Richmond planet. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1883-1938, 1930-01-25
CONTINUED from Page One)

tories, he met Georges Carpenter,
at that time worlds light-heavy-
weight champion. His knockout OF
the popular war ace in the sixth
round Of their great battle brought
him into international prominence.
His early life in Paris had been
that of rather poor gamin of the
streets, and the years that followed
failed to change his nature. He
loved to pick street brawl simply
to display his strength and power,
and when he was caught, paid his
fine Smilingly and went straight to
another fight.
His sudden rise to pugilistic fame
was as much a surprise to himself
as to the entire world. The sudden
wealth, the glory and the glamor of
it all, went Immediately to his head.
He was a picturesque fighter, and
liked nothing better than to toy with
his opponents until the last round,
and then Electrically knock them
out. He boasted that he trained on
high life, and wine, and women, and
song, and no one doubted his aSSer-
tionS.
He was in the midst of receiving
fabulous offers for projected fights
both here and abroad, when he was
suddenly suspended by the French
Boxing Federation for ringside
fight that wasn't on the program.
Sikh grew furious when the Sus-
pension was not lifted at once, and
decided to cause a furore by letting
the public in on few boxing secrets.
First, he charged that the fight
with Carpenter had been framed"
and that certain gamblers had PAID
secretly and heavily in order that
they could collect the huge stakes.
Carpenter and his manager. Des-
champs, vigorously denied the charges
and subsequent investigation fall.
ed to SubStantiate them, in spite OF
the fact that the referee voiced his
belief that the fight was mot on the
level"
The commission then took steps to
deprive him of the titles which he
had won from Carpenter. He was
now in disfavor both in England and
America, where projected bouts IN
which he was to appear, were barred.
Still fighting his way through, ne
came to America, where he planned
a transforming tour of the theatres.
There were three other fighters in
the little troupe: the others were
white. The first weeks engagement
at the Lafayette Theatre in New
York went over fairly we'll, and he
had been booked to play the Howard
Theatre for the week after the next.
with a week for a Christmas holl-
day.
1t was Monday night, just a few
DAYS before Christmas. He went out.
telling his wife, the former Lillian
Werner, whom he had married IN
spite of the fact that he had COM
mon-law wife in Netherlands, that
he was going to "talk with some of
the boys for a while"
Mrs. Sikh went to a movie, and re-
turned home about eleven o'clock.
She retired, as it was nothing I'M
usual for the fighter to reach home
in the early hours of the morning.
About midnight, Patrolman Nee
han greeted Sikh, whom he recog-
nized from his newspaper pictures
He saw the puglllSt enter reStau-
rant.
Four hours later, Meehan made his
early morning round of that section.
1t was dark and still, except for the
whistle of the wind through the
canyon of tall tenementS.
Then it was that the policeman
stumbled over somethng-something
soft and yielding. 1t was Sikh!
For weeks the detectives tried. to
piece together the story, but Harlem
has a way of going mum on occasions.
No one admitted having seen the
glove singer after Meehan had pass
ed him at midnight. No one had
heard the two shots. No one had
Stumbled over the body. There were
no marks of violence. The gun.
found in the gutter, yielded no fin
gerprints.
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