Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1898-08-15
FATAL BOXING BOUT.
Sad Ending Of Fred Stroup at
lacon, ILL.,, Satur-
day.
ENGAGES IN A FRIENDLY GO.

Complains of Illness at the Terminus
tion of the Contest, Lapses Into I'm
consciousness and Passes Away-Had
Not Been Well For Some Time-Be-
trothed to Miss Fahey.
Fred Stroup, who had made Rock
Island his home off and on for several
years, died Saturday night at Lacon.
ILL.,. from the effects of injuries sus-
tanned in a boxing match with Harley
Sanger the evening before. Accord
ing to the accounts sent out from La
con, the men shook hands and chatted
pleasantly with their friends after the
contest. Suddenly Stroup complained
of being i'll. He became unconscious
and remained in this condition until
he expired. He received no punish
ment to speak of and no blame is at
tached to any one. Stroup was %
yecrs old. His remains will be shipped
to London, Ohio. where his folks live.
for interment.
Stroup while here was employed at
the Crown restaurant. He left a few
weeks ago to enter into partnership
with his brother. George Stroup, who
is travelling photographer. Fred
had n wide acquaintance in Rock Isl
and. He was a happy fellow and made
friends rapidly. He had considerable
histronic talent and took part in a
number of amateur entertainments
here. and also led the band in the
guise of farmer during political cam
paigns.
A sad circumstance in connection
with the death is the fact that Stroup
and Miss Bertha Fahey, of this cit V,
were soon to be married. She re-
ceived a telegram Yesterday annOunc-
ing his demise. and left in the even
ing to attend the funeral.
Brother Tells OF the AFFAIR.
A letter came today to James
|O'Connor from George Stroup. the de-
ceased's brother, in which he states
that Fred had not been we'll for sew
eral days, and WAS in no condition to
box when he entered the ring with
Songer. the bout taking place at an
athletic club. The attending physi-
clans said that Fred overdid HIM
self. the excitement wrecking his
nervous system and producing con-
vuIsions.
The Peoria Herald of yesterday con-
tains an extended story of the LacOn
tragedy. 1t saws: six vicious,
bloody rounds were fought and at the
end of that the honOrs were pretty
evenly divided. Sanger slipped in
two hard blows on the bridge of
|-Stroup's nose with the result that
the latter was knocked out.
The defeated man lay on the floor
helpless for few minutes, but at
length regained his feet. He then
complained of Il dizziness. He was
blind and unable to stand up. Some
lent assistance to the unfortunate fell
low and carried him to house near
by. There he was surrounded bv a
lot of rough fellows who accomplished
nothing in administering to him in
their clumsy. way. The in
jured fighter photographer grew
worse and DR.. Charles Thomas
of this city, was summoned, he being
a nose specialist. He found Stroup in
a comatOse condition and upon making
an examination discovered that there
was 4 fracture ut the base of the skull.
Stroup continued to weaken and when
the physician left him death was near.
Some time later when DR.. Thomas
reached the bridge he was told that
the man had died some minutes be-
fore. Sanger, the victor, recently
married Kansas girl, and yesterday
while the defeated man was on his
deathbed he paraded up and down the
principal street of the town with his
wife on his arm. He was celebrating
the victory. The affair has given the
old town such an overturning as it has
not had in years and there will doubt
less be some highly interesting devel-
opments. The incident is the more
sensational owing to the prominence
of many who attended the disgraceful
fight -