Ketchel killer's were captured and convicted to life sentences, though both were eventually paroled.

John Lardner was a New Yorker writer in the 1930s-50s, a superlative scribe on all topics, best known for his boxing stories. He died before turning 50 and his name has largely fallen into disuse except among the dwindling legions of boxing enthusiasts, a graying and nostalgic crew. When he is remembered it’s usually for a single sentence he wrote among thousands. In a piece called the “Down the Great Purple Valley,’ an account of the 1910 murder of famous boxer Stanley Ketchel, which was published in 1954 in the long-defunct True: The Men’s Magazine, Lardner delivered what is thought of as one of the greatest leads in journalism history, an eloquent line that sets up the whole piece. Here it is:

“Stanley Ketchel was 24 years old when he was fatally shot in the back by the common-law husband of the lady who was cooking his breakfast.”

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In the year before he was slain, middleweight Ketchel fights valiantly but is clearly over-matched by the great heavyweight champion, Jack Johnson, in a bout in Colma, California.