True Crime (History Press)
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(5)
Murder of a Herkimer County Teacher
The Shocking 1914 Case of a Vengeful Student
by Dennis Webster
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
In 1914, Poland, New York, was a picturesque slice of small-town America. But that innocence was shattered with the shocking murder of beloved schoolteacher Lida Beecher at the hands of her former student Jean Gianini. At twenty-one years old, Lida wasn't much older than her students. The son of a successful furniture dealer, Jean had all the advantages in life, but he had been labeled as different by all who encountered him. The shocking murder brought the world's best alienists to the packed Herkimer County Courthouse to try to prove that the teenager's mental development precluded his guilt. Author Dennis Webster utilizes unprecedented access to court documents to reveal details of the sensational crime never before made known to the public.
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(7)
The Witch of Delray
Rose Veres & Detroit's Infamous 1930s Murder Mystery
by Karen Dybis
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
Detroit was full of stark contrasts in 1931. Political scandals, rumrunners and mobs lurked in the shadows of the city's soaring architecture and industrious population. As the Great Depression began to take hold, tensions grew, spilling over into the investigation of a mysterious murder at the boardinghouse of Hungarian immigrant Rose Veres. Amid accusations of witchcraft, Rose and her son Bill were convicted of the brutal killing and suspected in a dozen more. Their cries of innocence went unheeded until one lawyer, determined to seek justice, took on the case. Author Karen Dybis follows the twists and turns of this shocking story, revealing the truth of Detroit's own Hex Woman.
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The Downfall of Galveston's May Walker Burleson
Texas Society Marriage & Carolina Murder Scandal
by T. Felder Dorn
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
"The story of May Walker Burleson's murder of her ex-husband's second wife ... A meticulously researched work, {it} captures its era perfectly."-Galveston County Daily News
Jennie May Walker Burleson was envied for having everything a woman of her time could want-the privileged upbringing, the dazzling good looks, and the dashing war hero husband. She was admired for demonstrating that a woman could want more, from the front of the 1913 Woman Suffrage Procession to the bottom of a Mesoamerican archaeological dig. But as she stood over the body of her husband's second wife, gun in hand, society's envy and admiration quickly hardened into pity and scorn. T. Felder Dorn examines the complicated trajectory of her life as socialite, suffragist and shooter.
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Mississippi Moonshine Politics
How Bootleggers & the Law Kept a Dry State Soaked
by Janice Tracy
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
A Mississippi historian chronicles the rise and fall of The Magnolia State's moonshine empire in this revealing true crime history.
For most states, the repeal of prohibition meant a return to legally drunken normalcy, but not so in Mississippi. The state had gone dry more than a decade before the rest of the nation. In that time, a lucrative black market for moonshine and bonded liquor became a way of life for many Mississippians. By the time Prohibition was lifted, bootleggers and state politicians were unwilling to give up their hold on the sale of alcohol.
For nearly sixty years, Mississippi was known as the "wettest dry state in the country." Until statewide prohibition was finally repealed in 1966, illegal booze fueled a corrupt political machine that intimidated journalists who dared to speak against it and fixed juries that threatened its interests. Author and native Mississippian Janice Branch Tracy offers an intimate and authoritative look inside Mississippi Moonshine Politics.
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Opium Kings of Old Hawaii
by John Madinger
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
In 1886, five men met at San Francisco's luxurious Baldwin Hotel to discuss a most profitable business: opium smuggling. The exploits of Will Whaley and his partners became the stuff of legend, with tales of landing contraband on deserted shores by the light of the moon, voyages across the Pacific, typhoons and shipwrecks. Their co-conspirator was the notorious Halcyon, a schooner that novelist Jack London once admiringly wrote "sailed like a witch." Despite the danger, betrayals and mysterious deaths, their success inspired copycats and competitors alike, eager to cash in on the lucrative drug trade. Join author and career law enforcement agent John Madinger as he recounts the incredible story of America's first organized drug trafficking ring.
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(13)
The Lost Colony Murder on the Outer Banks
Seeking Justice for Brenda Joyce Holland
by John Railey
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
In the summer of 1967, nineteen-year-old Brenda Joyce Holland disappeared. She was a mountain girl who had come to Manteo to work in the outdoor drama The Lost Colony. Her body was found five days later, floating in the sound. This riveting narrative, built on unique access to the state investigative file and multiple interviews with insiders, searches for the truth of her unsolved murder. This island odyssey of discovery includes séances, a suicide and a supposed shallow grave. Journalist John Railey cuts through the myths and mistakes to finally arrive at the long-hidden truth of what happened to Brenda Holland that summer on Roanoke Island.
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(3)
Louisville's Alma Kellner Mystery
by Shawn M. Herron
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
On a bitterly cold day in December 1909, eight-year-old Alma Kellner simply disappeared from the altar of St. John's Church in Louisville. Her body was found months later near the site of the church, and news of the murder rocked the city. The manhunt for the suspect took Louisville police Captain John Carney eleven thousand miles across the country, and even to South America, to return the killer to justice. Author Shawn M. Herron details the fascinating story of a tragedy that still remains under a cloud of suspicion.
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The True Story of Tom Dooley
From Western North Carolina Mystery to Folk Legend
by John Edward Fletcher, Ph. D.
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
The crime that shocked post-Civil War America and inspired the folk song that became The Kingston Trio's hit, "Tom Dooley."
At the conclusion of the Civil War, Wilkes County, North Carolina, was the site of the nation's first nationally publicized crime of passion. In the wake of a tumultuous love affair and a mysterious chain of events, Tom Dooley was tried, convicted and hanged for the murder of Laura Foster. This notorious crime became an inspiration for musicians, writers and storytellers ever since, creating a mystery of mythic proportions. Through newspaper articles, trial documents and public records, Dr. John E. Fletcher brings this dramatic case to life, providing the long-awaited factual account of the legendary murder. Join the investigation into one of the country's most enduring thrillers.
"Fletcher has spent a great deal of time researching almost all of the characters involved with the Foster homicide and has gone further than any researcher I know in establishing the relationships-blood, marriage and social-between the major actors in the tragedy."-Statesville Record & Landmark
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Chicago's First Crime King
Michael Cassius McDonald
by Kelly Pucci
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
This true crime biography details the remarkable rise of the 19th century mob boss who ran Chicago from the streets to the mayor's office.
Michael Cassius McDonald arrived in Chicago as a teenage gambler and scam artist who quickly hustled his way into running the city through its criminal underworld. Long before the reign of Al Capone, McDonald was Chicago's original mob boss. He procured presidential pardons, fixed juries, stuffed mayoral ballot boxes, and operated the city's most popular-and most crooked-gambling parlor.
But McDonald also maintained a reputation as a decent man. He was a philanthropist who befriended Clarence Darrow, promoted the World's Fair, ran the Chicago Globe newspaper-where he employed Theodore Dreiser-and funded the Lake Street L. Meanwhile, he had multiple marriages mired in love triangles and murder trials. His remarkable story comes to life in this.
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Coatesville and the Lynching of Zachariah Walker
Death in a Pennsylvania Steel Town
by Dennis B. Downey
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
"A compelling narrative that moves crisply through the murder, the lynching, and the cover-up by silence that local residents thereafter affected."-The Journal of American History
On a warm August night in 1911, Zachariah Walker was lynched-burned alive-by an angry mob on the outskirts of Coatesville, a prosperous Pennsylvania steel town. At the time of his very public murder, Walker, an African American millworker, was under arrest for the shooting and killing of a respected local police officer. Investigated by the NAACP, the horrific incident garnered national and international attention. Despite this scrutiny, a conspiracy of silence shrouded the events, and the accused men and boys were found not guilty at trial. More than 100 years after the lynching, authors Dennis B. Downey and Raymond M. Hyser bring new insight to events that rocked a community.
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(4)
South Carolina Killers
Crimes of Passion
by Mark Jones
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
A South Carolina historian examines a selection of true crime murder stories from the Palmetto State, from 1903 to 2003.
Murder leaves no decade unscarred. In 1903, the lieutenant governor of South Carolina shot dead a local newspaper editor, in full view of witnesses. George Stinney was marched to the electric chair in 1944 at age fourteen. A mother made national news in 1994 pleading for the return of her kidnapped sons, when in truth she had driven them to a watery grave herself. Jones spares no chilling detail in describing each of these crimes; all make for fascinating, and terrifying, reading.
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The 1910 Slocum Massacre: An Act of Genocide in East Texas
by E. R. Bills
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
In late July 1910, a shocking number of African Americans in Texas were slaughtered by white mobs in the Slocum area of Anderson County and the Percilla-Augusta region of neighboring Houston County. The number of dead surpassed the casualties of the Rosewood Massacre in Florida and rivaled those of the Tulsa Riots in Oklahoma, but the incident-one of the largest mass murders of blacks in American history-is now largely forgotten. Investigate the facts behind this harrowing act of genocide in E.R. Bills's compelling inquiry into the Slocum Massacre.
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Murder in Michigan's Upper Peninsula
by Sonny Longtine
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
Residents of the idyllic villages scattered throughout the Upper Peninsula's richly forested paradise live in quiet comfort for the most part, believing that murder rarely happens in their secluded sanctuary3/4 but it does, and more often than they realize. This collection of twenty-four legendary murders spans 160 years of Upper Michigan's history and dispels the notion that murder in the Upper Peninsula is an anomaly. From the bank robber who killed the warden and deputy warden of the Marquette Branch Prison to the unknown assailant who gunned down James Schoolcraft in Sault Ste. Marie, Sonny Longtine explores the tragic events that turned peaceful communities into fear-ridden crime scenes.
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(3)
The Moonlight Mill Murders of Steubenville, Ohio
by Susan M. Guy
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
"Guy is not only a historian but a longtime police officer in Ohio, bringing firsthand knowledge of the criminal justice system" to the Phantom Killer tale (Crime Capsule).
Prohibition ended on December 5, 1933, and Steubenville hoped that its reputation as "Little Chicago" would end with it. That hope was short-lived when, eight weeks later, the Phantom Killer made his midnight debut. Under the glow of a full moon, in the mill yards of Steubenville's Wheeling Steel Plant, the killer ambushed a rail worker, shooting him five times. The Steubenville Police Department, Jefferson County Sheriff's Department and Wheeling Steel Mill Police joined forces in the New Year to find the Phantom before he took another victim. The strongest of millworkers on the midnight shift began to arm themselves, wondering who would be next. As the investigation wore on, Steubenville was once again thrust into the national spotlight as the Phantom's reign of terror continued. Local historian Susan M. Guy delves into one of the city's most infamous crimes.
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Death at Papago Park POW Camp
A Tragic Murder and America's Last Mass Execution
by Jane Eppinga
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
This WWII true crime history reveals a shocking story of murder inside an Arizona POW camp-and the U.S. military's controversial response.
Though Arizona was far from any theater of battle during World War II, the grim realities of combat were brought home with the construction of POW camps. Located outside Phoenix, Camp Papago Park became famous for its prisoners' attempted escape through the Faustball Tunnel, but it also had a dark reputation of violence among its prisoners.
One casualty was Werner Drechsler, a prisoner who supplied German secrets to U.S. Navy authorities. Nazis held at Papago Park labeled him a traitor and hanged him from a bathroom rafter. Controversy erupted over whether the killing was an act of war or murder. Some also questioned the lack of protection Drechsler received for aiding in espionage. Ultimately, seven POWs were hanged for the crime. Author Jane Eppinga examines the tangled details and implications of America's last mass execution.
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Notorious Antebellum North Alabama
by John O'Brien
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
Before the Civil War, North Alabama was infamous for lawlessness. The era saw courts filled with defendants who spanned the socioeconomic gamut-farmers, merchants and politicians. In 1811, John B. Haynes tore apart William Badger's house with his bare hands. Rodah Barnett ran a series of ill-reputed brothels in the early 1820s. In 1818, Rebecca Layman "accidentally" gave her husband sulfuric acid instead of rum. There is even a case of assault with frozen corn. Author John O'Brien relays these and more stories of the shady side of North Alabama during the antebellum period.
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Francis "Two Gun" Crowley's Killings in New York City & Long Island
by Jerry Aylward
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
On a May morning in 1931, Nassau County police officer Fred Hirsch was gunned down by the notorious New York City gangster Francis Crowley. Nicknamed "Two Gun" for tricking and murdering cops with a second loaded firearm, Crowley left a bloody trail from the Bronx to Long Island. He shot and wounded two men at a local dance hall and a New York City police detective and murdered one of Nassau County's finest. Eventually, he was tracked to a hideout in Manhattan, where a two-hour gun battle, including more than two hundred cops and ten thousand spectators, led to his capture. His murder spree involved thousands of law enforcement personnel, stole national media attention and cut across the New York metropolitan area. Author Jerry Aylward presents the murderous life of Francis "Two Gun" Crowley from the streets of New York to the electric chair in Sing Sing.
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Napa Valley Lawmen and Outlaws
by Todd L. Shulman
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
Law enforcement in Napa County traces its roots back to the days of Spanish rule and was formalized when California became a state in 1850. Since then, those who wear the badge have pursued the lawless in search of justice. Chuck Hansen, who started as a patrol officer, pioneered the use of forensic science at the Napa Police Department, collecting DNA evidence in 1974 that would become key in solving a murder decades later. And the killer known as "Willy the Woodcutter" was caught thanks to the expertise of Hal Snook of the Napa County Sheriff's Department. Napa police sergeant Todd Shulman brings to life the stories of those who played a part in solving some of wine country's most infamous crimes.
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The Hunt for the Last Public Enemy in Northeastern Ohio
Alvin "Creepy" Karpis and his Road to Alcatraz
by Julie Thompson
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
This Depression Era true crime biography chronicles the notorious gangster's life, eventual capture by the FBI, and long stay in Alcatraz.
Growing up in Topeka, Kansas, Alvin Karpis started his life of crime at age ten. By the early 1930s, he was a hardened criminal and leader of the Barker-Karpis Gang. He reportedly committed fifteen bank robberies, fourteen murders, three jailbreaks and two kidnappings. One of only four outlaws to be named Public Enemy No. 1, Karpis was the last-and the only one taken alive.
His criminal career came to an end when J. Edgar Hoover and his famed G-Men apprehended him in New Orleans. From there, Karpis found himself confined on Alcatraz Island, where he spent nearly twenty-six years-more than any inmate in the prison's history. This riveting tale of his life takes readers from the rural Midwest to the bustling streets of the Big Easy and into the bleak innards of "the Rock."
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Murder in the Courthouse
Reconstruction & Redemption in the North Carolina Piedmont
by Jim Wise
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
An in-depth look at the historic murder of an infamous politician during America's Reconstruction following the Civil War.
No suspect was ever indicted or tried for the murder of scalawag politician John W. "Chicken" Stephens in a North Carolina courthouse; and the Ku Klux Klan not only rid itself of a troublesome adversary, but also set up a showdown between the state's old guard and the radical regime of Governor William Woods Holden. Follow this little-known tale from the murder, through the "Kirk-Holden War," through the courts and to the finale, when Holden became the United States' first governor impeached and removed from office. Newspaper reporter and historical columnist Jim Wise takes us beyond the final days of the Civil War in North Carolina, amidst the destruction and poverty and debt, to chronicle the men whose clashing agendas and personalities shaped a violent era and laid foundations for the Jim Crow century to come.
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Leavenworth Seven
The Deadly 1931 Prison Break
by Kenneth M. Lamaster
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
The infamous escape from the maximum security federal prison is recounted in gripping detail in this Depression Era true crime history.
On December 11, 1931, chaos erupted behind the limestone walls of Leavenworth Penitentiary as seven desperate men put months of planning into action. Aided by notorious gangsters Frank Nash, George "Machine Gun" Kelly and Thomas James Holden, these convicts enacted one of the most legendary prison breaks in history, blazing a path to freedom with stolen cars and terrorized hostages.
But their audacious escape was only the beginning. Across Kansas, anyone who could carry a gun and knew the terrain quickly picked up the pursuit. In Leavenworth Seven, historian and Kansas native Kenneth LaMaster recounts the incredible story through first-person accounts, news reports, and official FBI files.
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South Dakota's Mathis Murders
Horror in the Heartland
by Noel Hamiel
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
South Dakota's Mathis Family Murders brought death and deception to the heartland.
It was perhaps the most infamous murder case in state history. Ladonna Mathis was shot twice in the head at point-blank range inside the family's metal shed serving as their makeshift home. Two of her three children, ages 2 and 4, were also shot in the head. The brutality of the killings shocked the state and set off a frenzy of law enforcement activity. Despite its intensity, the investigation never found the murderer or the murder weapon. Though charged with the crime, the husband was acquitted, leaving the door open for endless speculation about what really occurred on that late summer morning of Sept. 8, 1981.
With renewed insight from those involved, veteran South Dakota journalist Noel Hamiel explores this cold case of murder and mystery that still haunts the Mount Rushmore state.
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Marple's Gretchen Harrington Tragedy
by Mike Mathis
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
Friday, Aug. 15, 1975 began as a typical summer day in the suburbs. Young children played with their friends, adults prepared for work or planned for their vacation at the Jersey Shore.
That all changed in the hours before noon, when Gretchen Harrington, the 8-year-old daughter of a Presbyterian minister and his wife, was kidnapped while walking to a vacation Bible school less than a quarter-mile from her house. Her body was found by a jogger in a state park nearly two months later.
The crime forever changed the lives of the children who were near Gretchen's age and their parents, many of whom chose to live in Marple Township because they considered it a safe refuge from the crime-ridden streets of Philadelphia.
Journalists Mike Mathis and Joanna Falcone Sullivan examine the kidnapping, murder and the nearly five-decade long investigation through rare access to police files in what is still considered an open investigation.
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Notorious Antebellum North Alabama
by John O'Brien
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
Before the Civil War, North Alabama was infamous for lawlessness. The era saw courts filled with defendants who spanned the socioeconomic gamut--farmers, merchants and politicians. In 1811, John B. Haynes tore apart William Badger's house with his bare hands. Rodah Barnett ran a series of ill-reputed brothels in the early 1820s. In 1818, Rebecca Layman "accidentally" gave her husband sulfuric acid instead of rum. There is even a case of assault with frozen corn. Author John O'Brien relays these and more stories of the shady side of North Alabama during the antebellum period.
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Death in North Carolina's Piedmont
Tales Of Murder, Suicide And Causes Unknown
by Frances H. Casstevens
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
In this unique look at historic crimes of the Piedmont, Frances Casstevens offers readers a glimpse into the criminal mind and the consequences of criminal actions. No matter what piques your interest-be it Civil War stories or young love torn apart by tragedy-Casstevens provides sure-fire ammunition to keep the pages turning. Discover the true-life tales of the outlaw Jesse Dobbins, or of Daisy Hunt, a pregnant twenty-year-old who watches helplessly as her beloved bleeds to death in the snow. Read the story of the infamous Charles Lawson, a man who did the unthinkable-kill himself, his wife and his six children on Christmas Day, 1929. These are but a few examples of the featured tragedies that have shocked the North Carolina Piedmont in the last 150 years.
Frances Casstevens, historian, genealogist, and former professor at Wake Forest University, delivers facts in a spellbinding manner. Death in North Carolina's Piedmont: Tales of Murder, Suicide and Causes Unknown meticulously presents the details of each case and leaves it to you, the reader, to draw your own conclusions.
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Long Island's Vanished Heiress
The Unsolved Alice Parsons Kidnapping
by Steven C. Drielak
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
A new look at the 1937 abduction of a wealthy wife and mother, based on previously classified FBI documents-includes photos.
When she was kidnapped from Long Meadow Farm in Stony Brook, New York, in 1937, Alice McDonell Parsons was the heir to a vast fortune among Long Island's wealthy elite. The crime shocked the nation and was front-page news for several months.
J. Edgar Hoover personally assigned his best FBI agents to the case, and within a short time, Parsons's husband and their live-in housekeeper, Anna Kupryanova, had become prime suspects. Botched ransom attempts, clashes between authorities, and romantic intrigue kept the investigation mired in drama. The crime remained unsolved. Now, in this book, former Suffolk County detective Steven C. Drielak reveals previously classified FBI documents-and pieces together the mystery of the Alice Parsons kidnapping.
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Massacre at Duffy's Cut
Tragedy & Conspiracy on the Pennsylvania Railroad
by William E. Watson
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
The shocking murder of railroad laborers in nineteenth-century Pennsylvania-and the centuries-long coverup that followed-is revealed in this true crime history.
In June 1832, railroad contractor Philip Duffy hired fifty-seven Irish immigrant laborers to work on Pennsylvania's Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad. They were sent to a stretch of track in rural Chester County known as Duffy's Cut. Six weeks later, all of them were dead. For more than 180 years, the railroad maintained that cholera was to blame and kept the historical record under lock and key. In a harrowing modern-day excavation of their mass grave, a group of academics and volunteers found evidence some of the laborers were murdered. Authors and research leaders Dr. William E. Watson and Dr. J. Francis Watson reveal the tragedy, mystery, and discovery of what really happened at Duffy's Cut.
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Mobtown Massacre
Alexander Hanson and the Baltimore Newspaper War of 1812
by Josh S. Cutler
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
This is a gripping account of how a Federalist editor risked his life to defend his anti-war views.
With a bitterly divided nation plunged into the War of 1812, Alexander Hanson penned an anti-war editorial that provoked a violent standoff that crippled the city of Baltimore and left Hanson beaten within an inch of his life. This little-known episode in American history-complete with a midnight jailbreak, bloodthirsty mobs and unspeakable acts of torture-helped shape the course of war, the Federalist Party and the nation's very notion of the freedom of the press. Josh Cutler's history of the Mobtown Massacre offers a lesson in liberty that reverberates today.
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Alvin Karpis and the Barker Gang in Minnesota
by Deborah Frethem
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
"The St. Paul of the gangster era springs vividly to life again... A captivating glimpse into a shadowy era in the city's history." -Community Reporter From their home base in Minnesota, the Karpis-Barker Gang cut a swath of crime and terror across the Midwest in the early 1930s. They kidnapped two important businessmen and held them for exorbitant ransoms. They stole payrolls and robbed banks as the bullets flew. Corrupt police and wily crime bosses helped Alvin Karpis and the Barker brothers Freddie and Doc every step of the way. Who were these men and women? What made them into killers and kidnappers? How did their reckless lifestyles lead to their downfall? From Ma Barker to Volney Davis to Edna Murray the Kissing Bandit, authors Deborah Frethem and Cynthia Schreiner Smith delve into the crimes, personalities and motivations of one of the most successful and infamous gangs in American history.
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Seattle's Forgotten Serial Killer
Gary Gene Grant
by Cloyd Steiger
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
"An in-depth look at the 1971 trial of a serial killer who's been mostly forgotten-except to those who were forever impacted" (The Seattle Times).
In 1969, the body of a young woman was discovered in the woods of Renton, Washington, rocking the communities along Puget Sound. Three more brutal murders followed, drawing the attention of multiple police agencies as they tried to piece together the meager clues left behind. The seemingly unrelated cases challenged detectives, who struggled to realize they were all connected to one man: Gary Gene Grant. Before the term "serial killer" was even coined, Grant stalked his prey, destroying lives and families while walking unseen among the masses. Decades later, his crimes have all but been forgotten.
Join author and homicide investigator Cloyd Steiger as he uncovers the story of the murderer who slipped through the cracks of history.
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Solving the West Georgia Murder of Gwendolyn Moore
A Cry From the Well
by Clay Bryant
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
On a sultry August morning in 1970, the battered body of a young woman was, hoisted from a dry well just outside Hogansville, Georgia. Author and investigator Clay Bryant was there, witnessing the macabre scene. Then fifteen, Bryant was tagging along with his father, Buddy Bryant, Hogansville chief of police. The victim, Gwendolyn Moore, had been in a violent marriage. That was no secret. But, her husband had connections to a political machine that held sway over the Troup County Sheriff's Office overseeing the case. To the dismay and bafflement of many, no charges were, brought. That is, until Bryant followed his father's footsteps into law enforcement and a voice cried out from the well three decades later.
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True Crime Northern Virginia in the '50s & '60s
by Zachary G. Ford
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
Discover crimes that made headlines across northern Virginia in the 1950s and 60s. As the suburbs of Washington, D.C. expanded in the mid-twentieth century, growth inevitably led to increasing crime, and grisly murders began to shock local communities. Learn the story of the killer and his victim who are buried only a few yards apart. The truth behind the tale of the murderous toddler and the sad story of the death of an agent at National Airport belie the picture perfect image of those decades. Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church and Prince William witnessed atrocities that grabbed headlines in their day but have since faded from collective memory. Local author Zachary Ford uses detailed research drawn from contemporary accounts to bring these stories to life.
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True Crime Stories of the South Carolina Midlands
by Cathy Pickens
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
Mischief and Mayhem in the Midlands. A thrilling account of dramatic and menacing crimes that shaped the central region of the state. Crimes that captured the attention of residents in the area and statewide over the years from gamblers with too much debt to insurance fraud and a famous cat burglar. A well-known televangelist had a run in with arson, and a murderer made his presence felt all the way in California. This collection of headlining stories features notorious serial killers, families divided, vicious politics and marital strife. Author Cathy Pickens brings her eye for a great story to Columbia and recounts with a novelist's detail the infamous crimes that rocked a region.
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Oklahoma Scoundrels
History's Most Notorious Outlaws, Bandits & Gangsters
by Robert Barr Smith
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
Early Oklahoma was a haven for violent outlaws and a death trap for deputy U.S. marshals. The infamous Doolin gang's OK Hotel gunfight left five dead. Killers like Bible-quoting choir leader Deacon Jim Miller wreaked havoc. Gunslinger femme fatale Belle Starr specialized in horse theft. Wannabe outlaws like Al Jennings traded train robbing for politics and Hollywood films. And Elmer McCurdy's determination and inept skill earned him a carnival slot and the nickname "the Bandit Who Wouldn't Give Up." Historians Robert Barr Smith and Laurence J. Yadon dispel myths surrounding some of the most significant lawbreakers in Sooner history.
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The Jefferson County Egan Murders
Nightmare on New Year's Eve 1964
by Dave Shampine
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
The names Peter, Barbara Ann and Gerald Egan were familiar to Watertown police before December 31, 1964. The police suspected the trio in a long string of burglaries, and they were under investigation by the FBI for grand theft auto. But on that New Year's night, the Egans were shot execution style at a rest stop off Interstate 81. The gruesome gangland-style killings puzzled local and state police. Theories ranged from a simple confrontation gone awry to a premeditated act of retribution by hardened criminals who feared the Egans would turn state's witness. With interviews from key witnesses, authors Dave Shampine and Daniel Boyer recount the grisly story of this New Year's Eve North Country nightmare, which is still shrouded in mystery today.
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1960s Austin Gangsters
Organized Crime that Rocked the Capital
by Jesse Sublett
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
Timmy Overton of Austin and Jerry Ray James of Odessa were football stars who traded athletics for lives of crime. The original rebels without causes, nihilists with Cadillacs and Elvis hair, the Overton gang and their associates formed a ragtag white trash mafia that bedazzled Austin law enforcement for most of the 1960s. Tied into a loose network of crooked lawyers, pimps and used car dealers who became known as the "traveling criminals," they burglarized banks and ran smuggling and prostitution rings all over Texas. Author Jesse Sublett presents a detailed account of these Austin miscreants, who rose to folk hero status despite their violent criminal acts.
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Historic Crimes & Justice in Portsmouth, New Hampshire
by Dr. David Ferland
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
The first courts handled crimes like lying, idleness and card playing with punishments that ranged from fines to public whipping to death by hanging. Constables kept order until Portsmouth's first police officer took up the shield in 1800. But no force could keep all crime at bay. The court sentenced the beautiful, educated Ruth Blay to hanging on shaky evidence that she might have killed her baby. Business magnate Frank Jones played corrupt politics, succumbed to extramarital temptations and helped make Water Street the red-lighted rum hole destination of the eastern seaboard. Mischievous sailors came into port looking to spend their money, finding ample opportunity in Portsmouth's bowery bordellos. Retired Portsmouth police officer David "Lou" Ferland traces the history of Portsmouth crime and justice from the first courts to today's award-winning police department.
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The Gangs Of St. Louis
Men of Respect
by Daniel Waugh
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
St. Louis was a city under siege during Prohibition. Seven different criminal gangs violently vied for control of the town's illegal enterprises. Although their names (the Green Ones, the Pillow Gang, the Russo Gang, Egan's Rats, the Hogan Gang, the Cuckoo Gang and the Shelton Gang) are familiar to many, their exploits have remained largely undocumented until now. Learn how an awkward gunshot wound gave the Pillow Gang its name, and read why Willie Russo's bizarre midnight interview with a reporter from the St. Louis Star involved an automatic pistol and a floating hunk of cheese. From daring bank robberies to cold-blooded betrayals, The Gangs of St. Louis chronicles a fierce yet juicy slice of the Gateway City's history that rivaled anything seen in New York or Chicago.
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Oregon Murder in Linn County
The True Story of the Legendary Plainview Killings
by Cory Frye
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
On June 21, 1922, Linn County sheriff Charles Kendall and Reverend Roy Healy drove out to the town of Plainview to arrest a moonshining farmer named Dave West. By the end of the day, all three men were dead. First responders found Sheriff Kendall facedown with his pistol still holstered. The court appointed William Dunlap as the new sheriff, but within a year, someone killed him, too. Author and journalist Cory Frye delivers a riveting, detailed account of these shocking and tragic crimes that haunted Linn County for decades.
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Silas Jayne
Chicago's Suburban Gangster
by Bryan Alaspa
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
His name might not have the same notoriety that belonged to Al Capone or John Wayne Gacy, but Silas Jayne's life carved a similarly brutal arc through the Windy City's history. Even the mob was reluctant to compete with a man who burned his own horses alive for insurance money and ordered the assassination of his own brother in the same unhesitating fashion that he reportedly axed a flock of geese when he was six. Protected by bribery and intimidation, Jayne preyed on the innocence of the girls who took riding lessons in his stables and remained perversely untouched in the background of infamous Chicago crimes like the Schuessler-Peterson murders and the disappearance of candy heiress Helen Brach.
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Historic Louisville Murders
by Mr. Keven Mcqueen
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
The Derby City's Dark Side Louisville has a long history of violence and murder. Editor Godfrey Pope shot Leonard Bliss over a political joke. A hanged man was allegedly revived with electricity. Josephine Lawrence was a sex worker bent on revenge with unfortunate bad aim. Two locals engaged in a feud that resulted in one man's death and the other's marriage to the dead man's widow. A United States president had a direct descendant arrested for committing a murder near the city. Author Keven McQueen details twenty-four little known homicides that rocked the city from the 1840s to the 1920s.
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Michigan Scoundrels
Rogues, Rascals And Rapscallions
by Norma Lewis
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
The rich history of the Wolverine State has a serious dark side. In the Detroit area, the Black Legion outdid the Ku Klux Klan in hate but remained secret until one of its leaders was implicated in a murder. John Harvey Kellogg of Battle Creek was equal parts physician and quack. Then there were the state's two self-proclaimed kings--James Jesse Strang, the leader of a Mormon group on Beaver Island, and Albert Molitor, the reputed illegitimate son of German royalty who established his own kingdom on Presque Isle. Michigan author and historian Norma Lewis present a gallery of the state's most despicable criminals, crooks, conmen and more.
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Murder of the Jujube Candy Heiress
A Coronado Cold Case
by Taylor Baldwin Kiland
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
One candy heiress, two bullets and three suspects.
The small Southern California island of Coronado rarely makes news for violent crime. But in the spring of 1975, World War II widow and retired librarian Ruth Quinn was murdered, execution-style, in her cottage. Her death sent a shock wave through the community. The granddaughter of Jujubes and Jujyfruits creator Henry Heide, Ruth was found fully clothed with her shoes on, in her bed, dead from two gunshot wounds. To this day, her murder has never been solved, but whispers about her brother, her son and even a local petty thief still swirl.
Author Taylor Baldwin Kiland sifts through the dirt for the facts about Ruth's life and her untimely end in Coronado.
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Murder in Victorian Dayton
The Tragic Story Of Bessie Little
by Sara Kaushal
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
A sad and shocking story of love betrayed
The murder of Bessie Little and the trial of her murderer rocked Victorian Dayton. Believing herself pregnant and desperate to save her reputation, young Bessie tried to force her boyfriend, Albert Frantz, to marry her quickly. Instead, he took her out for a buggy ride, shot her twice in the head and dumped her body in the river. When she was discovered, he tried to convince everyone that she committed suicide. The dramatic trial brought to light details of Bessie and Albert's secret trysts, and Albert's sanity became a point of contention.
In her third historical book about Dayton, Sara Kaushal delves into a tale of scandal and betrayal to discover the truth.
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Akron's Infamous Escort Case
by Jane E. Bond
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
In the late 1990s, the Akron Vice Squad began Operation Red Light to investigate two local escort services. Little did they expect the political and legal storm their actions would unleash.
Soon everyone wanted to know who was on the list of clients. Were the defense lawyers on the list of false names given by men hiding their identities? Was a prostitute's murder covered up to protect a judge who had taken her into the courthouse for sex and drugs, and did an undercover police officer use public money to fund an abortion for an escort who claimed he was the father? Were bogus racketeering charges used to seize money for cars and expenses for the police?
Progressing step by step through the evidence, presiding judge Jane Bond goes behind the scenes and into her courtroom to see if justice can be done.
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The San Francisco Doodler Murders
by Kate Zaliznock
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
In 1974, one of San Francisco's most horrific unsolved serial murder cases began.
In less than two years, the man police called "The Doodler" took at least five lives, terrorized the LGBTQ community, and left three survivors forever changed. Initial reports claimed the murderer didn't approach his victims with the knife he used to kill them, but that the suspect shared skilled drawings-sketches of faces and animals-before leaving a string of gay men to bleed out on the sands of Ocean Beach. Police investigations and activist efforts to uncover the killer led to several suspects, but no definitive identification of the artist of death.
Author Kate Zaliznock shines a light on this riveting cold case.
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Texas Pistoleers
The True Story of Ben Thompson and King Fisher
by G. R. Williamson
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
The Vaudeville Theater Ambush of 1884 went down in history as one of the most famous gunfights in San Antonio, but the killing that night of Ben Thompson and John King Fisher, two of the most notorious pistoleers of the day, became something of a mystery. The two men entered the theatre just before midnight on March 11, and less than an hour later, both lay dead, shot down in what for all accounts was a true massacre. The responsible gunmen never were prosecuted for their crimes, and Thompson and Fisher, a mere mention of either man's name was enough to put the fear of death in any opponent, have been widely ignored since. Now, historian G.R. Williamson brings to light the mystery and the myths surrounding these men and their infamous deaths in Texas Pistoleers.
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Murder and Mountain Justice in the Moonshine Capital of the World
by Phillip Andrew Gibbs
Part of the True Crime (History Press) series
A Story of Hard Spirits and Defiant Souls Franklin County, Virginia has long been known as the Moonshine Capital of the World. That history can seem romantic, but the county has a dark and violent past. The descendants of the Scots-Irish who settled its rugged mountains openly defied the law and employed their own notions of justice to defend their traditions and livelihood. During Prohibition, the production of moonshine skyrocketed, but the liquor didn't stop flowing from the mountains when the Eighteenth Amendment was repealed. County and state officials struggled to maintain order in a region where unsolved murders, strange disappearances, and senseless killings were a way of life. The peak came in 1978, with nine murders linked to moonshine and drugs in the county. Historian and Virginia native Phillip Andrew Gibbs tells story of that horrific year and the history behind it.