An Ungrateful Fiend

Little Murders

(From Titusville Mornign Herald, Titusville, PA, February 11, 1873)

AN UNGRATEFUL FIEND

He Asks for Bread, and then Murders the Man who was Willing to Minister to His Wants.

The murder of Mr. John Flanders at his residence, near Brocton, on Saturday morning last, brief mention of which was made in our yesterday’s columns, proves to have been one of the most cold-blooded and diabolical deeds of villainy which has ever blackened the pages of modern history. The circumstances of the case are briefly told. About half-past eight o’clock on the morning of last Saturday a man called at the residence of Mrs. Anderson, who resides in a small brown house on the Lake Shore road one mile north of the village of Brocton, and a few rods east of Slippery Rock Creek, and

The Grizzly Bear Tragedy

It's Bloody Murder Monday at YesterYear Once More. The story of a stabbing at the Grizzly Bear saloon, on the San Francisco Waterfront, in June 1893: Brutal Murder on the Water Front

Hong Di

Little Murders:

From Defenders and Offenders:

Hong Di.

This Chinese murderer deliberately attempted to murder a whole family, and succeeded in killing one person. He was employed as a cook by a wealthy ranchman of St. Johns, Cal. While the wife, two daughters and a friend were seated at the supper table, the Chinaman entered from behind with a Winchester rifle in hand, and without a word, commenced firing upon the party, killing the wife instantly and wounding the friend. The daughters escaped injury. The motive for the crime is unknown.

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Defenders and offenders. New York: D. Buchner & Co., 1888.

The Trial & Conviction of Richard Johnson

This one has the potential to become a big murder and I will dig deeper when time allows. But for now all I have is the front page of an 1828 murder pamphlet and a brief summary of the crime.


Uncorrected text from the pamphlet:

“A correct copy of the trial & conviction of Richard Johnson for the murder of Ursula Newman, on the 20th Nov. 1828, by shooting her with a pistol loaded with buck shot or slugs, nine of which entered her body; together with the charge of the court, and the confession of the prisoner of his entention to have added suicide to the horrid and appalling murder for which he is to suffer an ignomenious death, and his letter to a friend in Philadelphia previous to his conviction. New-York, printed and sold wholesale and retail, by Christian Brown, No. 211 Water-street, N. York”

Summary of the crime from The Annals of Murder:

“Johnson had been living with Mrs. Newman for several years. He had urged her to marry him, and, although she had had a child by him, she refused to wed him, nor would she even acknowledge that the child was his. Apparently distracted by this and business worries, Johnson shot and killed her. He was hanged on Blackwell’s (now Welfare) Island at the same time as Catherine Cashier.”

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McDade, Thomas M.. The Annals of Murder: A Bibliography of Books and Pamphlets on American Murders From Colonial Times to 1900. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1961.

Terrible Tragedy in New Jersey

Little Murders

Murder of a Husband and Wife.—We learn from the Patterson (N. J.) Guardian, extra, that that community has been thrown into great excitement in consequence of the murder, on Monday week of two persons, residing three miles from Paterson. The victims are John S. Van Winkle and his wife, an aged couple, and long residents of the county. The atrocious deed was accomplished, as there appears no doubt, by one John Johnson, a laboring farmer. The Guardian says: