Schedule – I will post episodes on the first and third Mondays in July and August. I will release episodes on the first, third, and fifth Monday in September.
Main Content
During June 1868, a professional wrestler named Uriell Pickett went to Hamilton, Ohio for a professional wrestling match with local wrestler Tim Waller. Despite Pickett’s claim to be a champion, Waller threw Pickett with ease. The local sporting men lost a sizeable amount of money on the match.
Pickett went for drinks at the Hole-in-the-Wall Bar in Hamilton. Pickett was drinking with three local sporting men, John Griffin, Joseph Kelly, and George Shedd. The three men thought Pickett through the match but still drank with Pickett. Pickett should have been concerned but seemed oblivious to his danger.
The next morning, four men carried the Pickett from the bar. One of the patrons shot Pickett in the back of the head for Pickett’s suspected treachery. Police arrested Joseph Kelly for the murder.
Kelly turned state’s evidence in return for the prosecutor dropping the charges against Kelly. Kelly identified Griffin as the shooter. Griffin protested his innocence but the jury found Griffin guilty. The judge sentenced Griffin to death.
Griffin appealed but the Ohio Supreme Court upheld the conviction. They the first death warrant for an execution in Butler County. Griffin’s friends and family petitioned the governor for a commutation or pardon but were not hopeful that the governor would grant the petition. Griffin continued to protest his innocence.
Source: The New York Times, July 23, 1869, p. 2
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Episode on Lou Thesz with Mark Fleming as part of the NWA Champion series – Shut Up and Wrestle Podcast with Brian R. Solomon.
Review
Lou Thesz versus Ruffy Silverstein on March 17, 1950.
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