Foreigners Read online

  Turpin's lawyer, Saul Straus, argued that if Miss Daniels had received the beatings that she claimed to have done, then there would be serious marks on her body. In fact, there were none. George Middleton had already instructed Turpin's lawyer that the key issue here was to get Turpin on the boat to England, and so Straus arranged with the judge for Turpin to be released into his custody with the payment of a $10,000 bond, and a promise that Turpin would eventually return to the United States for the full hearing. In the meantime, Miss Adele Daniels withdrew the assault charge, insisting that she had not been offered money to do so, nor had she been threatened. Mr Sala remained determined, and he made it clear that a civil suit would soon be launched against Turpin, whom he described as 'anti-American'. He continued, claiming that Turpin 'should be everlastingly grateful to our American system of democracy – a system he has maligned and defamed openly and notoriously'. On the following day, the eight members of Turpin's party were able to board the ship and begin their journey back to England.

  On his arrival home, Randolph Turpin was greeted by scores of reporters who wanted to know the full story of what had transpired but, at least initially, Turpin was reluctant to speak with them. News had already reached the pressmen that Turpin had been temporarily banned by the New York State Athletic Commission from fighting in the United States, and this seemed to represent a serious professional blow, but when Turpin eventually spoke he was keen to play down the gravity of the situation. He confessed to being shocked by Miss Daniels' charges, for she appeared to him to be a quiet and friendly girl, but he admitted that he had met her before the Sugar Ray Robinson fight in New York, and confirmed that over the past two years they had written to each other. He went on: 'We certainly did discuss marriage but when I came out to the United States the last time I told her it was over. I said, "Forget about me."' But Turpin could not keep his story straight. Sometimes he claimed that she had wanted to come back to England with him, and that's why she brought the charge. On other occasions he denied ever having spoken to her about marriage. However, what was undeniable was the fact that his fractious disputes with Miss Daniels had contributed to his lamentable mental state and ultimately to his losing the Carl 'Bobo' Olsen fight so disastrously. Even more disturbingly, the charges that Adele Daniels had levelled against him were, to those who knew of Turpin's past, suspiciously similar to the charges which Mary Stack had brought.

  The Empire News was eager to get Adele Daniels' story, and they ran it soon after Turpin's return. She declared that she had 'enjoyed the confidence' of all in Turpin's camp, including his manager and brothers, but it was just Randy himself who had become difficult, strange and moody. According to Miss Daniels, Turpin would often snap at her, and she was continually taken aback by the severity of his mood swings, but those within his camp advised her to say nothing and not to challenge him. Nevertheless, she insisted that she continued to worry about him. 'I begged them to have him examined by a doctor because I thought he was a sick man. I still do. After his fight with Olsen he was worse.' Adele Daniels never explained exactly what sort of sickness she imagined Turpin to be suffering from, but she evidently regarded him as being in the grip of some kind of mental breakdown. She said that on their shopping trips together she would buy the items, for Turpin had no idea of how expensive anything was. On one of these trips, much to her surprise, he purchased a crossbow. She also claimed that she had previously sent Turpin a pair of 'I love you' nylons from New York to England, for he insisted that he had promised his sister, Joan, a present. Some time later she saw a press photograph of Turpin leaving for New York and the Olsen fight, with a girl by his side who was wearing the very same 'I love you' nylons. When she challenged him as to the identity of this girl, he maintained that she was nobody and that things between himself and the girl had finished a long time ago.

  Turpin's many relationships with different women had for him always been problematic because, unlike some men who are able to put domestic disputes out of their minds and continue with their lives, Turpin smouldered internally when things did not go exactly the way he wanted. He was still preoccupied with Mary Stack, who had made it clear that she wanted absolutely nothing to do with him, for he felt that his former wife had tried her best to poison people's opinion of him. After the Robinson rematch, Turpin had bought Randolph Junior an expensive gold watch back from America, and he ran into Mary and Randolph Junior outside the Cassino Milk Bar in Leamington Spa. She was holding his son, but when Turpin showed the child the watch, the child spat at his father and Turpin's brother, Jackie, led Randy away. 'It ain't the lad's fault,' he said. 'It's only what they've been saying to him' – 'they' being the Stack family. Soon after this incident, the bitter divorce proceedings between himself and Mary reached court, with Mary alleging cruelty on the part of her husband, who in turn claimed that his wife had condoned his alleged cruelty. It was all an extravagant waste of time and money, but finally, on 12 June, 1953, Turpin was divorced by Mary, but Turpin was dismayed to discover that the whole sorry proceedings had cost him almost £10,000. He was granted 'reasonable access' to his son, but the reality was that there would be virtually no further contact at all between father and son.

  The divorce settlement may well have cleared up some of the complications of Turpin's relationship with his former wife, but it did little to address his ongoing problems with a number of different women. Turpin liked to keep two or three different women as his 'girlfriends', and most of these 'girlfriends' understood that they were nothing more than temporary entertainment. They were generally happy to bask in the reflected glory of a champion prizefighter, but there were some who wished to be more than this. A week before Turpin departed for the United States and the Olsen fight, he was named as the co-respondent in a divorce suit being brought by the policeman husband of a twenty-four-year-old blonde woman named Pamela Valentine. The woman worked at Gwrych Castle and claimed that their relationship began there, and then continued in London. Turpin, for his part, insisted that he thought the woman was single, and it was only when she asked him for money to buy a Christmas present for her child that he realised that she was married. He was ordered to pay the costs incurred by Mr Valentine in bringing the suit.

  On his arrival back in England after the disastrous Olsen fight, a bruised and battered Turpin was met by a twentyseven-year-old Welsh hill farmer's daughter, Gwyneth Price, who was better known to him, and her friends and family, as Gwen. She was the young woman who Adele Daniels had spotted in the American press photograph wearing the 'I love you' nylons. A few weeks earlier Gwen had waved a hopeful Turpin off at Southampton, having willingly accepted his argument that it was better for them both if she did not accompany him to New York on this particular trip. However, as planned, she was there to welcome him back to England after his shocking defeat, but she was astute enough not to wait for him in plain view of the press. The Turpin party disembarked and prepared to head straight back to Warwickshire, Dick Turpin having answered the journalists' somewhat probing questions about what exactly had gone wrong in New York. Randy took a taxi to the Royal Hotel to rendezvous with Gwen whom he had first met the previous year, in March 1952, when he was training at Gwrych Castle. Her sister Mona had persuaded Gwen to come with her and get the boxer's autograph. A grinning Turpin had charmed the girl into a date in exchange for his signature, and throughout the course of the subsequent year they had both tried to keep their 'friendship' reasonably discreet. Turpin's family cared little for this fiercely loyal Welsh girl from Axton, Flintshire, but Turpin was happy for he seemed to have finally found somebody who he thought understood him. The following day the young couple left Southampton and hid away from the world in a hotel in Devizes, for Turpin was clearly in no frame of mind to submit to the judgemental scrutiny of the world, nor was he ready to resume his responsibilities as a boxer. A vulnerable, and emotionally scarred, Turpin began to increasingly lean upon Gwen for support, and a few days later, on 15 November, the couple checked into the Greyh
ound Inn in Newport, Wales, and decided to marry without inviting any of the Turpin family to the ceremony, or even informing them of their intentions. Turpin's mother, in particular, was hurt, all the more so as she had still not come to terms with the fact that her youngest son had divorced Mary Stack and, if rumours were to be believed, possibly mistreated her.

  However, the biggest cloud hanging over Turpin's head, and one that was potentially far more damaging than his mother's disapproval of who he had married, was the ongoing situation with Adele Daniels. The case was not only proving to be prohibitively expensive in terms of legal fees, but there was also his reputation to defend and the fact that until this dispute was resolved he was effectively banned from fighting in the United States. Adele Daniels' civil case against Turpin reached the courts in late 1954, and the serious allegation of rape was added to the assault charges. Turpin's American lawyer led the fighter to understand that should Turpin lose the case then the settlement was likely to be a payment in excess of $100,000, and this would effectively ruin Turpin for life. Eventually, in November 1955, a somewhat worried Randolph Turpin returned to New York City and began to tell a slightly different tale. He conceded that, back in 1951, if it were not for the fact that he was still married to Mary Stack, then he would have married Adele Daniels at the time of the Sugar Ray Robinson rematch. He admitted the existence of a substantial number of love letters between them, which included proposals of marriage on his part, but he was adamant that on returning to New York for the Olsen fight he had made it very clear to Adele Daniels that marriage was no longer a possibility. Miss Daniels did not dispute Turpin's claim that he said he no longer wished to marry her, but she insisted that one moment he said that this is what he desired, and the next he would retract his statement. Clearly his deep ambivalence about marrying her had served only to inflame her anger. Miss Daniels' attorney, Mr J. Roland Sala, asserted that Turpin was clearly unstable, angry, and out of control. He characterised the defendant as 'a jungle beast in human form, and a dangerous killer' and said that Miss Daniels had wondered if his condition had been made worse by the beating that he had taken. Miss Daniels repeated, and stood by, her claim that she had suffered blows from Turpin's fists and boots that had left her psychologically scarred.

  On the fourth, and last, day of the trial, the case was eventually settled after a long discussion between the two sets of lawyers. Turpin insisted that he had paid Miss Daniels money for food and rent, and he furiously denied ever raping or assaulting her. Miss Daniels was adamant that he had not only done so, but he had said that she was like all Americans, 'trying to push me around'. She insisted that Turpin had continued and told her in no uncertain terms that, 'I am the master, and in England when I say move they move.' According to Miss Daniels he once assaulted her and then said, 'If you make one step to call the police I'll break your neck and if I don't others will.' When she pressed him as to what exactly he meant, he pointed to his connections in the boxing world. The lawyers listened to their clients' claims and counterclaims, and sensing that these unsupported allegations could go on being made and denied for a long period of time, the potential six-figure settlement was reduced to $3,500 which a frustrated Turpin quickly agreed to pay, thus accepting culpability for some wrongdoings. Miss Daniels had decided to settle for this lesser amount against her lawyer's advice, but like Turpin she too was tiring of these proceedings. Turpin's lawyer quickly attempted to seize the moral high ground, and he issued a statement suggesting vindication for his client. However, a relieved Turpin was by now totally indifferent to any more legal posturing, and he was simply happy to be able to finally put the United States, and the memory of Miss Adele Daniels, behind him.

  But what did he have to return to in England? The truth was, in 1955 Turpin was facing serious problems both in the ring and out of it. Two years earlier, after he had returned from the Olsen debacle, George Middleton had encouraged his fighter to undergo a full medical check-up. The doctors soon discovered that not only did Turpin have an enlarged liver, his hearing had grown worse, and his eyesight was deteriorating. In fact, during the voyage to New York for the Carl 'Bobo' Olsen fight, his brother Jackie had noticed that while they were doing their roadwork running around the upper deck of the Queen Mary, Turpin had a tendency to drift a little and sometimes even run into him. A medical examination soon determined that Turpin could see straight ahead, but his peripheral vision was restricted, which could have serious consequences for a fighter as he would not be able to see some punches coming. On 2 January, 1954, Turpin was fined two pounds at Abergate Magistrates' Court for being in possession of a rifle without a firearms licence, and the gun was confiscated. It was extensively reported in the press that during the court proceedings the fighter's hearing appeared to be impaired, for Turpin was often struggling to hear what was being said in the courtroom, but the British Boxing Board of Control, who could easily have withdrawn his boxing licence, chose to do nothing. In late January 1954, Turpin was charged and convicted of dangerous and careless driving and fined fifteen guineas, but his driving licence was not confiscated and he continued to drive recklessly. In fact, during the two years between his return from the loss to Olsen, and the Adele Daniels trial in New York, Turpin experienced great difficulty holding his life in order. His worries over his deteriorating relationship with his family, the impending court case in the United States, and his increasingly desperate financial situation, continued to trouble him. But what concerned others was not only what they considered to be his increasingly erratic behaviour, but his declining abilities in the ring.

  After the loss to Olsen, Turpin began to lose to men who he should have comfortably beaten. In May 1954 Turpin suffered a first-round knockout in Rome and lost his European middleweight title to a light-puncher named Tiberio Mitri. This was a bout he should have won with ease, and this shocking loss marked the end of any further world title aspirations. Turpin's heart seemed to have gone out of fighting, and on those few occasions when he did muster the energy and focus to take a fight seriously, the press observed that this was clearly not the same fighter who, only a few years earlier, had fought so gallantly against the great Sugar Ray Robinson. His brother Jackie, who during this bleak period continued to spar with Randy, noticed that one moment his brother could be jovial and ready to joke around, and the next moment he could become extremely angry. These sudden and unexpected mood swings were now often accompanied by blinding headaches, but Turpin refused to seek any medical help. The defeats became embarrassing, particularly a fourthround knockout loss to a 'nobody' named Gordon Wallace in October 1954, a man who managed to floor Turpin four times and embarrass him so badly that Turpin temporarily retired. However, although Turpin's box office status began now to rapidly decline, he needed to fight to make money. In November 1956, Turpin did manage to defeat Alex Buxton and retain his British light-heavyweight title, and he was eventually able to claim a Lonsdale belt outright when he defended his light-heavyweight title for a third time in June 1957, winning a turgid fifteen-round decision over the little known Arthur Howard. But even this no-hoper managed to knock Turpin to the canvas three times during the course of the fight. There was little further glory in 1957, or during the first half of 1958. The halfdozen victories that he was able to accumulate were all achieved against woefully inadequate opposition, yet the cost of these 'triumphs' involved Turpin taking a great deal of physical punishment. The end came in Birmingham on 9 September, 1958, when Turpin was pummelled by a Trinidadian named Yolande Pompey who easily knocked him out in two rounds. The correspondent for the London Evening Standard summed things up. 'No doubts now – Turpin is just another fighter . . . the whiplash punch and the split-second timing that once gave him world supremacy have gone. And Turpin must not blame us for noting their passing – with infinite regret.'

  It was clear, even to Turpin, that in order to protect his health, and his dignity, he should hang up his gloves. The business of boxing had begun to eat into his body, and although
he remained a handsome man who had avoided the hammered spread of a boxer's nose, there was no longer any point to his continuing for he had no title to his name and there was little hope of his ever winning one again. His eyesight was damaged, his hearing was in danger of deteriorating even further, and he no longer had the stomach for the rigid discipline of training and preparing for top-class fights. His professional record of sixty-four wins (forty-five by knockout), eight losses, and one draw was something that he could be proud of, but Turpin was financially destitute, and he had no idea what had happened to all the money that he had earned in the ring. With no other sources of income open to him, he reluctantly accepted George Middleton's offer of employment in his Leamington Spa scrapyard. Turpin began working a nine-to-five shift, driving around picking up old car engines and bits of metal, then taking them back to the scrapyard where he would let loose on them with a sledgehammer. His take-home pay varied between two and four pounds a week, which was a world away from his days of first-class travel, five-star hotels, and custommade clothes and shoes, but it enabled him to make some kind of a living and afford a small house and a car. But there remained huge debts to the Inland Revenue, and Turpin had no idea how to begin to deal with these issues. He had survived twelve years as a top-class fighter and all he had to show for it were arrears that day and night weighed heavily on his mind. However, one thing he was sure of was the fact that he was finished with boxing. A few years earlier, while trying to forget yet another shocking defeat at the hands of a lesser man, he had written a poem for his manager, George Middleton, expressing his feelings about the sport that had both made him and was now breaking him.