Winfield Scott Goss was a chemical experimenter with a well-known fondness for intoxicating spirits. When his workshop, in a cottage outside of Baltimore, exploded in February 1872, no one doubted that the badly charred corpse found inside was his. No one, that is, but the four insurance companies who had sold policies on Goss’s life totaling $25,000. They had many questions, and Goss’s friend and brother-in-law William Udderzook had all the answers. But rather than quelling their doubts, Udderzook’s “plausible stories” only fueled them—he seemed to know too much.
Saturday, December 31, 2011
He Knew Too Much.
Labels:
1870s
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Dismemberment
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Fire
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Fraud
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Insurance
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Maryland
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Pennsylvania
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Stabbing
Saturday, December 24, 2011
A Bloody Christmas Eve
Little Murders
(From The Galveston Daily News, Galveston Texas, December 26, 1885.)
SHOCKING BUTCHERIES AT AUSTIN.
Another Chapter of Crime form the State Capital That Makes the Blood Run Cold.
Austin, December 25—Of all the murders that have been committed within the annals of Austin those of last night (Christmas eve) stand out in bold relief. Just one year ago this month the first of the series of murders was committed and since that time the assassins have
STRUCK BLOW AFTER BLOW
Labels:
1880s
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Axe Murder
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Christmas
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Little Murders
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Rape
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Texas
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Thrown Out the Window.
The body of Mary E. Hill was found lying outside her Philadelphia home, by her maid returning from church the night of November 22, 1868. She had evidently been killed in her dining room by blows to the head with a fireplace poker, she was then dragged into the sitting room, then Mrs. Hill was thrown out the second story window. Though two people were tried for this murder and one was sentenced to be hanged, there would be no execution.
Labels:
1860s
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Beating
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Pennsylvania
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Philadelphia
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suicide
Saturday, December 10, 2011
Cherry Scott
Little Murders:
From Defenders and Offenders:
"Cherry Scott is a mulatto woman, who killed her mother, and was brought to Dallas, Texas, from the Indian Territory where the crime was committed. Her mother, herself, a married brother, his wife and two other children all lived together in Fannin County, and were employed in raising a crop. The sister-in-law would not work and this made Cherry Scott angry, and therefore when she was told to do some work she refused, ordering the sister-in-law to do it. A quarrel ensued and the mother sided with the daughter-in-law. This so angered Cherry, the next morning, while the mother lay in bed, Cherry approached her bed with a rifle and shot her dead."
Defenders and offenders. New York: D. Buchner & Co., 1888.
Labels:
1880s
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Gunshot
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Indian Territory
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Little Murders
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Texas
Saturday, December 3, 2011
The Six Capsules
Helen Potts, a nineteen year old student at Miss Comstock’s School in New York City, decided not to join her roommates when they went to hear a concert. Helen was feeling ill, but she had a remedy prescribed by her boyfriend, a medical student named Carlyle Harris. When the girls returned, Helen told them of the wonderful dreams she had been having about Carlyle. But she also complained of numbness throughout her body; before long she could not move and her breathing was labored. The dreams soon vanished, giving way to nightmare, revealing a world filled with deceit, betrayal and ultimately murder.
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