The Mystery of Barney Smith. Maybe Dead. Maybe Not.

Well, I mean he is dead for sure now. He lived 150 years ago but the question is did Col. James H. McLaughlin kill him? In the early 2000s when I first really dug into the pioneers of pro wrestling, I was led to believe that in a famous wrestling tournament in Detroit, MI in 1870, Col. McLaughlin wrestled Barney Smith in the finals and Smith died the day after. There were many specific details to the incident told to me by a historian. Problem is, over 20 years later and with access to all the major newspapers of the day there doesn't seem to be a shred of evidence to support it. What happened to Barney Smith? This is hour 21 of 1000 Hours.

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