Luther"Lute" McCarty(1892-1913)

[Brutu]

As next May will be the 100th anniversary of the ring death of Luther McCarty.
In trying to find out some more info regarding his background and in trying to seperate fact from possible fiction.
I came across this interesting and informative article that was originally researched for the centennial anniversary of the town of
Trenton Nebraska in 1985.
His father A.P(Aaron)McCarty had homesteaded there back in 1886.
reprinted in the McCook(NE)Daily Gazette January-15-2004.


http://www.news.google.com/newspapers?i ... 2091549&dq

[Brutu]

Here are some additional details concerning the life of Luther McCarty from the Greene County Missouri Historical Society.
In the last few years of his life,McCarty had made his home in Springfield Missouri.

http://www.thelibrary.org/lochist/histo ... artyl.html

[Brutu]

His father Aaron McCarty aka Chief White Eagle was said to have been a mammoth of a man(6ft 8 inches tall,315 lbs)
here is a link to a photo of him from 1913.

http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=O0 ... 2586858&dq

[Brutu]

here is a link to a rare photo for sale of Luther McCarty.
circa 1911.


http://www.josportsinc.com/catalog/view.php?id=12668

[HomicideHenry]

There is much controversy and speculation on the life and times of Luther McCarty. I think that his connection to Kansas had more to do with his father than himself; he was raised primarily out of Sidney, Ohio and had his first few fights there. Sydney, Kansas has often been mistaken for his home town, and this just wasn't the case.

[Brutu]

Here are some photographs taken from glass negatives from the library of Congress(Washington D.C).

http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of ... 2889445575


http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of ... 2830853828


http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of ... 2830853622


http://www.flickr.com/photos/library_of ... 2830020007

[Caractacus]

just bumped this up for the links to articles and photographs.

[Caractacus]

I read this book some years ago ( a massive tome)
There had been an infamous Sheriff of Sidney Nebraka back in the late 1870's.
Cornelius "Con" McCarty
after McCarty was thrown out of office in 1878 ,he became owner of the Capital Saloon
a gambler, politician and cattleman and allegedly the ring leader of the Sydney Underworld
and was a prime suspect in the 1880 Sidney Gold Robbery (biggest gold heist in US history)..
he was finally run out of town in 1881( or get the noose)
( but no one knows what became of him afterwards, at least in the book I read
his last address several years later was Huntingdon Oregon, but he may have been ran out of town there too)

https://www.cityofsidney.org/265/Lynchings-Lawlessness

[Boxingguru75]

McCarty is a truly fascinating character in early gloved boxing history. He beat some of the best. He drew with a prime Jesse Willard at a very young age. Tall with a strong jab. Looking at his record….. Would have been a hard out for anyone as he grew into an adult body. If he had beat Johnson instead of Willard we probably wouldn’t have had a champion who took off four years only to be destroyed by Dempsey. His death is still one of the greatest mysteries ever in our sport.

[Caractacus]

I remember reading a boxing book.
THE BIG BOOK OF BOXING by Harry Mullins
published in the late 1980's.
and in it was a old photograph of
Arthur Pelkey and Luther McCarty standing n the ring together
posing on-guard with the referee.
and Luther McCarty's face/head looked Beat Red for some reason.
He must have had the anaerism or what ever killed him,just before the bell rung.
( from what I understand Pelkey did not even land a punch
when Luther McCarty fell down.
here is a link to the photograph in question.

https://boxrec.com/wiki/index.php/Arthu ... er_McCarty

[HomicideHenry]

Either the night before he died or a few days before McCarty had been giving rodeo exhibitions because he was a self-described fighting cowboy basically. Apparently he had fallen off of his horse while he was doing tricks and this is what caused the injury to his brain.

But them not really knowing the ramifications of such an injury, considering he got up and walked away acting as though he was fine, he went ahead with the match. In this day and age if you so much has had a concussion while sparring they would not allow a match to go on.

[Cap]

There's another photo of the Pelkey fight in which McCarty is facing the camera and he's smiling. Pelkey landed a left jab to the heart just before McCarty collapsed. Pelkey's wife said he cried like a baby that night and was never the same after.

McCarty was a first class boxer but he lacked real power. He needed 18 rounds of landing punches on Al Palzer to finally force a stoppage. In his fight with Frank Moran he hit Moran repeatedly with everything he could muster and failed to even knock him down.

Cap

[Caractacus]

he seemed like he would have given Jack Johnson a good fight at least.

[Cap]

He was 21 when he died and still learning his craft. He likely would have improved his boxing skills with experience, but he probably wouldn't have hit much harder. In 1913 Johnson would have made him look like a novice. Had he lived, by 1915 he would have had to beat Gunboat Smith and Jess Willard to get to Johnson. That would have been a good fight to see.

[BroughtonRulesRefuge]

He was 21 when he died and still learning his craft. He likely would have improved his boxing skills with experience, but he probably wouldn't have hit much harder. In 1913 Johnson would have made him look like a novice. Had he lived, by 1915 he would have had to beat Gunboat Smith and Jess Willard to get to Johnson. That would have been a good fight to see.

- In 1913 JJohnson looked so bad against Battling Jim Johnson for a disputed Draw that the French stripped JJ for a Sam Langford/Jeannette World Title fight in Paris.

If you've seen that fight, well, good reason why JJohnson ducked the Langford rematch along with Jeannette. Johnson had gone soft in Paree where he was initially feted as a King before being deposed.

McCarty manager Billy McCarney accepted JJohnson's title offer pending Pelky where JJohnson had asked his Federal Judge for permission to return to the US for the fight so he could settle his pending Sentencing of his guilty Mann Act Verdict after fleeing the US for Paree years before.

By that time Luther had already drawn with Willard, whooped Flynn x2, and whooped Morris, so this notion that Luther was some unstudied project cannot be supported. The only definitive conclusion is that Luther seemingly suffered being thrown from his horse in the Canadian Rockies with subsequent injury before the fight, but no matter, clearly something terribly wrong with him against Pelkey in a nothing fight where he collapsed and died that ended in Tommy Burns' Arena being burned down inside 24 hours.

Terrible times then and now, the ongoing curse of mankind seemingly struggling beyond his anthropoid beginnings...

[Ambling Alp II]

Would have been interesting to see how he would have done. As Cap mentioned, not a huge puncher, but he had some ability. Who knows, he may have fought Dempsey down the road.

[Caractacus]

but Jack Johnson had broken his arm early in the match hitting it against Jim Johnson's head.
( or rather Jim Johnson's head had hit Jack Johnson's arm)

[Caractacus]

His sister was the "Champion bag puncher' as well.
I think there may be some old footage of her hitting
the speed bag somewhere.

[pound per pound]

He was 21 when he died and still learning his craft. He likely would have improved his boxing skills with experience, but he probably wouldn't have hit much harder. In 1913 Johnson would have made him look like a novice. Had he lived, by 1915 he would have had to beat Gunboat Smith and Jess Willard to get to Johnson. That would have been a good fight to see.

- In 1913 JJohnson looked so bad against Battling Jim Johnson for a disputed Draw that the French stripped JJ for a Sam Langford/Jeannette World Title fight in Paris.

If you've seen that fight, well, good reason why JJohnson ducked the Langford rematch along with Jeannette. Johnson had gone soft in Paree where he was initially feted as a King before being deposed.

McCarty manager Billy McCarney accepted JJohnson's title offer pending Pelky where JJohnson had asked his Federal Judge for permission to return to the US for the fight so he could settle his pending Sentencing of his guilty Mann Act Verdict after fleeing the US for Paree years before.

By that time Luther had already drawn with Willard, whooped Flynn x2, and whooped Morris, so this notion that Luther was some unstudied project cannot be supported. The only definitive conclusion is that Luther seemingly suffered being thrown from his horse in the Canadian Rockies with subsequent injury before the fight, but no matter, clearly something terribly wrong with him against Pelkey in a nothing fight where he collapsed and died that ended in Tommy Burns' Arena being burned down inside 24 hours.

Terrible times then and now, the ongoing curse of mankind seemingly struggling beyond his anthropoid beginnings...

That's how I understand it too.