Ed Burkhardt was one of the last of the old-school bare-knuckle boxers. He rarely moved from his starting position in the center of the ring, waiting for his opponents to come within reach of his unusually long arms and hamlike fists. Not for him was the bobbing, weaving, and dancing about preferred by younger fighters. He would let them exhaust themselves with their fancy footwork and then hammer them into the canvas.

Though some of the younger boxers were starting to wear brief trunks, Ed Burkhardt always wore grey or light blue tights which were so revealing that a spectator near ringside could clearly see that , not only was Ed very well-endowed, but even that he was not circumcised [not at all unusual for Gentiles in 1889.] Ed Burkhardt , of course, wore nothing under his tights. Foul protectors were unthought-of and, anyhow, no decent man would ever hit a man down there.

On July 11, 1889, Ed Burkhardt (32 years old, 6'3", 190 lbs) was matched with a challenger named James "Kid" Curry (24 years old, 5'10" 178 lbs.) in a prize fight at Sparky's Club in lower Manhattan.

The fight went as all of Ed Burkhardt's fights did. Despite his agility and speed, his dodging and feinting, Kid Curry couldn't lay a glove on that long-armed bronze statue standing in the middle of the ring, and, except for turning to face his opponent, hardly moving. After the first ten minutes, Kid Curry was starting to

look very battered.

Ed Burkhardt could certainly use the purse, but he didn't desperately need it.

Kid Curry, on the other hand, was deeply in debt to people who would show him no mercy if he didn't pay up soon. Kid Curry HAD to win that fight. It was literally a matter of life and death.

Finally, in desperation, Kid Curry proved that he was no gentleman and not a decent man . Squatting for a moment, he ducked in under Ed Burkhardt's long arms

and rose very close to him, almost cheek-to-jowl. He calculated that this would make it difficult for the referee to see what he did next. He darted to the left and , as he always did, Ed Burkhardt turned to face him. This put his back momentarily to the referee.

Taking advantage of his momentary invisibility behind the older fighter's greater bulk, Kid Curry started an uppercut behind his right hip and drove it with all his strength into Burkhardt's conspicuous genital bulge, upward and inward, catching his testicles and ramming them against the bone. Kid Curry felt them burst under the impact.

Being face-to-face with his opponent, the younger fighter could see Ed Burkhardt's facial expression change from its usual impassivity to one of utter astonishment. The older fighter's mouth and eyes flew wide open, but no sound, except, possibly a nearly inaudible gasp, came from Ed Burkhardt's mouth. His eyes rolled back and half closed as Ed Burkhardt dropped like a felled tree onto his back and lay motionless with his eyes half open.

The referee, took one look at him and, instead of counting to ten, turned to the crowd and shouted "Is there a doctor in the house ?"

"Yes, I'm a doctor" said a voice from the back of the hall as a large man who looked as if he belonged in the ring as a combatant rose from his seat and edged sidewise along the row to the aisle. It was Dr. Robert W. Brown who always attended the fights at Sparky's, both because he enjoyed prize fights, and in case his services might be needed.

Once out in the aisle, he sprinted toward the ring, grabbed the uppermost rope, and vaulted over it into the ring, a feat which brought applause from some of the spectators.

Dr. Brown sought a pulse in each of the fallen fighter's wrists, his carotid arteries, and his temples. He fetched a stethoscope from his bag and tried to listen for Ed Burkhardt's heartbeat but was frustrated by the crowd noise. Last, he unhooked his highly polished Sterling silver watch from the chain which crossed his vest and held the back of it to Ed Burkhardt's lips and nostrils. It did not cloud up.

Dr. Brown rose and tried to speak to the crowd, but even his stentorian voice became lost in the noise. Finally he bellowed "SHUT UP !" in a tone that could have been heard out in the street. They did. He cleared his throat and , speaking slowly and distinctly, said "Ed Burkhardt is dead."

There was an angry roar from the crowd. Kid Curry vaulted over the ropes as Dr. Brown had and pelted down the aisle toward the open doors. He never made it. He was less than half way to the doors when someone stuck a leg out into the aisle and tripped him. Immediately, a dozen angry Burkhardt fans leaped onto him and kicked, stamped, and kneed him.

They were joined by others who seized the Kid's arms and legs and literally tore his, by now probably dead, body limb from limb. However, Kid Curry had his fans in that crowd also. A full-scale riot broke out. Sparky Adler ran to his office and called the police. The fight surged toward the ring where Dr. Brown now sat on a folding chair.

The doctor opened his bag and drew out a most incongruous and un-medical-looking implement, a .45 cal. Colt Peacemaker. Many of Dr. Brown's patients lived in very dangerous neighborhoods where it would be very ill-advised to make unarmed house calls.

At 6'4" , 200 lbs (none of it fat) with Prussian style brush-cut brown hair and a fierce-looking handlebar mustache, Dr. Brown didn't look like anybody's idea of a pushover, still, the revolver added to the impression of a man not to be trifled with.

(Note - spam link removed. -P.) The crowd surged away from the ring even faster than they had surged toward it.

Meanwhile, Sparky grabbed the gate receipts and left by a side door. The crowd was tearing up the arena when the police arrived. Dr. Brown then slipped the Peacemaker back into his bag, took out a notebook and a Death Certificate and began making it out with one of those newfangled fountain pens.

He got some of the personal data on Ed Burkhardt from the referee and wrote on the space for Cause of Death "shock with cardiac arrest arising from third degree contusion of the testicles."

In the aftermath of the riot, the Police closed Sparky's Club, unopposed by Sparky Adler who had disappeared. If, two years later, a Lower Manhattan Athletic Club opened under the ownership of one S. Parker Eagell, who was to say that there was any connection ? There, once again, Dr. Robert W. Brown was a regular attendee, though he now had a ringside seat to avoid delay if his services should be required.

Ed Burkhardt's funeral was so well attended, despite the technical illegality of prizefighting that there were four times as many mourners in the street as in the tiny South Side Evangelical Lutheran Church. The mayor and the Chief of Police were among the pallbearers.

It is uncertain what happened to the remains of Kid Curry. There is no record of a funeral and one Burkhardt fan remarked that they were probably hauled off to the garbage dump where they belonged.

Requiescas in pace, Ed Burkhardt. You were one of the last gentlemen in a mug's game.