The Boxer: A Detective Ellis H. Parker Mystery Story

By Russell Lloyd

“The Boxer” is a fictional crime novel based on Detective Ellis H. Parker’s career, a real detective who was commonly called America’s Sherlock Holmes during his lifetime. He solved 288 of the 300 major crime cases he investigated. He also handled thousands more in his career as the Chief of Detectives in Burlington County, New Jersey. Later in his life, when the Lindbergh baby was kidnapped allegedly by Bruno Richard Hauptmann, Parker was asked by the New Jersey Governor to join the New Jersey State Police to find and return the child, Charles Lindbergh Jr, to his parents.

In “The Boxer,” Detective Parker is tasked to discover why the newly crowned United States Heavyweight Boxing Champion Albert Smith was found dead in his hometown soon after winning his title. We learn that Smith had character flaws that may have attracted the killer to him and other victims. The suspects are many with their own suspicious stories to tell. Detective Parker has a lot of evidence to figure out until the novel’s surprising conclusion shocks you.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: Jun 16, 2021
• ISBN: 9781663223791

Russell Lloyd

Russell Lloyd has written 2 other books. “The Boxer” and “Detective Ellis H. Parker – America’s Sherlock Holmes”. The first is a fictional mystery novel based on the real-life Detective Ellis Parker written by Russell Lloyd. The 2nd is a biography on Detective Ellis Parker who investigated the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. It was created and written jointly with Detective Ellis Parker’s grandson Andrew Sahol.

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Copyright © 2021 Russell Lloyd.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

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ISBN: 978-1-6632-2380-7 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-6632-2379-1 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021911902

iUniverse rev. date: 06/15/2021

CONTENTS

Chapter 1 The Prize Fight

Chapter 2 The Champ Comes Home

Chapter 3 Detective Ellis H. Parker

Chapter 4 The Unfortunate Life of Albert Smith

Chapter 5 Love at First Sight

Chapter 6 The Trainee

Chapter 7 The Investigation

Chapter 8 The First Date

Chapter 9 Garden Street

Chapter 10 Madalyn’s Pain

Chapter 11 The Second Date

Chapter 12 The North Woodbury Suicide Club

Chapter 13 The Case of the Jersey Devil

Chapter 14 Meet the Parents

Chapter 15 The Continuing Investigation

Chapter 16 The Big City

Chapter 17 The Talk with Dot Cramer

Chapter 18 Blood on the Altar

Chapter 19 The Book Club

Chapter 20 Susan’s Story

Chapter 21 Love is Complicated

Chapter 22 The Strange Turn

Chapter 23 Happy Endings?

Chapter 24 The Final Interrogation

Ellis H. Parker Sr.

Chief of Detectives, Burlington County, NJ

My Creed

To live as gently as I can; to be, no matter where, a man;

To take what comes of good or ill and cling to faith and honor still;

To do my best, and let that stand, the record of my brain and hand;

And then, should failure come to me, still work and hope for victory.

To have no secret place, wherein I stop unseen to shame or sin;

To be the same when I’m alone as when my every deed is known;

To live undaunted, unafraid of any step that I have made;

To be without pretense of sham, exactly what men think I am.

To leave some simple mark behind to keep having lived in mind;

If enmity to ought I show, to be an honest, generous foe,

To play my little part, nor whine that greater honors are not mine.

This, I believe, is all I need for my philosophy and creed.

CHAPTER 1

THE PRIZE FIGHT

It was finally Tuesday, July 22, 1924. For weeks, the nation’s newspapers had been full of reports on the ongoing John Scopes Monkey Trial. The trial, the State of Tennessee v. John Thomas Scopes, was named this because substitute biology teacher Thomas Scopes had been arrested for teaching evolution theory to a high school class in Dayton, Tennessee. He was cited to be in violation of Tennessee’s Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of evolution in a state-funded school. John Scopes’ defense had been financed by the deep pockets of the American Civil Liberties Union. The trial had been deliberately staged in Dayton, Ohio, to attract as much attention as possible. Many Americans saw this as symbolic of the battle over the vast public differences in religious beliefs and the theory of evolution based on scientific studies. Many charged that the scientific theory was a direct attack on the integrity of the Bible. The agnostics explicitly targeted the story of Eve’s creation from Adam’s rib. Fundamentalists believed that the Bible was God’s word as he intended it to be revealed, and it was meant to take priority over all human knowledge. Only doubters would believe in the evolution theory.

When Detective Ellis Parker had been asked about Cain’s wife, he mused, I won’t touch that. Ask the lawyer Clarence Darrow; he has it all figured out.

America saw this court case as both a theological contest and a trial on whether modern science should be taught in schools. Scopes was eventually found guilty and fined one hundred dollars.

The heavyweight championship of the United States was to be held that afternoon at the recently refurbished New Jersey Fairgrounds in Trenton, New Jersey. It was a beautiful, warm, bright day with a slight breeze. Over 1,200 people were sandwiched into the most massive tent that the promoters could find. People stopped and looked at it in awe when it came into view. One could see President Calvin Coolidge sitting with New Jersey governor George Silzer in a lavishly decorated front row booth as you entered. Calvin Coolidge had been the first US president to have his inauguration broadcasted on the radio the previous February. Patriotic banners and flags were proudly hung to showcase the president’s attendance. It was destined to be a magnificent show. Silent screen star Buster Keaton nicknamed the Great Stoneface, and his Go West costar Kathleen Myers were sitting together in a booth next to the president. The former vaudeville star and filmmaker’s new film was soon to be released. Buster was wearing his porkpie hat that was almost as famous as he was. The beautiful Myers had appeared in eight silent films before being asked by Keaton to costar with him. The hugely anticipated film would have Buster portraying the character Friendless, who would choose a cow named Brown Eyes over the young and beautiful Myers in the final scene.

Ellis Parker, the distinguished detective who was forever smoking a pipe, remarked to his skinny wife, Cora, Kathleen is a flirty, talented young actress. Buster knows how to please his audience. His movies are always sold out. Did you know that Harry Houdini named him Buster? Kathleen reminds me so much of our own Susan Cramer. Susan could be a successful model or actress. She drives all the young men wild in Mount Holly.

Cora Parker responded, Watch it, Ellis! That would be over Ed and Dorothy Cramer’s dead bodies.

Ellis mused, I suppose you are right.

Go West’s uncredited costar Roscoe Conkling Fatty Arbuckle sat with them. The well-known comedian had finally been acquitted in 1922 after three wildly publicized trials for the alleged rape and killing of busty and sexy actress Virginia Rappe. Arbuckle was always smiling in his photographs or in person; it helped him be immediately liked. His many fans found the allegations unbelievable. Buster had supported Fatty during his ordeal even though the public had doubts about his innocence. These doubts nearly destroyed any chance of Fatty working again in the entertainment industry because film producers feared the public would boycott any film that included him. Always loyal to his friends, Buster offered Fatty a small part in his Go West production as a gesture of support, but it was understood that Fatty would have to participate uncredited. Even Buster feared the public’s backlash. Ellis noticed that Buster had brought his film crew with him to film the championship fight. He had read that it was to be released to theaters nationwide.

The heavily publicized fight was scheduled for fifteen rounds. It featured the tough-as-nails, undefeated heavyweight Cozy Mathews of Chicago matched against the unbeaten Albert Smith of Mount Holly, New Jersey. Smith was a six-foot, three-inch mountain of a man feared by many. The winner of the match would be crowned the undisputed world heavyweight champion. The current universal, uncontested, and legendary champion Jack Dempsey was now in the twilight of his career. He’d decided to remain inactive after his September 14, 1923, knockout of challenger Luis Angel Firpo. Rumors persisted that Dempsey would meet Albert Smith, but a fight was never finalized. Without a Dempsey defense scheduled, the boxing commission voted to award the heavyweight title to the Smith-Mathews bout winner.

Mount Holly’s second most well-known resident after boxer Albert Smith was Detective Ellis H. Parker. He would become known as America’s Sherlock Holmes and possibly the most celebrated law enforcement officer of his time, and his fame would spread around the world. Ellis was sitting in the very first row with his pretty wife, Cora. Cora would bear Ellis an astonishing fifteen children in her lifetime, but unfortunately, not all of them would live to adulthood. Ellis was the chief detective in the county of Burlington, New Jersey, famous for its dense pine tree forests that stretched across the state to the Atlantic Ocean shoreline. Ellis was described as America’s Sherlock Holmes because of his incredible success in solving crimes of all sorts. Tales of his masterful deductions, traps, and crime-solving skills were passed from person to person until Ellis became a mythical figure. Today, Ellis and Cora were all set to root for Mount Holly’s Albert Smith.

Albert and Ellis had become fast friends while relaxing together at the Mount Holly’s Elks club. The club was located just next to the Mount Holly courthouse that housed Ellis’s office. In the weeks leading up to the fight, Ellis and Albert would often be seen in deep conversation as they leisurely strolled the streets of Mount Holly. Citizens would usually stop them for Albert’s autograph or just to shake his hand, wishing him good luck in the upcoming fight. On most of these occasions, Albert would grin and bear the interruption, but occasionally the intrusion would cause Albert to become abrupt and surly. Ellis was troubled by this character flaw of Albert’s but remained his friend, nonetheless.

Ellis’s famous pipe, full of Sir Walter Raleigh’s tobacco, would hang from his lips during these long walks. It was as much a part of his body as his hands. Today at the fight, it was no different: the pipe hung from his lips. Film star Buster Keaton