AUTHOR-PLAYWRIGHT LOSES FIGHT TO SAN FRANCISCO ARTIST
San Francisco, California (JFK+50) On March 30, 1922, the Evening Star reports that duel was fought the previous Saturday by author-playwright Harry Leon Wilson* and artist Theodore Criley**.
The bout took place "in a sheltered glen near Carmel on the Pacific coast." The difference of opinion between the two men can be traced back to a standing quarrel after a New Year's celebration.
Mr. Wilson came to the fight prepared, or so he thought. He had spent his vacation in Hawaii "walking, swimming (and) boxing," and returned to California "in fine trim."
The author-playwright apparently was not prepared enough as Mr. Criley knocked him down in the first round. He went to the ground again in the second and after the fifth, "he stayed down."
Theodore Criley said...
"The whole thing was childish. It was schoolboy stuff."
*Harry Leon Wilson (1867-1939) was born in Oregon, Illinois & became a novelist & dramatist best known for "Ruggles of Red Gap," and "Merton of the Movies."
**Theodore Criley (1880-1930) grew up in Kansas City, Missouri & attended the Chicago Fine Arts Institute. TC became a hotel manager and artist.
SOURCE
"Author Is Humbled In Duel With Fists," The Evening Star, Washington, D.C., March 30, 1922, Chronicling America, Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/
