On Boxing Day, December 26, 1900, the headline for the St. Louis Republic read, “Detective’s Wife Shoots a Man”. Pauline Courtney, who was married to Fifth District Detective Edward Courtney, was riding home on the Lee Avenue street car with her 6-year old daughter. When they left the street car about 7 p.m., James Wilkerson, a bricklayer, “annoyed” Pauline Courtney. […]
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On St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, 1905, St. Louis sports fans were treated to a special match between local professional wrestler George Baptiste and traveling Japanese jujitsu practitioner Arata Suzuki. Baptiste delighted local fans by quickly defeating Suzuki in two straight falls. George Baptiste was a professional wrestler and all-around athlete, whose powerful swimming saved many St. Louisans from drowning […]
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In the late 1990s, my grandfather, Gilbert Ellis, was living with my Aunt Maureen and Uncle Dale. They had decided to have a large garage/shed installed, so Grandpa and my uncle would have a workshop. They had the shed assembled and engaged a local electrical company to run electricity to the workshop. Uncle Dale had to run some errands on […]
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Twentieth Century – Fox Film Company released the fourth Mr. Moto film, Mr. Moto Takes a Chance (1938), on June 24, 1938. Lou Breslow and John Patrick set the film in Cambodia allowing Twentieth-Century Fox to use stock footage of the recently discovered ruins of Angkor Wat. The discovery of Angkor Wat captured the attention of the American public. Many […]
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In 1904, St. Louis hosted the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition better known as the 1904 St. Louis’ Worlds Fair. While the Fair brought lots of tourists to town, criminals also made their way to the Gateway City. The man tasked with taking care of the security at the Fair and dealing with the increased criminal element in town was St. Louis’ […]
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On September 9, 1893, Frisco line brakeman James Pennock boarded the Frisco Line at Tower Grove in St. Louis. At the Cheltenham stop, Frisco brakeman Sam Robertson and former brakeman Muncie Ray also boarded. The men boarded the train with the intent of robbing the train at Sandy Cut, two miles east of Pacific, MO. When the train got close […]
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My daughter Caity is 21 years old this week. It is a bittersweet birthday because my baby girl is not my baby girl anymore. I am so proud of the young woman she has become but as she grew up, I regretted not being able to pick her up, wipe her tears and make the “small hurts” go away. Caity […]
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I recently finished Evan “The Strangler” Lewis: The Most Feared Wrestler of the 19th Century. Evan Lewis was a skilled submission expert during the legitimate professional wrestling era although he did take part in a couple prearranged matches. In January 1886, Evan Lewis used his dreaded stranglehold on Sorakichi Matsada. According to several newspapers, Lewis attempted to “strangle Sorakichi to […]
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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 […]
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The Woman in Green (1945) is the ninth of twelve Sherlock Holmes produced by Universal Pictures. Basil Rathbone returns as Holmes in the eleventh of fourteen turns as the English sleuth. The film is one of the few “B” series films, which could have been an “A” film. Sherlock Holmes investigates the murder of several young London women. After they […]
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