Fred Beell Killed in the Line of Duty
Fred Beell wrestled professionally from 1900 to 1919. After developing a legendary reputation due to some of his victories over Martin “Farmer” Burns, Dan McLeod and Frank Gotch, Beell retired as he neared 43 years of age. His post wrestling career would lead to his unexpected death at 57.
Fred Beell overcame long odds to become a competent professional wrestler at the beginning of the 20th Century. Beell’s significant disadvantage was his lack of size compared to other professional wrestlers. Beell has been credited as being between 5’04” and 5’06”. If you look at old photos of Beell, 5’04” seems more likely.
In his prime, he weighed a heavily muscled 165 pounds. However, he was normally outweighed by 20 to 40 pounds. Had Beell been built more like Frank Gotch, he could have been the World Heavyweight Wrestling Champion. He did defeat Gotch in 1906 for the American Heavyweight Wrestling Championship. I’ve always suspected this match to be a work as Gotch won the title back 16 days later.
Fred Beell posing for the camera in the early Twentieth Century from the Public Domain
While Beell was born in Germany, his family moved to Marshfield, Wisconsin, when Beell was only three years old. After retiring from the ring in 1919, Beell moved back to Marshfield. He also joined the Marshfield Police Department as a part-time officer in 1921.
On August 5, 1933, Beell was working with regular Marshfield Police Officer George Fyksen. Around 3 a.m., they received a burglar alarm call from the Marshfield Brewery. The officers were in Beell’s personal car as they pulled up in front of the brewery.
Fyksen went around the corner of the brewery, while Beell stood in front of the brewery. Beell heard several shots from the direction Fyksen walked.
Beell pulled out his revolver and started to proceed in Fyksen’s direction, when two men burst out the front door of the brewery firing at Beell. Beell was hit in the head by several shots before he could fire his revolver.
Fyksen had exchanged gunfire with a lookout on the side of the brewery. Fyksen dove into a small trench as the burglar returned fire from his shotgun. Fyksen heard the pellets flying above his prone body but he was not struck by the pellets.
The burglar made it to the front of the brewery, where all three fled in Beell’s car. The car was found a mile away. The next day, Edward “Speed” Gabriel, the burglar shot by Fyksen, was found in a shallow grave off a highway in Minnesota.
Based on Garbiel’s previous associations, two suspects were quickly identified. Joe “Sleepy Joe” Hogan and Elmer Dingman were arrested for the murders. Hogan received a 25-year sentence, while Dingman was sentenced to life in prison.
One wrestler, who greatly missed Beell, was former professional wrestler and St. Louis businessman George Baptiste. Baptiste had helped train Beell for his first match with Frank Gotch, where Beell won the belt. Baptiste said the burglars were cowards, who Beell would have crushed in a fight.
To this day, Fred Beell is the only Marshfield, Wisconsin Police Officer to lose his life in the line of duty. An unlikely end to one of the early 20th Century’s best professional wrestlers.
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Sources: St. Louis Star-Times, August 5, 1933, p.22, True Detective Magazine, 1933 and Marshfield News-Herald, August 5, 1933, p. 1
