Murder & Mayhem
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Murder & Mayhem in Houston
Historic Bayou City Crime
by Mike Vance
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
When the Allen brothers sold Houston's first lots, the city became a magnet for enterprising tycoons and opportunistic crooks alike. As the young city grew, a scourge of crime and vice accompanied the success of oil and real estate. The Bayou City's seedy side--flashing Bowie knives, privileged bad boys, hardened prostitutes and unchecked serial killers--established its hold. From a young Clyde Barrow to the Man Who Killed Halloween, Houston's past is filled with bloody tales, heartbreaking loss and despicable deeds. Authors Mike Vance and John Nova Lomax shine a light on these dark days.
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Murder & Mayhem Jefferson City
by Ms. Michelle Brooks
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
The Dark Side of Jeff City The first century of the wilderness-born Missouri capital was filled with villainous escapes from the state's only prison, resulting in theft, abuse and even murder. The grandest of escape attempts ended with the city's only triple hanging. The capital city had plenty of entrepreneurs willing to sidestep the federal Volstead Act, which attracted Ku Klux Klan activity and culminated in the election of a "law and order" sheriff, whose deputies broke laws to enforce them. Many other tragedies grieved the community, including the South Side murder of a German immigrant by a teen-aged deputy, who had been caught sleeping with the victim's daughter. Author Michelle Brooks has collected a sample of some of the shocking events of Jefferson City's first century.
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Dark Tales of the Eno River
by David Cook
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Mayhem on the Eno River
Visitors to the Eno River don't expect to encounter haunted houses, train wrecks or fun outings that turn into tragedy, but some of them have experienced just that. In 1771, a few of America's first rebels were hanged near the river. An accident at a sawmill led to a series of hauntings. A Valentine's Day dance became the area's greatest murder mystery. Train-hopping teenagers had harrowing experiences, and a baby abandoned in a suitcase was found by a nearby farmer. Author and former Eno River State Park ranger Dave Cook details the scary side of a beloved tributary.
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Murder & Mayhem on Chicago's West Side
by Troy Taylor
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
The author of Haunted Illinois takes readers to the Windy City's wild west, where criminals from Frank Capone to John Wayne Gacy left their mark.
Blazing from the West Side, the Great Chicago Fire left nothing but ashy remnants of the developing city, leveling its landscape but certainly not its spirit. While the West Side was home to the infamous O'Leary barn, it was also where news of some of the city's most gruesome and horrific crimes reverberated throughout the state and across the country. Read about the bloody end of Roger "the Terrible" Touhy, who, although he undoubtedly lived up to his name, met an ill-deserved fate. Troy Taylor also delves into the life of John Wayne Gacy, the depraved man masked by the clown costume, and yet again proves to be a master storyteller and historian of Chicago's criminal underworld.
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Murder & Mayhem on Chicago's North Side
by Troy Taylor
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
The author of Haunted Illinois visits the criminal history of the Windy City neighborhood where mobsters and murderers plied their trades.
In 1929, Chicago gangster Al Capone arranged a special St. Valentine's Day delivery for his favorite arch enemies: a massacre. Seven North Side mobsters were left dead. Yet random killings and bizarre murders were not unfamiliar in Chicago. Tales of the city's most violent and puzzling murders make this gripping work truly hair-raising: a deranged stalker kills his love object and then himself; a sausage maker uses the tools of his trade to rid himself of his wife; and a meticulous serial killer cleans his dead victim's wounds before taping them closed. Through accounts dripping with mystery, gory details and suspense, Troy Taylor brilliantly tells the twisted history of Chicago's North Side.
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Murder on Long Island
A Nineteenth-Century Tale of Tragedy & Revenge
by Geoffrey K. Fleming
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
In the mid-nineteenth century, James Wickham was a wealthy farmer with a large estate in Cutchogue, Long Island. His extensive property included a mansion and eighty acres of farmland that were maintained by a staff of servants. In 1854, Wickham got into an argument with one of his workers, Nicholas Behan, after Behan harassed another employee who refused to marry him. Several days after Behan's dismissal, he crept back into the house in the dead of night. With an axe, he butchered Wickham and his wife, Frances, and fled to a nearby swamp. Behan was captured, tried, convicted and, on December 15, became one of the last people to be hanged in Suffolk County. Local historians Geoffrey Fleming and Amy Folk uncover this gruesome story of revenge and murder.
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Murder and Mayhem in the Napa Valley
by Todd L. Shulman
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
The picturesque vineyards of California's Napa Valley, one of the world's premier tourist destinations, disguise a tangled history of lawlessness, depravity and frontier justice. Some crimes were committed over debts, some for retribution and others in the name of love. Famed photographer Eadweard Muybridge killed a man for seducing his wife but was acquitted. Other criminals were not so lucky and met the gallows, like murderer William Roe, the state's final public execution. From the Pomo massacre--the first criminal case heard by the California Supreme Court--to the cold cases that continue to haunt the region, Napa Police Detective Todd Shulman decants the crimes of the Napa Valley, memorializing the victims and honoring the efforts of local law enforcement.
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Murder & Mayhem In The Crescenta Valley
by Gary Keyes
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
The pleasant neighborhoods of the Crescenta Valley offer no hint of the many violent and heinous crimes that have occurred between the San Gabriel and Verdugo Mountains. But ties to such macabre episodes as the Onion Field murder and the search for the Hillside Strangler left lasting scars here. Infamous criminals such as mafia boss Joe "Iron Man" Ardizzone, red-light bandit Caryl Chessman and accused yacht bomber Beulah Overell have left a black eye on La Cresecenta's history--not to mention the "Rattlesnake Murder," "Female Bluebeard" and "Santa Claus Killer." Join historians Gary Keyes and Mike Lawler as they expose the crimes and criminals that have inflicted murder and mayhem in Glendale, La Crescenta, Montrose and La Canada Flintridge.
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Murder & Mayhem in the Catskills
by Caroline Crane
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Stylish resorts, breathtaking vistas and glittering lakes are hallmarks of the Catskills region. But since the pre-Revolutionary era, this seemingly idyllic vacationland has been a theater for some of mankind's darkest deeds and evildoers, including the notorious Murder, Inc. Caroline Crane explores the stories behind the bodies and bones that turn up here, from the bizarre hex murder at Stone Arch Bridge to the murderous escapades of Lethal Lizzie. Meet Claudius Smith, the hotheaded Tory outlaw who terrorized local colonists, and Dutch Schultz, the mobster whose fortune still lies buried in the mountains. Murder & Mayhem in the Catskills provides a fascinating glimpse into the shadowy heart of the mountains and reveals the area s surprising connections to some of America's most infamous criminals.
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Murder & Mayhem In Cumberland County
by Joseph David Cress
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
From the horrific Enoch Brown Schoolhouse Massacre of 1764 to settlers who hunted local tribes for a bounty, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, has long had a violent and bloody history. As more people came to the region, murder and mischief of every kind only multiplied. Local author Joseph David Cress explores the dark side of history, from little-known cases such as that of Sarah Clark--who became the first woman hanged in the county after she poisoned a family to dispatch a romantic rival--to high-profile crimes like the shocking 1955 courtroom slaying that left one person dead and three injured. Join Cress on a hair-raising walk down Hell Street as he investigates the underbelly of Cumberland County.
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Six Miles to Charleston
The True Story of John and Lavinia Fisher
by Bruce Orr
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
In 1819, a young man outwitted death at the hands of John and Lavinia Fisher and sparked the hunt for Charleston's most notorious serial killers. Former homicide investigator Bruce Orr follows the story of the Fishers, from the initial police raid on their Six Mile Inn with its reportedly grisly cellar to the murderous couple's incarceration and execution at the squalid Old City Jail. Yet there still may be more sinister deeds left unpunished, an overzealous sheriff, corrupt officials and documents only recently discovered all suggest that there is more to the tale. Orr uncovers the mysteries and debunks the myths behind the infamous legend of the nation's first convicted female serial killer.
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Murder & Mayhem in Washington County, Rhode Island
by Kelly Sullivan Pezza
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Rhode Island's Washington County hides a dark past riddled with macabre crimes and despicable deeds. In 1890, an argument over wages turned deadly when former hotelier George Kenyon shot and killed his carpenter on the grounds of the Gilbert Stuart House in Saunderstown. Senator Charles Burdick was shot and left for dead at his Charlestown home in 1930. Even the peaceful village of Woodville has a veritable rap sheet of thieving maids, speakeasies and murderously jealous wives. From chilling acts by the KKK to physicians practicing under the influence of narcotics, author Kelly Sullivan Pezza's collection of articles from the Chariho Times uncovers the violence and vices of Washington County.
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Murder & Mayhem in Portland, Oregon
by J. D. Chandler
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
The headlines shook Portland, Oregon. The brutal Ardenwald axe murders. The retribution killings by Chinatown tongs. The fiendish acts of the Dark Strangler. In this compelling account, author JD Chandler chronicles the coverups, the false confessions, the miscarriages of justice and the investigative twists and turns of Portland's infamous crimes while providing valuable historical perspective. From the untimely end of the Black Mackintosh Bandit to the convoluted hunt for the Milwaukie Monster, join Chandler as he unveils the shadowy heart of the city, acknowledges the officers who sought justice and remembers the individuals whose lives were claimed by violence.
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Murder in Visalia
The Coin Dealer Killer
by Ronn M. Couillard
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
One October morning in 1979, a stamp and coin dealer was gunned down in his Visalia shop. There were no witnesses. Persistent police efforts across jurisdictional lines connected it to another death. Two months earlier, the body of a Fresno coin dealer was found locked in the trunk of his car. The trail of evidence led to a most unlikely suspect. Author Ronn M. Couillard, retired judge and former Visalia district attorney, lays out the facts in this compelling case from the investigation to the court proceedings and the surprise that almost derailed the conviction.
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Murder & Mayhem in Dayton and the Miami Valley
by Sara Kaushal
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
The Miami Valley of Ohio has a rich but gruesome and bloody history. In Dayton, Christine Kett murdered her daughter and confessed seventeen years later on her deathbed. William Fogwell of Beavercreek clung to life long enough to name his killer before he died. Joshua Monroe, a Yellow Springs man, killed his lover-also his sister-in-law-in a jealous rage. Reputed serial killer Oliver Crook Haugh was accused of murdering multiple women over several years, but he was ultimately convicted of killing "only" his family. Author and founder of the Dayton Unknown history blog Sara Kaushal uncovers the violent and horrific crimes of the past.
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Muncie Murder & Mayhem
by Douglas Walker
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Muncie epitomizes the small-town America of squeaky-clean 1950s sitcoms, but its wholesome veneer conceals a violent past. Public scandals and personal tragedy dogged the long, notorious life of Dr. Jules LaDuron. Baseball ace Obie McCracken met a tragic and violent end after joining the police force. A mother's love could not stop James Hedges from committing murder. The paranoid delusions of Leonard Redden hounded him until one day he carried a shotgun into a quiet classroom. Detectives Melvin Miller and Ambrose Settles chased a murderer across county lines in pursuit of justice. And newsman George Dale's showdown with the Klan prepared him for the political fight of his life. Douglas Walker and Keith Roysdon, authors of Wicked Muncie, introduce a new cast of characters from the city's notorious past.
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Murder & Mayhem in Seattle
by Teresa Nordheim
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Seattle harbors a dark and violent history that stretches back to a bloody battle between natives and settlers in 1856. In the early 1900s, Dr. Linda Hazzard stole money from countless patients after starving them to death in her infamous sanitarium. Three robbers opened fire in the notorious Wah Mee gambling club in 1983, killing thirteen people in the state's deadliest mass homicide. Some of America's most notorious serial killers wrought terror in Seattle, including the Green River Killer, Gary Ridgway. Ted Bundy's murder spree started in King County before reaching national attention in the 1970s. Local author Teresa Nordheim exposes these and many more gruesome events that scarred the city.
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North Carolina Murder & Mayhem
by Rick Jackson
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
The smiling faces and southern hospitality of North Carolina promise a paradise for visitors and residents alike, but darkness still lurks in small towns as well as big cities. The state's dangerous past of violence and murder is never seen in tourist pamphlets. From the capture of Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph in the mountains to the seaside murder of the Hermit of Fort Fisher, dark deeds have touched every part of the state. Author Rick Jackson tells the stories behind some of the most famous, and most heinous, crimes in the history of the Old North State.
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North Carolina Murder & Mayhem
by Rick Jackson
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
The Tar Heel State's most notorious crimes are revealed by the coauthor of Ghosts of the Triangle: Historic Haunts of Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill.
The smiling faces and southern hospitality of North Carolina promise a paradise for visitors and residents alike, but darkness still lurks in small towns as well as big cities. The state's dangerous past of violence and murder is never seen in tourist pamphlets. From the capture of Olympic bomber Eric Rudolph in the mountains to the seaside murder of the Hermit of Fort Fisher, dark deeds have touched every part of the state. Author Rick Jackson tells the stories behind some of the most famous, and most heinous, crimes in the history of the Old North State.
Includes photos!
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St. Paul Murder & Mayhem
by Ron De Beaulieu
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
A fledgling community in the midst of stunning natural scenes, the St. Paul of yesteryear had a well-earned reputation for beauty and danger.
Whiskey made the river city a byword for peril. Men brawled over small offenses and killed one another with near impunity. As crime flourished beyond the power of police control, vigilantes patrolled the streets. Irresponsible speculation and white-collar crime wrecked the local economy, devastating families and driving thousands out of town. The remaining St. Paulites rebuilt their community and economy, stimulating immigration, but more people meant more crime. In the 1870s, vice and violence spiraled into the Bloody Fall of '74, and St. Paul regained its reputation as a "dead tough" town.
Historian Ron de Beaulieu reveals the past travails of life in this turbulent city.
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Murder in Visalia
The Coin Dealer Killer
by Ronn M. Couillard
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
One October morning in 1979, a stamp and coin dealer was gunned down in his Visalia shop. There were no witnesses. Persistent police efforts across jurisdictional lines connected it to another death. Two months earlier, the body of a Fresno coin dealer was found locked in the trunk of his car. The trail of evidence led to a most unlikely suspect. Author Ronn M. Couillard, retired judge and former Visalia district attorney, lays out the facts in this compelling case from the investigation to the court proceedings and the surprise that almost derailed the conviction.
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Historic Indianapolis Crimes
Murder & Mystery in the Circle City
by Fred D. Cavinder
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Hear tales from the Circle City's murderous underbelly, from poor Silvia Likens, who was tortured for months by her foster mother and eventually discovered dead, to Carrie Selvage, whose skeleton was found in an attic twenty years after she disappeared from a hospital bed in 1900. Discover how housekeepers found Dorothy Poore stuffed in a dresser drawer on a July day in 1954 and the curious story of Marjorie Jackson, her body was discovered clothed in pajama bottoms and a flannel robe on her kitchen floor, and police found $5 million hidden around her house in garbage cans, drawers, closets, toolboxes and a vacuum cleaner bag. Join local historian Fred Cavinder as he recounts the gruesome tales of Indiana's capital city, from mystery to murder.
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Murder & Mayhem in the Willamette Valley
by Jennifer Chambers
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Beneath the bucolic scenery of Oregon's Willamette Valley lies a dark and sinister past. Beneath the bucolic scenery of Oregon's Willamette Valley lies a dark and sinister past.
The 150-mile swath of vineyards, farmland and idyllic towns has hosted its fair share of murderers, bootleggers, and even a serial killer. Moonshiners like the Sutherland family used the wooded hills to hide their operations, skirting the law until it cost one cop his life. A chain of restaurants served as the public face of The Children of the Valley of Life, a cult with members who hid in hand-dug caves to escape the authorities. The Molalla Forest Killer, who committed multiple gruesome murders, stalked the byways.
Join author Jennifer Byers Chambers as she uncovers the grim and deadly secrets of the Willamette Valley.
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Murder & Mayhem in Coeur d'Alene and the Silver Valley
by Deborah Cuyle
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Murder & Mayhem in Coeur d'Alene and the Silver Valley uncovers pain and punishment in the panhandle
Northern Idaho's natural beauty shrouds tales of gamblers, prostitutes and violent prospectors. Illegal gambling, excessive drinking and vicious disputes were commonplace from Coeur d'Alene to Kellogg. Bordellos lined the streets, and some tempted soldiers mysteriously never returned to Fort Sherman. Former Wallace Mayor Rossi shot a man in cold blood in front of numerous witnesses and was somehow found not guilty. One mining dispute led to the gruesome murder of Idaho's ex-Governor Steunenberg. Legendary Wyatt Earp lived in the valley, until he got caught claim jumping in Murray.
Author Deb Cuyle exposes accounts of Coeur d'Alene and the Silver Valley's debauchery, secrets and sin.
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Staten Island Slayings
Murderers & Mysteries of the Forgotten Borough
by Patricia M. Salmon
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Historical true crime tales from this not-so-quiet New York City borough.
Despite its reputation as the least bustling of New York's five boroughs, Staten Island has seen its share of violence and murder-dating back even to its days as a sleepy farming community in the mid-eighteenth century. The 1920 discovery of a woman's body by two young boys walking their dog remains unsolved. An inmate at Sailors' Snug Harbor-a retirement home for seamen-shot a preacher in cold blood. Shocking and horrific stories of killers and their victims such as these plague Staten Island's otherwise pleasant past.
From the handsome soldier convicted of his Russian wife's shooting in New Dorp Beach to the New Brighton guard beaten to death while protecting seized whiskey during Prohibition, local historian Patricia Salmon uncovers Staten Island's most chilling tales of crime-both the infamous and the long forgotten.
Includes photos.
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True Murder Mysteries of Southwestern Pennsylvania
by A. Parker Burroughs
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Historical true crime stories from the southwestern corner of the Keystone State, reaching as far back as 1795. In the southwest corner of Pennsylvania, beyond the picturesque scenes of the Monongahela River Valley, there are long-forgotten mysteries of scandal and murder. Amid the hardship of life on the frontier of Washington County in 1795, young Isabel Stewart was found dead, and her killer never identified in the oldest unsolved murder in the region. La Mano Nera (the Black Hand) gangs from Calabria, Italy, extorted and slaughtered their way into the 1920s as Sicilian-style vendettas became a common occurrence. The disappearance of local huckster Harry Lane in 1893 caused a flurry of murder conspiracies, yet all that could be found was a bloodied hat, it took another one hundred years before the mystery was solved. Local author Parker Burroughs details gruesome homicides and puzzling whodunits in Pennsylvania coal country.
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Murder & Mayhem in Chicago's Vice Districts
by Troy Taylor
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
A trip through the history of the Windy City's lawless districts where you could lose your money and your life-from the author of Haunted Illinois.
From the very beginning, Chicago thrived on its reputation as a wide-open town. After the Great Fire, no part of the city was rebuilt more quickly than the vice districts, where bribed cops and brutal force emboldened professional wickedness to celebrate itself with gala events like the First Ward Ball, begun in honor of a madam's pianist and often so crowded that passed-out drunks couldn't even fall to the floor. Randolph Street was nicknamed Gambler's Row because men gambled with their lives by visiting it. In Little Hell, guns and knives could be rented by the hour. In these seedy areas only put to sleep by Mickey Finn's knockout drinks or Gentle Annie's knockout punches, it is no wonder that Detective Woolridge kept seventy-five disguises, made twenty thousand arrests and was shot at forty-four times.
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Murder & Mayhem in Columbus, Ohio
by Nellie Kampmann
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Every city's history has its dark underbelly of crime. Columbus is no exception. From the turn of the century to the dawn of World War I, scandals involving an opium den and a sadistic murderer rocked a respectable downtown community. Around the same time, a cop killer masterminded a plot to free himself from the Franklin County Jail by having his gang attempt to blow the place up with nitroglycerin. In 1946, dead bodies kept popping up after a prim young teacher disappeared from a quiet Grandview Heights neighborhood. Two years later, a middle-aged housewife was killed with a butcher knife the same day that a tattooed mystery woman was found knifed to death in a downtown hotel. Join Nellie Kampmann as she explores the back alleys of Arch City history.
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St. Paul Murder & Mayhem
by Ron De Beaulieu
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
A fledgling community in the midst of stunning natural scenes, the St. Paul of yesteryear had a well-earned reputation for beauty and danger.
Whiskey made the river city a byword for peril. Men brawled over small offenses and killed one another with near impunity. As crime flourished beyond the power of police control, vigilantes patrolled the streets. Irresponsible speculation and white-collar crime wrecked the local economy, devastating families and driving thousands out of town. The remaining St. Paulites rebuilt their community and economy, stimulating immigration, but more people meant more crime. In the 1870s, vice and violence spiraled into the Bloody Fall of '74, and St. Paul regained its reputation as a "dead tough" town.
Historian Ron de Beaulieu reveals the past travails of life in this turbulent city.
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Murder & Mayhem in Washtenaw County
by James Thomas Mann
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Washtenaw County has enjoyed low crime rates, but extraordinary criminal acts occasionally pierced its calm and quiet.
A strange bank robbery at Dexter in 1894 and the 1897 murder of James Richards raised concerns. In 1937, the McHenry family suffered a terrible tragedy but found room in their hearts to forgive. After the murder of Eleanor Farver in 1970, detectives searching for suspect John Edward Burns probed his background, seeking clues to where he fled. They discovered John Edward Burns never existed. Attorney Peter Kensler was shockingly murdered in front of his home near Manchester with two shotgun blasts to the face. The case has never been solved.
Local historian James Thomas Mann leads a tour into some of the darkest corners of Washtenaw County's past.
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Murder & Mayhem in Spokane
by Deborah Cuyle
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Spokane's dark and fascinating history is loaded with shocking murders, bootlegging mischief and devastating dramas. The beautiful city by the Spokane River was once considered a millionaire's paradise as well as a hobo's playground, but danger lurked beneath the surface. The Black Hand Gang, police hot on its trail, stalked the streets looking for local mobster Frank Bruno. A cannibal sought fresh victims, and a teenage boy picked up an axe for nefarious purposes. McNeil State Penitentiary housed notorious characters Charles Manson and the Birdman of Alcatraz, while Herbert Niccolls Jr., locked up at twelve years old, made history as the youngest inmate at Walla Walla Penitentiary. Join author Deborah Cuyle as she uncovers the Lilac City's violent past.
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Murder & Mayhem in Erie, Pennsylvania
by Justin Dombrowski
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Gruesome Tales From the Gem City of the Great Lakes
From the French and Indian War to Oliver Hazard Perry at the Battle of Lake Erie, the city of Erie has a prideful place in the American story, but there also exists a seedy history of crime and murder.
In 1905 Detective James "Jimmie" Higgins was mysteriously killed at Central High School and the drawn-out manhunt for his murderer occupied headlines for months. On a cold January night in 1911, a massive explosion rocked the Erie waterfront when criminals bombed the Pennsylvania Railroad Coal Trestle, leaving it a smoldering mass of steel and debris. The unsolved murder of Manley W. Keene inspired a local newspaper to bring in the "Female Sherlock Holmes," Mary Holland, who defied gender expectations and reshaped detective work in Erie for generations.
Author Justin Dombrowski uncovers dark stories from Erie's illicit past.
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Murder & Mayhem on the Texas Rails
by Jeff Campbell
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Texas has a long, romantic history when it comes to railroads. But even though steam engines and streetcars offer nonstop service to Nostalgia City, there's a dark side to Texas rail. The Black Widow of Fort Worth engineered a fatal double-cross at a railroad crossing. The Mountaineer Madman brought death to the Texas Electric Railway, while the Trolley Bandit terrorized the citizens of El Paso. From a freak accident involving a banana peel to a tragic trip to see Santa Claus, Jeff Campbell and the staff of the Interurban Railway Museum cross the Lone Star State on trains derailed by murder and mayhem.
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Richmond Murder & Mayhem
by Selden Richardson
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Explore the dark side of the history of the River City… Richmond has a curious share of horrific accidents, coolly calculated slaughter, and incidents of implacable deceit in its history. Here, the wronged, the devious, and the heartbroken enact their lives on the stage set of the River City's ostensibly genteel neighborhoods, where a tree-shaded city street may have been the site of a crime of passion and an innocuous path in the woods recalls a grisly unsolved murder. Discover these and other lesser-known stories, from a young bride poisoned by her husband to the horrific fate of an entire airliner. Local historian Selden Richardson explores tales from a time when murder and mayhem stalked the streets of Richmond.
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Murder & Mayhem in Southwestern Illinois
by John J. Dunphy
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Southwestern Illinois experienced a plethora of violence during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Settlers and Native Americans clashed at the Wood River Settlement, while Abraham Lincoln dueled on a Mississippi River island. Racial strife led to the lynching of a Black schoolteacher in Belleville in 1903 and a deadly riot in East St. Louis fourteen years later. Benbow City was a latter-day Wild West town of saloons, gambling dens and brothels, and Pere Marquette State Park screened a cache of Nike missiles. From the birthplace of Martin Luther King Jr.'s killer to the mystery surrounding Jean Lafitte's grave, John Dunphy examines the bloody ledger of southwestern Illinois.
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Murder & Mayhem in East Tennessee
by Dewaine A. Speaks
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
East Tennessee is gorgeous country, but the hills and hollers have a dark side. James Earl Ray, who had already assassinated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., created mayhem at Brushy Mountain State Penitentiary when he led six other men in a short-lived escape. Several thousand Cherokee Indians from East Tennessee were forced on what would later be called the "Trail of Tears." In the "Hankins Murder" case and in the triple killings in Oliver Springs, chaos and confusion resulted from the wrongful arrest and public accusations of innocent people. Jake and C.H. Butcher brought about bedlam with their banking scandal that at the time was unsurpassed in scope in the nation's history. Author Dewaine A. Speaks details these stories and more.
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Minneapolis Murder & Mayhem
by Ron De Beaulieu
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Minneapolis has a bloody, unacknowledged heritage. On the shore of Lake Harriet, Ojibwe warriors killed a Dakota man, triggering two retaliatory massacres. Ten years later, pioneer settlers roved the land of Minneapolis in gangs for protection from other pioneer gangs. When a lynch mob hanged a violent criminal across the street from Central High School, they left his corpse dangling for hours. Rioting Riversiders toppled a streetcar and attacked the driver. A man murdered a kind stranger because he misunderstood his intentions. Separate industrial disasters shattered the St. Anthony Falls, causing one fatality, and nearly razed the Mill District, killing eighteen more and injuring countless others. Author Ron de Beaulieu uncovers the dark, sinister history beneath the city.
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Death & Lighthouses on the Great Lakes
A History of Murder and Misfortune
by Dianna Higgs Stampfler
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Losing one's life while tending to a Great Lakes lighthouse sadly wasn't such an uncommon occurrence. Death by murder, suicide or other tragic causes, while not unheard of, was more unusual. Two keepers on Lake Superior's Grand Island disappeared one early summer day in 1908, their decomposed remains were found weeks later. A newly hired (and some say depressed) keeper on Pilot Island in Wisconsin's Door County slit his own throat after a consultation with a local butcher about the location of the jugular vein. A smallpox outbreak in the late 1890s led to the tragic death of a lighthouse hired hand on South Bass Island in Lake Erie. Join author Dianna Higgs Stampfler as she uncovers the facts (and debunks some fiction) behind some of the Great Lakes' darkest lighthouse tales.
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Murder & Mayhem in Essex County
by Robert Wilhelm
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
The idea of a criminal record originated in the early seventeenth century when the magistrates of the Massachusetts Bay Colony began recording dates, places, victims and criminals. Despite, or perhaps because of, the strict code of the Puritans, some early settlers earned quite the rap sheet that landed them either in the stocks or at the end of a noose. With biting wit and an eye for the macabre, local author Robert Wilhelm traces the first documented cases of murder and mayhem in Essex County, Massachusetts. Discover the story of Hannah Duston's revenge on her Abenaki Indian captors, why the witchcraft hysteria hung over Salem and Andover and how Rachel Wall made her living as a pirate. Decide for yourself whether the accused are guilty or if history lends itself to something else entirely.
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Prohibition Pittsburgh
by Richard Gazarik
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Pittsburgh is a hardworking city. And hard workers sometimes enjoy the occasional spirit. So, when Prohibition hit the Steel City, it created a level of violence and corruption residents had never witnessed. Illegal producers ran stills in kitchens, basements, bathroom tubs, warehouses and even abandoned distilleries. War between gangs of bootleggers resulted in a number of murders and bombings that placed Pittsburgh on the same level as New York City and Chicago in criminal activity. John Bazzano ordered the killing of the Volpe brothers but did so without the permission of Mafia bosses. His battered body was later found on the street in Brooklyn. Author Richard Gazarik details the shady side of the Steel City during a tumultuous era.
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Austin Murder & Mayhem
by Richard Zelade
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Beneath Austin's shiny veneer lies a dark past, filled with murder, lechery and deceit. Legislators, lawmen and lawyers killed, robbed and lied just as well and just as often as the drifters and grifters preying on newcomers. The nation's first known serial killer made his debut in Austin in the form of the Servant Girl Annihilator, who is still rumored to be Jack the Ripper. After the Willis brothers murdered their neighbors over rumored buried gold, a lynch mob hanged the boys from live oaks on present-day Sixth Street. Freshman representative Louis Franke died after he was robbed and beaten on the steps of the statehouse. Author Richard Zelade delivers a fascinating look at the seedier side of Austin history.
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Murder & Mayhem in Tucson
by Patrick Whitehurst
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Tucson is a vibrant, growing city, but beneath the sunny surface lies a dark history. Eva Dugan was convicted of murder and hanged here, the first woman to be executed in the state of Arizona. Gangsters like Joe Bonanno and bank robber John Dillinger were drawn to this corner of the Southwest, and it was home to killers like Robert John Bardo and Charles Schmid, a serial killer nicknamed the "Pied Piper of Tucson." In 1892, William Elliott, stabbed by a notorious criminal, became the first Tucson police officer to lay down his life in pursuit of justice, but he wouldn't be the last. Join author Patrick Whitehurst as he delves into the chilling history of Tucson.
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Murder & Mayhem in Gallatin County, Montana
by Kelly Suzanne Hartman
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Quiet fields broken by gunfire, the splash of a body dropping into the Madison River, cries for help cut off into silence and the grim last words spoken on the gallows all color the bloody history of Gallatin County. Cut-and-dried murder charges, unsolved cases and questionable accusations all paint the picture of law enforcement in and around early Bozeman. From the gruesome to the mysterious, sordid accounts of robbery, crimes of passion and fatal self-defense fill the annals of the historic county jail. Gallatin History Museum curator Kelly Suzanne Hartman chronicles each tale, allowing the reader to follow along the path of the investigations and the pursuit for justice.
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Six Miles to Charleston
The True Story of John and Lavinia Fisher
by Bruce Orr
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
The shocking true story of America's first female serial killer, half of a husband and wife team who terrorized Charleston, SC, in the early 19th century.
On February 18th, 1820, John and Lavinia Fisher were executed in front of some two thousand South Carolinians. To this day, legends of the husband-and-wife serial killers range from the fearsome to the fantastical-and many swear they have encountered Lavinia's ghost haunting the Old Charleston Jail House. But in Six Miles to Charleston, local historian and former homicide investigator Bruce Orr uncovers their horrifying true story.
When a young man outwitted John and Lavinia in 1819, he escaped death and went straight to the authorities. Orr recounts the investigation from the initial police raid on the murderous couple's Six Mile Inn-with its reportedly grisly cellar-to their capture, incarceration and dramatic last moments of life. But as Orr reveals, there still may be more sinister deeds left unpunished. An overzealous sheriff, corrupt officials and documents only recently discovered all suggest that there is more to the tale
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Murder & Mayhem in the Finger Lakes
by R. Marcin
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
The pristine waters of the Finger Lakes inspire tranquility, but the region has not been spared a history of high-profile murders. George Chapman's execution for killing a hostler in a drunken rage drew one of the largest crowds in Seneca County's history. Charles Sprague was the only person from Yates County to be executed and the last person electrocuted at Auburn Prison after shooting a neighbor in a dispute over potatoes. A plea of insanity did not save James Williams from the electric chair after murdering an elderly man and attempting to rape a teenage girl. In the Feedbag Murder, the body of a missing man was found in a canal, and his friend was acquitted of the murder despite confessing to the crime years later. Author R. Marcin explores the gruesome history of homicide in the Finger Lakes.
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Murder & Mayhem in MetroWest Boston
by James L. Parr
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
MetroWest is known for its rolling farmland, winding rivers and quaint white churches facing green town commons. But looks can be deceiving. Tales from these small towns captured headlines and shocked readers across the state with lurid details of betrayal, cruelty, greed and murder. Nina Danforth, spurred on by love and jealousy, made a midnight call to the home of Andrew Emery in Framingham seeking revenge. The murder of spinster Mabel Page in Weston sent a man to the electric chair, and forty years before Lizzie Borden, the grisly axe murder of a husband and wife sent shock waves through the terrified town of Natick. Authors James L. Parr and Kevin A. Swope reveal the stories behind these crimes and the motives of the desperate criminals who perpetrated them.
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Chapel Hill Murder & Mayhem
by Richard Jackson
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Explore the dark side of small town North Carolina. Chapel Hill has seen its share of violence and murder, but somehow has been able to push those instances aside and kept the ambiance of a Norman Rockwell style small town. A walk through the campus of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill can be inspiring, but the school has a darker side that has been well hidden. Over the years there have been many murders that have taken place among those oak trees, in the dorms and frat houses on campus. Many of the murders are unsolved and remain mysteries to this day. The victims know the truth, though, that evil has no boundaries. Local historian Rick Jackson narrates the mysteries of one of North Carolina's quaintest towns.
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Murder & Mayhem in Prescott
by Drew Desmond
Part of the Murder & Mayhem series
Despite its early law enforcement presence, Prescott's place in the violent history of Yavapai County is written in blood. The jealousy, greed and pure meanness of some of its citizens produced shocking trails of destruction and death. The Keystone Saloon couldn't keep a proprietor--a series of owners was found dead with gunshot wounds. A driver-for-hire was brutally assaulted and his car stolen in Prescott's first homicidal carjacking. Two nurses conspired to poison a rich patient in their care. From the shootout that began Virgil Earp's career to knifings and dynamite attacks, Prescott history blogger Drew Desmond and Whiskey Row historian and author Bradley G. Courtney tell rarely heard stories that once rocked the town.