A BIG, HANDSOME, KID, BUBBLING OVER WITH ENERGY

From the Early Days of Boxing (not Hemingway)

Dear Hem,

I've been avidly reading your letters dated from around October 1917 to January 1918. Just so I understand the back story of what is going on in the world and in events in your life:

• Your parents have a younger brother of yours at home now - Leicester Hemingway was born in Oak Park on April 1, 1915 (you were 15 years old when he was born)
• On April 6, 1917 the United States declared war on Germany and entered WWI.
• June through September  of 1917 you spent your summer working in Michigan, at Longfield Farm.
• On October 15, 1917 You began work as a cub reporter for the Kansas City Star
• On October 19, 1917 while working for the Star, you moved to Gertrude Haynes boarding house where many of your co-workers at the Star lived.
• By November 1917 you had enlisted  in the Missouri Home Guard
• In December of 1917 you moved into Carl Edgar's apartment
• In December of 1917 your first article appeared in the Star

Things are moving pretty fast for you right now, I imagine. I've also been reading the articles that you have been writing for the Star, as I want to get a feel for what was going on around you as well as what was going on in your life.

Ernest, it seems like the Star gave you a pretty challenging beat to report on, as you are covering crime, injuries, deaths. Up until the point of coming to the Star you'd lead a fairly bucolic life filled with hunting, camping, working on the farm and going to school. To go from that countrified existence to a (what must have seemed) chaotic, turbulent, and far less sheltered life in Kansas City must have been a shock.

A friend and co-worker of yours at the Star at the time writes of you,"My first impression of him was that of a big, handsome, kid, bubbling over with energy. And this energy was really remarkable. He could turn out more copy than any two reporters. he never seemed to be tired at the end of the day."

He goes on to share, "One Saturday night after we had finished work, Hemingway suggested that I spend the night with him. In those days reporters didn't have motor cars. So we boarded an owl car for the section of the city where Hemingway had what he called his "lodgings." These lodgings consisted of a tiny, dismal room in the attic of an old-fashioned frame house in an unfashionable part of the city. It was a long ride there and I was almost asleep when we got to his room." Hemingway suggested they,"read a little Browning out loud."

"Hemingway began to read in a clear, penetrating voice. He read well and I enjoyed it until I began to doze...a crick in my neck woke me. I looked at my watch. It was 4 o'clock. Hemingway was still reading."

What I see, in my minds eye, is a big, good looking kid with boundless energy and charisma who felt he had the world by the tail and was riding it for all it was worth. You chose to tackle the challenge your life was at that time head-on, with gusto and enthusiasm. I can't imagine that it was easy, but your desire to "grab life by the horns" was already shaping how you engaged and how you saw the world around you.

Very little if nothing of what you were experiencing in Kansas city was anything that you had experienced previously. You brought to what you were doing very little caution or care but a tremendous roll-up-your-sleeves and get 'er done work ethic. It obviously served you well because those around you made note that they were impressed as well as hard pressed to keep up.

Life as an adventure found root in Kansas City. You were no longer paddling the Illinois River, or hiking to Lake Zurich; but instead, becoming familiar with the underbelly of a booming city. Writing about the world of street fighters and organized boxing. Living and reporting in the midst of gun battles over drug peddling, and other violent newsworthy events.

At this point you were simply an observer, for the most part, a fly on the wall taking notes and writing about what you saw. It is easier to create art out of violence when it's not happening to you. It is much more difficult when it visits you where you live. As I read your stories I get that you are writing as an observer with no first hand personal experience. Still, the articles are well written and do foreshadow a talent for story telling that will evolve over time.

I'm looking forward to exploring these stories more and connecting to those early days. 

'Till next time.