San Francisco, 1908. "Boxer Stanley Ketchel at wheel of American Underslung auto with manager Britt Willis."
[Photo: Shorpy/Dana Studio, from the collection of George Whitney Jr.]
His most famous fight was against Jack Johnson. Ketchel (real name Stanislaw Kiecel) was a 5' 7" middleweight; Johnson a 6' heavyweight. A modern-day "David and Goliath", it was called. The fight was meant to last 20 rounds, and the story goes that the fighters had an agreement to go the full distance, to maximise film profits. In the 12th round, though, Johnson lowered his guard, and Ketchel sent him to the canvas with a vicious right. Johnson got up and responded with "one of the most brutal knockouts ever captured on film". Ketchel was out cold, minus four of his front teeth.
The (edited) film can be seen here. The action in round 12 comes at about the 10:30 mark.
It didn't get better. The next year, 1910, Ketchel, "the Michigan Assassin", was shot by the common law husband of the woman who was cooking his breakfast. It's complicated:
Hoping for a rematch with Jack Johnson, Ketchel moved to the ranch of his friend, R.P. Dickerson, near (on what is now referred to as Dickerson Ranch Road) Conway, Missouri, where he had hoped to regain his strength. Dickerson had just hired a cook, Goldie Smith, and a ranch hand, who Smith said was her husband, Walter Kurtz.
Walter Kurtz turned out to be Walter Dipley. Walter Dipley and Goldie Smith were not married and, in fact, had just met each other a month before Dickerson had hired them.
After being upbraided by the "Michigan Assassin" for beating a horse on the morning of October 14, Dipley decided to get even with Ketchel by robbing him. The following morning, Smith seated Ketchel at the breakfast table with his back to the door and Dipley, armed with a .22 caliber rifle, came up behind him and shouted, "Get your hands up!" Ketchel stood up and as he turned around, Dipley shot him. The bullet traveled from his shoulder into his lung and Ketchel fell to the floor mortally wounded. Dipley then took Ketchel's handgun and smashed Ketchel in the face with it. At the same time, Smith rifled Ketchel's pockets for his money.
After promising to meet Goldie Smith later that night, Dipley ran from the ranch.
Unaware that, as he lay dying, Ketchel told the former ranch foreman, C.E. Bailey, that Goldie Smith had robbed him, she told police officers that Ketchel had raped her and that that was the reason Dipley shot him. Her story fell apart and she admitted her complicity in the robbery but stated she did not know Dipley was going to kill the former champion....
Both Walter Dipley and Goldie Smith were found guilty of murder and robbery at a jury trial in January 1911 and both were given a life sentence. Goldie Smith had her murder conviction overturned and she served 17 months for the robbery. Walter Dipley served 23 years before he was paroled. He died in 1956, 22 years after his release from prison.
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