On July 26, 1854, the bare knuckle champion John Morrissey met occasional bare knuckle fighter William Poole in a no rules street brawl. What followed would be the worst five minutes of John Morrissey’s life. On October 23, 1853, the 22-year-old Morrissey beat Yankee Sullivan for the world bare knuckle championship in a disputed decision. Sullivan actually knocked Morrissey out […]
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In February 1903, Franz H. Hackmeier passed away. His funeral attracted over 2000 mourners. Special streetcars commissioned for the large funeral took the mourners west of Wellston, Missouri in St. Louis County. St. Louis County officials requested assistance in dealing with possible criminal activity. Chief Desmond of the St. Louis Police detailed two detectives from his office, George Williams and […]
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Sam Hill, a Seattle businessman, brought Professor Yoshiaki Yamashita to the United States in 1902. Professor Yamashita intended to help spread Dr. Jigoro Kano’s relatively new martial art of Judo. Accompanying Professor Yamashita was his student Mitsuyo Maeda. Maeda would go on to teach Carlos Gracie in Brazil. The Gracies modified the techniques into the art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Over […]
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On Thursday night, May 31, 1900, Albert Koenig, a strike sympathizer with a history of mental illness, shot and killed Patrolman Dennis Crane. Patrolman Crane and several other officers responded to the area due to reports of Koenig menacing other citizens. Koenig entered Eas and Sons Saloon at the southwest corner of S. Broadway and Osage Streets. Koenig may have […]
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When I was growing up, I often heard Grandma Ellis, Alvina M. Mosblech Ellis, talk about her two lost sisters. She lost her oldest sister Margaret and her little sister Loretta before her 40th birthday. Margaret B. Mosblech was the first of fourteen children born to Eduard and Magdalena Mosblech. Great Aunt Margaret was born on June 10, 1908. As […]
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The 1900 St. Louis Streetcar Strike was a shooting war between the working class and the upper class. It started as a job action by streetcar workers of the newly consolidated streetcar lines. However, it quickly divided the city with the working class supporting the strike while the upper and professional classes defied the strike. The result was a deadly […]
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Anderson Silva, widely recognized as the greatest mixed martial artist of all time, lost his rematch with Chris Wiedman for the UFC Middleweight Title on December 28, 2013. Wiedman had defeated Silva for the title on July 6, 2013. It was Silva’s first loss in seven years with the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He was the middleweight champion for over 6 […]
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William J. Lemp, Sr. owned and operated the Lemp Brewery in St. Louis, Missouri at the turn of the Twentieth Century. Lemp, Sr.’s worth was estimated at 20 to 30 million dollars, a billionaire in today’s money. Tremendous financial success did not stop William J. Lemp, Sr. from taking his own life on Saturday, February 13, 1904. William Lemp inherited […]
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Dark Alibi (1946) is one of the last Charlie Chan films (affliliate link) starring Sidney Toler. This film and the three subsequent movies made in 1946 were filmed while Toler was dying from cancer. Toler was so weak, he could barely walk during these films. Toler somehow managed to make these last four films even though he was 72 years […]
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In this post, which was previously a podcast, we will discuss the epic sixty-one round draw between James J. Corbett and Peter Jackson in 1891. This bout prepared Corbett for his successful challenge of John L. Sullivan in 1892. On March 21, 1891, the most serious contender for the inactive John L. Sullivan’s world championship broke the color line to […]
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