Happy Birthday, Alfalfa
Carl Switzer, the lovable scamp who played Alfalfa in the “Little Rascals” series, would have been eighty-five today. He would have been eighty-five had he not been fatally shot in the crotch in 1959 during a dispute over fifty dollars. Carl didn’t even survive the ride to the hospital, he bled so much. Switzer struck first, though, allegedly smashing a clock over the head of his friend Moses Stiltz after Moses refused to cough up the money (another account puts the time piece in the angry hands of Switzer’s associate, Jack Piott, who accompanied the actor to the scene). The amount in question pertained to Stiltz’s missing dog. Switzer, the dog’s trainer, doled out the reward money to a third party once the pooch was returned and wanted reimbursement from his friend. Stiltz felt that if Carl had properly trained the dog it wouldn’t have run away in the first place, so he could go screw with his fifty bucks. Sadly, Stiltz made his point with hot lead.
Let this be a lesson, folks—sometimes, you just gotta let shit go. Sometimes you’re gonna train your buddy’s dog to hunt and that dog is gonna run away and then you’re gonna have to pay the reward money to the person who brings him back and that’s just gonna have to be the end of it. It sucks, but that’s life. Do you really want to take a dick shot over fifty bones and some silly dog?
8 responses to “Happy Birthday, Alfalfa”
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PLEASE don’t say “dick shot” again.
Yes, and your story isn’t even accurate, asshole.
Please, Someone, point out my specific inaccuracies.
1.) It was Jack Piott who clobbered Stiltz with the clock. (Piott was Alfies companion that night.) 2.) Alfie wasn’t shot in the crotch. It was his lower abdomen and it was internal bleeding. 3.) Alfie had his left hand on the door knob trying to escape when Stiltz shot him from a close distance. 4.) Alfies last words:”That son of a bitch shot me.” I have a copy of the inquest and autopsy. Don’t be a douche. There have been way too many douche bags over the years since his murder who have profited from giving Alfie a bad rap. If you need to be corrected some more I would be happy to oblige.
There’s no need for name-calling, friend. Per the clock attack, it’s one guy’s word against the other. Tom Corrigan didn’t come forward with his claim about Piott pulling the el kabong until forty years after the fracas, so I hope you can forgive me for going with the accepted story there (please note I’ve updated my entry to reflect both sides of that coin). Now, as for the area the bullet entered, it seems like some hair-splitting to debate the difference between “lower abdomen” and “crotch,” but I readily admit I flunked anatomy in high school. If the autopsy you have proves beyond a shadow of a doubt Carl was shot in a region that was not his crotch, great, send it over and I’ll correct what I wrote. No matter how you slice it, though, Carl Switzer still got himself killed over fifty bucks—both accounts have him showing up to the Stiltz residence drunk and disorderly. He could have lived a much longer life had he not let himself get so riled up over a hound dog. One last detail: I’m in no way profiting from anything I’ve written here, and by “here” I mean this entire blog. There are no ads, I run it myself, I don’t get paid squat from this venture.
This is what I do, I go around to little blogs like yours to correct the misinformation that has been fed to the public for years. The lower abdomen, from the navel down to the pubic bone. The crotch would be that region from the penis, nutsack and anus. He was not shot in his crotch. There is no hair splitting. He didn’t cause his murder. He tried to leave. Jack Piott said that at the time he didn’t realize how injured Alfie was. He just thought that he was in shock because he didn’t see any blood. His wounded body was blocking the front door. To get out of the house they had to push Alfies body aside from the door. There was no knife thrown, lunged or any of that and Piott testified that there was no knife involved. An EMT did find a little pen knife as Stiltz said that Alfie closed it as he was sliding down the wall. Stiltz account smells from high heaven and back. There are so many holes in it. After Piott gave his testimony the judge told him to leave town. This story came from one of Piotts kids to a friend who was helping me research. I didn’t say that you were profiting. Most notably is James Parish who continues to reverberate the false stories in his $15 books. In the Our Gang Gospel according to Dick Bann and Leonard Maltin they continued the tradition of disinformation and even failed to correct it from the original publication 20 years later. Can you imagine how this hurt his mother? The family received no justice but many years of utter bullshit.
p.s. The official story that has been maintained even from Mr. Corrigan regarding the $50 and the hunting dog, there is no mention of this in the inquest. It just says it was a debt.
p.s.s. Alfie’s last meal was steak and beer which was what Piott had too at a bar/restaurant. Piott said that Alfie didn’t appear intoxicated.
Well, whatever evidence you’re sitting on, you undercut your legitimacy by calling me a douche in your original post (never mind the fact you haven’t thrown out any kind of name and you at the very least implied I’m just another person profiting off misinformation). I’d be more open to your corrections if you didn’t insult me off the bat. Seems to me if you were really sitting on something this important you wouldn’t be trolling blogs like mine but rather trying to set up your own publishing situation to get the word out in a more clear and concise manner. If you want to send me your evidence via the e-mail address listed at the top of this blog, feel free, but I’m not going to engage you further here.
Hey, at least I didn’t call you an asshole like the other anonymous poster. You posted a message to the other posters asking to correct you where you were wrong. So I did. I didn’t imply anything about YOU profiting. As for evidence, anyone can get a hold of the inquest and autopsy. YOU can go buy your own. I really don’t find you too credible either. Know why? Because you’re a whiny little shit more concerned about getting his widdle feelings hurt over ‘free’ info from a source who has been researching this very topic for the past 15 years. There is a biography in the works but that is all I will tell you. So, I get the last word then since you won’t engage (whine) anymore. Cheers!