Saturday, November 30, 2013

Guilty of Murder.

Little Murders
 
(From Huntsville GazetteHuntsville, Alabama, August 9, 1884)


Guilty of Murder.
 
A Verdict of Murder in the First Degree Found Against "Big Bill" Kinney at Wheeling, West Virginia—Lynching Talked of.
 
Wheeling, W. VA., August 7.
The jury in the trial of “Big Bill” Kinney returned a verdict at four o’clock last evening, of murder in the first degree. Imprisonment of life was fixed as the penalty. The murder being a particularly shocking one, there is very general satisfaction over the verdict. Two cousins, known as Big and Little Bill Kinney entered the house of Barney Doyle, struck him on back of the head with an axe and killed him. The Kinneys then beat out the brains of Doyle’s youngest daughter, aged eight, and attempted to kill the second girl, aged thirteen, but who recovered, and on her testimony the Kinneys were convicted. Little Bill was sentenced last week to seventeen years in the Penitentiary. Lynching of Big Bill is freely talked of. The community is a wild one. Nine murders have occurred in the county in thirteen months and no hanging yet.



"Guilty of Murder." Huntsville Gazette 9 Aug 1884: 1.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

The Raven Stream Crime.

Rose Clark Ambler
Rose Ambler said goodnight to her fiancé at the Raven Stream Bridge, the night of September 2, 1883, and started walking home alone as she usually did. She was never again seen alive. Her body was found the next day, beaten and stabbed, and the perpetrator was never captured. Rose Ambler joined Mary Stannard and Jennie Cramer in the growing list of unpunished Connecticut murders.

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Theodore Baker.

Little Murders:
From Defenders and Offenders:



Theodore Baker.

"Theodore Baker was hanged at Los Vegas, N.M., for killing of Frank Unruh, a wealthy ranchman, in December 1885. Baker worked on the ranch for Unruh and became infatuated with the latter’s wife, and it is supposed his love was returned. Mrs. Unruh engaged the highest legal talent to defend Baker. At one time he was taken from jail by a mob and hanged to a tree, but was rescued in the nick of time, and reserved later for the legal hangman."


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


Saturday, November 9, 2013

Did it Mean Murder?

Little Murders
 
(From Kansas City Times, Kansas City, Missouri, October 17, 1885)


Did it Mean Murder
 
Two Sisters Quarrel and Separate, and the Younger Visits the House of the Elder at Night.

Discovered, and Being Unknown, She is Pursued and Shot, and Two Revolvers are Found on Her Person.

A Probable Tragedy Averted.
(Special to the Kansas City Times.) 
 
Seneca, Kan., Oct. 16.—Capioma is a small trading point about sixteen miles southeast of this city, and is surrounded by one of the richest agricultural districts in the state, all the farmers being well-to-do, and some quite wealthy.  A highly sensational occurrence has just leaked out, which has thrown this unusually quiet neighborhood into a fever of excitement. The facts are as follows:

Walker Downs, one of the must substantial farmers in that section, was married to a Miss McCarty, who had a younger sister, Nellie, who lived with them prior to about three years ago. It seems that Nellie and Mrs. Downs had some difficulty which resulted in very bad feelings between the sisters and Miss Nellie left for Iowa to visit other relatives. A short time ago some one was seen to look into the windows of the Downs residence late at night, but on inspection no one could be found. The next night there was as a repetition of the occurrence of the night before, and the dog kept up an incessant barking until about 3 o’clock in the morning, but Mr. Downs and his hired hand, on going outside could see no one. The next evening about 10 o‘clock the dog began to bark but stopped in about an hour, and when the family awoke in the morning they found him dead on the doorstep. That night Mr. Downs and his hired man armed themselves and took their positions on the outside to watch for their tormentor. About 10:30 they saw what they supposed to be a man with an overcoat on approaching and demanded the person halt. No attention was paid to the command, and the party started to run, and the hired man followed calling several times to the fugitive to halt, with no better results, and he finally fired three shots, the past of which took effect and the wounded intruder exclaimed, “My God, you have killed me!” He and Mr. Downs hastened to the spot when they were horrified to find that they had shot Miss Nellie McCarty, sister of Mrs. Downs. She was taken to the house and it was found that the ball entered the fleshy part of the leg and was not dangerous. They also found on the young lady two 38-caliber revolvers and a large bottle of strychnine. Many stories are float as to what the young lady’s intentions were, some claiming that she intended to poison the stock, others that she intended to shoot her sister then poison herself. She is still at Mr. Downs’ and no prosecution will follow. She expresses herself deeply regretting her actions. She is about 25 years old, a school teacher and very pretty.



 


Kansas City Times, Kansas City, Missouri, October 17, 1885

Saturday, November 2, 2013

The Marlow Murder.


William Bachmann came to Jamestown, New York, from Toledo, Ohio, in August 1871, intent on purchasing some property and he told everyone he met that he was carrying $6,000 in cash. This was a mistake. Bachmann was last seen alive at a brewery owned by Charles Marlow and Marlow was quickly arrested for Bachmann’s murder. But prosecuting Marlow would prove difficult because there were no eye-witnesses to the crime, there was no identifiable body, and Marlow’s mother-in-law, under oath, confessed to murdering Bachmann.