True Crime Historian

A Royal Slashing

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism... The Murder Of The Duchess Of Praslin Episode 213 is dedicated to listener Clare Stevenson, who reached out after watching the 1940 movie “All This, And Heaven, Too,” the story of a scandalous murder in the courts of France that helped precipitate the French Revolution. Based on dispatches to London, the real story is not quite the Hollywood version, ...

The Jealous Rage Of Martha Place

AN EYE FOR AN EYE -- A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme: Inflicting the Death Penalty... First Lady Of The Electric Chair Episode 212 tells the story behind the first walk of a woman to the electric chair. One cold winter night, a woman apparently attacks her husband with an axe as he walks through the door, leaving him for dead in the entryway. Besides this gruesome sight, neighbors are about to discover a whole house full of ho...

A Wild Ride In Paris, Texas

AN EYE FOR AN EYE -- A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme: Inflicting the Death Penalty... Two Doomed Fugitives Episode 211 is truly a historic case, the story behind the first execution under the Lindbergh kidnapping law, which called for the death penalty in cases where a kidnapping victim is taken across state lines, even if they remain unharmed. So when a pair of fugitives takes hostage a pair of small-town policemen in their o...

Only Death Can Cure Him

AN EYE FOR AN EYE -- A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme: Inflicting the Death Penalty... The Brickbat Moron Serial Murders Episode 210 is a dark journey through five murders in two widely separated states, all perpetrated by a simple minded man, using bricks as weapons. Each case has enough drama to be an episode of its own. Taken together, it’s five times as ugly. *** Hosted by Wondery. @wonderymedia Member of the BombPod Med...

Two Acquitted Women

The Kidnapped Canadian Preemie

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism... Baby Irene And Her Two Mothers Episode 208 seems to start out like a murder case: An elderly man marries a girl forty years younger and suddenly dies three months later. But it turns out to be something much more complicated, even an international incident, the macguffin being an adorable tiny baby girl. The final decision on the case being dramaticall...

For The Hand Of Hattie Shreck

AN EYE FOR AN EYE -- A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme: Inflicting the Death Penalty... The Islip Murder Of Cynthiana Clock Hawkins Episode 207 tells the tragic story of a young man so beguiled by love and consumed by greed that he commits a most heinous crime when his mother refuses to give her blessing. His careless circumstantial trail quickly trumps his vain effort to pin the crime on the proverbial drifter. *** Hosted by ...

Mrs. Buzzi Faces The Chair

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism... The Botched Fake Suicide Of A Millionaire Contractor Episode 206 is not just your typical love triangle gone awry, but the story of a woman about to be scorned, retaliating in advance. There’s also some intriguing family drama, a conspiracy among sisters, and a re-trial that proves to be more sensational than the first. That rarely happens. *** Hos...

Colonel Swope and Dr. Hyde

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism... The Kansas City Typhoid Murders Episode 205 tells the story of a dark shadow that fell over Kansas City when the death of philanthropist Colonel Thomas H. Swope resulted in a murder trial, the defendant a member of his own family. Did Dr. Hyde infect the family with typhoid, too? Or was he just the victim of a lingering family grudge? *** Hosted by...

The Miser’s Poke Of Gold

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism... The Travels Of Clara Elizabeth Skarin Episode 204 tells the interesting tale of a young woman who shoots her aged benefactor and loots his trunk for a poke full of gold, then goes on a spending spree to update her wardrobe. Was it self-defense, or premeditated. That’s the question. *** Hosted by Wondery. @wonderymedia Member of the BombPod Media N...

The Fiend With The Wristwatch Tattoo

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism... The Kidnapping And Murder Of Betty Schnaidt I dedicate episode 203 to listener Charlene Hall, who not only requested a show about a brutal murder and kidnapping in her hometown, but also sent me her personal collection of clippings to form the basis for this story. Turns out, Charlene’s hometown murder was the culmination of a summer of terror and a ...

The Milk Cow Murder

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism... Assassination of Nancy Parker Episode 202 takes us inside the mind of an unhinged woman, but not too deeply. The story takes a lot of strange contradictory turns as the layers are peeled back and everyone tries to get the story straight. Or not. *** Hosted by Wondery. @wonderymedia Member of the BombPod Media Network. @bombpod Simple Contacts. Th...

Close Calls For Catherine Cassler

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism... The Murders Of William Lindstrom, Cammie Soutar, And Maybe One Other Guy Episode 201 tells the story of a woman’s allegedly murderous career in Chicago and Indiana. Three times, a murder or otherwise suspicious death took place near Mrs. Cassler, and she even spent some time condemned to the gallows, but fate twisted in her favor every time. She did ...

The Mystery Of Pearl Bryan's Head

AN EYE FOR AN EYE -- A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme: Inflicting the Death Penalty... A Foul Deed In Ft. Thomas In celebration of our 200th episode, I’m going to share one of my favorite local stories. The murder itself took place a state over, but one of the convicted murderers lived for a time in my hometown, and the sad story of Pearl Bryan is well-known in the three states involved, with many dubious legends and rumors abound...

Grandma Nusbaum And Her Somewhat Youthful Lover

AN EYE FOR AN EYE -- A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme: Inflicting the Death Penalty... Elderly Carpenter Murdered With Hammer So Episode 199 tells what happens when a grandmother with a grumpy but somewhat wealthy old husband befriends a younger man when he is released from prison and begins paying him $250 a month for his, um, affections. Yeah, that’s not gonna end well. It’s a grand, sordid conspiracy, just like we like ‘em. ...

Lizzie Nutt’s Sad Experience

PULP NONFICTION -- A celebration of the pioneers of true crime... Murders Of Honor Episode 197 gives us not one, but two murders arising over the defense of a young lady’s reputation. The Pennsylvania trials garnered national attention and the great orator Indiana Senator Daniel Voorhees served as counsel for the defense in the second trial, delivering a remarkable 100-minute closing speech. The highlights are excerpted near the end of this tale, adapted from a pamphlet published shortly a...

The Black Dahlia

UNSOLVED A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring one of history’s most baffling murder mysteries. The Murder Of Elizabeth Short By listener request, Episode 196 follows the first month of the investigation of one of Hollywood’s most celebrated murder mysteries that begins when of a 22-year-old party girl turns up tortured, murdered, and mutilated by the side of a busy boulevard. She was such a runabout that when her body was identified by fingerprints, no one had realized she hadn’t b...

Sunday Magazine #16: Three British Bluebeards

A Collection Of True Crime Short Stories Old England is not so jolly for episode 195 as we take a look at three different cases with a body count of at least four wives and one mistress. First up, from the snarky true crime pioneer Edmund Pearson we have the story of a distinguished poisoner. Following that, “The Ugly Romeo” tells of a serial bathtub murderer, and we’ll close with the grisly story of a married man who loved his girlfriend to pieces. Nineteen Dandelions by Edmund Pearson The...

The Convict Bridegroom And His Aged Wife

AN EYE FOR AN EYE A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme: Inflicting the Death Penalty... The Mahoney Trunk Murder of Seattle Episode 194 takes place in the Pacific Northwest when an elderly wealthy widow marries a man fresh out of Walla Walla prison, then disappears on their honeymoon two months later. I think we know where this is going, and yeah, it’s not gonna end well. *** Hosted by Wondery. @wonderymedia Member of the BombPod...

Sunday Magazine #15

Two Sordid Ladies Prologue: Death’s Deception (Prologue). True Detective, volume 56, number 4 Episode 193, Sunday Magazine #15, consists of  two stories, one of passion and lust, one of lust for power. “She Shot To Kill” is two stories from the 1893 Omaha Daily Bee that tells of a deadly love triangle. There’s a great contrast between the first day’s coverage and the second, then no more mention is made of the affair. “The Woman In The Wall” comes from the a vintage issue of True Detective...

Snakes On The Witness Stand

AN EYE FOR AN EYE -- A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme: Inflicting the Death Penalty... Episode 192 gets a bit epic, but it’s the story that keeps on giving, with two botched murders and moral charges to boot, and things go from crazy to crazier when they bring a pair of rattlers named Lethal and Lightning into the courtroom. The Trial Of Rattlesnake James, The Red-Headed Bluebeard *** Hosted by Wondery. @wonderymedia Member ...

The Lizzie Edition, Part IV

The Great Borden Hearing Begun. While Lizzie Borden waits in the Taunton jail for her preliminary hearing to see if she is to go on trial for the murder of her father and stepmother, the community’s sympathy is expressed in interviews to people close to her and the appearance of “a wild-eyed man” ready to take the blame from her shoulders. We will continue “The Lizzie Edition” in June 2018, the 125th anniversary of the famous trial of Lizzie Borden. *** Theme music “My Ain Countrie” by Mary L...

The Lizzie Edition, Part III

Still in the middle of the inquest, Fall River officials finally feel as though they have enough evidence to make an arrest for the murder of Andrew J. Borden. She is sent to the jail in Taunton, Mass., where the matron turns out to be an old family friend.

The Lizzie Edition, Part II

Part II: The Hunt Progresses. The surviving members of the Borden household are being held as prisoners in their own home, even while officials literally take it apart searching for clues. Yet they remain mum on the contents of the ongoing inquest, leaving ample room for speculation. Theme music “My Ain Countrie” by Mary Lee Demarest, 1861, performed by Davide Severi with Plava Kuca on Violin. Media Management by Sean R. Jones Production assistance by Emily Simer Braun Dedicated to Rachel Mic...

The Lizzie Edition, Part I

Butchered in Broad Day -- Episode 166... In commemoration of the 125th anniversary of America’s greatest murder mystery, True Crime Historian brings you “The Lizzie Edition,” and in-depth look at the murder of Andrew J. Borden in Fall River, Massachusetts, on August 4, 1892, and the trial of his daughter Lizzie Borden the following June.... Theme music “My Ain Countrie” by Mary Lee Demarest, 1861, performed by Davide Severi with Plava Kuca on Violin.... Media Management by Sean R. Jones... Pr...

Girl Buried in a Barrel

AN EYE FOR AN EYE --A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme: Inflicting the Death Penalty... The Awful Fate of Mary Ann Rheinhardt ___ This episode explores the heinous crime of the scoundrel Edward Reinhardt of Manhattan and Staten Island who got tangled up with two women, got them both in trouble, and apparently, had to pick a favorite. Yeah, that’s not gonna end well. And when they find the barrel buried on the shore of Silver Lake, a...

Chasing the Fox of Gangsterdom

Crane Neck Nugent, Prohibition TriggerThe Gangster Chronicles Book Two, Chapter Six __Crane Neck gets arrested in a Florida speakeasy, then is quickly in the wind again. Meanwhile, the hunt for his former partner and archenemy Bob Zwick continues. When Zwick’s reign of terror finally ends, details of their worst exploits are revealed in court. __ Music by Dave Sams www.truecrimehistorian.com/1925nugent

The Hit at Symmes Corner

Crane Neck Nugent, Prohibition AssassinThe Gangster Chronicles 2.5 Crane Neck returns to Cincinnati to do a favor for his old boss, Fat Wrassman: Even the score for the hit on George Murphy. But it means going after his partner, Bob “The Fox” Zwick. You don’t want to miss the showdown in the streets of Cincinnati between Fat Wrassman and Detective Dutch Schafer. - Music by Dave Sams -www.truecrimehistorian.com/1925nugent

The St. Valentine's Day Massacre

Crane Neck Nugent, Prohibition TriggerThe Gangster Chronicles 2.4 - Crane Neck Nugent’s career included work with the gang of Fred “Killer” Burke of St. Louis, whom he got to know when they served together as machine gunners in World War I. While no one was ever charged with the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre, it is generally agreed that Al Capone hired the Burke gang, whom he called his “American Boys,” to take down his rival Bugs Moran. In this episode, we’ll also hear about Burke’s murder of...

The Assassination of Robert Andres

Crane Neck Nugent: Prohibition Trigger -The Gangster Chronicles 2.3 - With the heat turned up high in Ohio, Crane Neck retreats to Kansas City to join the gang of his Army mentor Fred “Killer” Burke, the leader of his own gang there. A Toledo job goes south on the Burke gang, and a patrolman ends up dead from machine gun fire. Meanwhile Jack Parker, Todd Messner, Breck Lutes, Rodney Ford, and Bob Zwick hold up a craps game at the Pelican Club in North College Hill, killing the town marshal wh...

The Gangster Called "Fat"

The Gangster Chronicles 2.2.2- George "Fat" Wrassman figures heavily (so to speak) in the saga of Crane Neck Nugent. While this case doesn't bear directly on Nugent's story, it tells you the kind of man that Fat was, and will help inform some of the action in a later episode, so I offer this as a bonus to The Gangster Chronicles Book Two at no extra charge.

Cincinnati Gangster War (Crane Neck's Early Hits)

Crane Neck Nugent: Prohibition Trigger- The Gangster Chronicles 2.2.1 - YESTERDAY'S NEWS - The murders of Gus Fitch, Bob Sollick, Glenn Hiatt, Martin Dailey and Buddy Ryan. Crane Neck Nugent was involved in four of these, and will soon avenge a fifth.

What the Cab Driver Forgot

Crane Neck Nugent, Prohibition Trigger - The Gangster Chronicles 2.1 - YESTERDAY'S NEWS - A reading from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism The second volume of The Gangster Chronicles explores one of the many side effects of the Great Experiment, America's Prohibition on alcohol. I’ve often contended that Prohibition made criminals out of a lot of ordinary people who just wanted to drink and serve drinks. But it also gave some truly bad men an opportunity to misbehave...

The Pig Woman's Tale

 Murder Under the Crab Apple Tree By Damon Runyon When a friend of mine started pitching Hall-Mills murder to me as a potential episode, I was immediately enthralled by the tale of an Episcopalian rector and his tragic affair with the choir singer, but when he told me the case hinged on the eyewitness testimony of “the pig woman,” I knew this was a story for True Crime Historian.  But it gets even better. I started looking into it and discovered that the famed sportswriter Damon Runyon covere...

The Calumet Christmas Catastrophe

 Panic at the Italian Hall This episode comes from the request of a listener in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan who wanted to know more about the panic disaster that took place at the Calumet Italian Hall in 1913.  We just took nice camping trip to the Keneewah Peninsula, Michigan's upper Upper Peninsula. You'd be hard pressed to find a more beautiful place in the world. The weather was sublime and Lake Superior is one of my favorite bodies of water--crystal clear, unsalted and shark-free. My...

The Death Cell Confession of Anna Marie Hahn

AN EYE FOR AN EYE- A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme: Inflicting the Death Penalty. - This episode comes at the request of a faithful listener in Cincinnati who wanted to hear more about Anna Marie Hahn, the first woman to be executed in Ohio's electric chair. - Although ‘Arsenic Annie’ had stoically proclaimed her innocence right up until her dying day, Anna Marie Hahn left a handwritten 20-page confession in her death row cell on...

Dillinger at the Biograph

THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES A special edition of Yesterday’s News focusing on the notorious scoundrels of the Prohibition and Depression eras. The Final Chapter of the Dillinger Saga - The first volume of this this series has been devoted to the exploration of newspaper accounts of the trail of terror blazed by one of America’s most famous, dare I say most beloved, gangsters, John Dillinger. - From the time he was paroled from the Michigan City prison in May, 1933, to the time he was gunned down ...

Hanged Three Times and Lived

YESTERDAY'S NEWSA reading from America's historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism. Luke Brannon Thwarts a Lynching - The Classic Village of Oxford, Ohio, got so riled up over a shooting in a local saloon, that they bust open the jails and drag the culprits to the local hanging tree. The tree had been  used once before, and if you go to my archives, you can hear about that tale in the episode two, "An Outrageous Murder in Oxford," in which the town got so outraged over the ap...

Dillinger at Little Bohemia

THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES 1.5A special edition of Yesterday's News focusing on the notorious scoundrels of the Prohibition and Depression eras. - We're beginning this series with newspaper accounts of the trail of terror blazed by one of America's most famous, dare I say most beloved, gangsters, John Dillinger. - From the time he was paroled from the Michigan City prison in May, 1933, to the time he was gunned down by police on a Chicago sidewalk 14 months later, John Herbert Dillinger was one ...

The Strangler's Wife

TRUE CRIME STORY TIMEThe Sad Tale of Anna May Gamble Knapp - Around the jails and the Indiana and Ohio neighborhoods where he lived, Alfred Knapp carried the nickname “Looney” Knapp for his bizarre, often childish behavior. He spent half of his adult life in prison for petty larcenies and attacks upon young women. When he was released from the Michigan City Penitentiary in the summer of 1902, he joined his third wife, Hannah, in her hometown of Hamilton, Ohio. Three days before Christmas that...

Mystery at the American Saloon

TRUE CRIME STORY TIMEThe Saga of the Scoundrel Thomas McGehan A true crime short story by Richard O Jones - On Christmas eve, 1870, three men attack a local politician with boulders and slungshots, and at least a dozen men scramble for the door while five shots pepper the faro room at the American Saloon in Hamilton, Ohio. One of bullets kills the politician, Thomas Myers, but in their haste, none of the gamblers see who fired the gun. The blame falls on the leader of the gang of thugs who at...

Dillinger in the Wind

THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES 1.4- The Gangster Chronicles is a special edition of Yesterday's News focusing on the notorious scoundrels of the Prohibition and Depression eras. - We're beginning this series with newspaper accounts of the trail of terror blazed by one of America's most famous, dare I say most beloved, gangsters, John Dillinger. - From the time he was paroled from the Michigan City prison in May, 1933, to the time he was gunned down by police on a Chicago sidewalk 14 months later, Jo...

Dillinger's Showdown in Tucson

THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES 1.3Yesterday's News A reading from America's historic newspapers - From the time he was paroled from the Michigan City prison in May, 1933, to the time he was gunned down by police on a Chicago sidewalk 14 months later, John Herbert Dillinger was one of America's most notorious scoundrels. - In chapter one, we looked at the escape of ten convicts from the Indiana penitentiary at Michigan City and the subsequent delivery of Dillinger from the Lima, Ohio, jail that led t...

Dillinger’s Indiana Outlaws

THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES 1.2A reading from America’s historic newspapers from the golden age of yellow journalism - Law enforcement officials and fellow bandits alike lose their lives in the hunt for the desperate criminals who escaped from the Michigan City prison and murdered a sheriff in getting John Dillinger out of jail. In the meantime, Dillinger and his companions continue their spree of mayhem across the Mid [...]

Dillinger’s Bloody Escape

THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES 1.1Yesterday's News A Reading from America’s Historic Newspapers - In this first volume of "The Gangster Chronicles," we will follow the trail of terror blazed by one of America's most famous, perhaps most beloved, gangsters, John Dillinger. From the time he was paroled from the Michigan City prison in May, 1933, to the time he was gunned down by police on a Chicago sidewalk in front of the Biograph Theater 14 months later, John Herbert Dillinger was one of America's m...