Dec. 13, 1962 - Heavyweight fighter Eddie Machen (pictured) knocked two hospital attendants unconscious and injured a third in a wild and futile attempt to break out of California’s Napa State Hospital last night. The powerful slugger was finally overpowered and placed under sedation from which he did not revive until this afternoon, Dr. Theo K. Miller said. “He is in a very confused state of mind,” the hospital superintendent reported. He said the slugged attendants were all right today. Still groggy and confused, Machen was visited this afternoon by his wife, Charlotte, who flew from their home in Portland, Ore. She confirmed that Machen, who was confined by court order to the hospital yesterday after he was found preparing to kill himself with a pistol, had been disturbed over money matters and failure to get a fight. “He was trying very hard to get a fight with anyone,” his wife explained. “Fighting was his profession, and he wanted to work at it. He was worried about family finances.”
