Fact #47202
When:
Short story:
During a concert at the Mechanic's Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, ragtime and jazz bandleader, arranger and composer James Reese Europe is attacked with a knife and killed by percussionist Herbert Wright. Europe is just 38 and dies from a severed jugular vein.
Full article:
During a tour with his Hell Fighters band, Europe played one show in New York to rave reviews. Just before the next show in Boston, he was knifed in the neck by a drummer in his band, Herbert Wright, over the latter's delusion that Europe had cheated him. Europe appeared only slightly wounded. He ordered drum major Noble Sissle, who had helped subdue Wright, to carry on in his stead while he went to the hospital. The wound, however, was fatal, and Europe died within an hour.
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