James Douglas Edgar was born in 1884 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and by the time he became an adult, he was well on his way to a successful career as a professional golfer. He won the French Open in 1914, and five years later, emigrated to the United States, where he settled in Atlanta, Georgia.
James won several more tournaments, mentored some of the most prominent golfers of the 1920s, and wrote a book called The Gate to Golf, still a much-read tome on the topic of golf instruction right up to the present day.
On the night of August 8th, 1921, however, James’s life was tragically cut short. He was found lying on an Atlanta street with a heavily bleeding wound in his leg, and died on the sidewalk before medical help could arrive.
Police were never able to determine the motive behind the seemingly random crime, though later biographer Steve Eubanks speculated that James Edgar may have been having an affair with a married woman in Atlanta, a scenario which may have played a part in his death.
The murder remains unsolved more than a century later.
Crime Immemorial 