Medford's Murder Mystery.

(Boston Post, March 29, 1897,)

Walter R. Debbins was shot twice in the back, in broad daylight, on Highland Street in Medford, Massachusetts, on the afternoon of Saturday, March 27, 1897. Though no one saw the murder or heard the gunshots, there was enough traffic on Highland Street that afternoon for the police to precisely pinpoint the time of the shooting to between 1:00 and 1:05. But that was all they could pinpoint; everything else about the crime was shrouded in mystery that grew more dense with each new revelation.

 

Read the full story here: The Medford Mystery.

Sororcide.

The Murder of Lizzie Anderson

Josie Fay was standing at the corner of Bowker and Sudbury Streets in Boston’s West End, on the evening of January 19, 1880. Stella Vannell approached her and asked if she had seen Ida King. Josie pointed down Bowker Street, where Ida stood talking with a young man named Michael Tolan. Stella walked up to the couple, called out to Ida, and began making disparaging remarks about Tolan. The women exchanged angry words, and the argument escalated until, in a flash, Stella drew a large clasp-knife and plunged it into Ida’s breast. Both women were drunk at the time of the incident, and both were using assumed names. In fact, they were sisters, Maggie and Lizzie Anderson.

The Andersons emigrated to America from Limerick, Ireland, when Lizzie was five years old and Maggie was seven. Each of their parents, John and Helen, had been married before, and each had a son from the previous marriage.  The family settled in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where John worked as a laborer. As soon as they were able, both girls were put to work at a textile mill. 

Maggie Anderson

At an early age, Maggie became wild and hard to control. She was arrested for larceny and spent two years in a workhouse. Shortly after her return, Maggie had a quarrel with her mother during which she pushed her down a flight of stairs. Helen never fully recovered from the fall and died soon after. John returned to Ireland, leaving the house in the charge of the two stepbrothers. Maggie could not stay out of trouble and spent another two years in Bridgewater Prison. Upon her release, she moved to Boston.

Lizzie was quiet and possessed an even temper, but had intemperate habits and a fondness for the company of men. When Lizzie got into trouble, the brothers refused to put up with her and sent her out of the house. She went to Boston and moved in with her sister.

Shortly after her arrival in Boston, Lizzie was arrested for drunkenness and spent thirty days in jail. She was arrested again, for night-walking, which, in Massachusetts, referred to soliciting prostitution on the streets. She served several terms at Sherburn Prison. At one time, both Lizzie and Maggie were serving time in Sherburn. One day, the matron told Lizzie to wash the floor, and she refused, saying she was too tired. The matron was about to lay violent hands on Lizzie when Maggie came by and commenced to beat the matron. Lizzie joined in, and both sisters were put in solitary confinement, where they spent the remainder of their sentences.

In Boston, the sisters lived together peacefully for a time, but Maggie began associating with black men, and Lizzie disapproved. When Maggie married a black man named Vannell, Lizzie moved out. Their relationship became so contentious that Lizzie would scarcely recognize her sister on the street. After moving out of her sister’s apartment, Lizzie took up residence in a house of ill-fame on Bowker Street and went by the name Ida King. 

After the stabbing on January 19, Maggie dropped the knife and ran from the scene. Josie Fay, who witnessed the crime, ran for a doctor. A police officer arrived first and asked Lizzie several times, “Do you know who stabbed you?”

Lizzie rolled in pain. “Let me alone,” were the last words she said. The Medical Examiner arrived and ordered her body be taken to the morgue. Tolan, who had tried to interfere, was badly cut about the head and hands. He had to be carried to the police station, but his wounds were not fatal.

Maggie was apprehended soon after, drinking at Doc Young’s saloon on Sudbury Street. The bartender said Maggie had been drinking there earlier in the evening and had become so boisterous that he had to shut her up. He said she left the saloon with the knife in her hand, saying she was going to put it into her sister before the evening was out.

At the police station, Maggie gave her version of the story. She said she was looking for her sister and wanted to tell her that the man she was with was no good. 

“You see, sir,” she said, “my sister had been drinking; she was pretty full, and I did not want her to go with him at all, because I did not like the looks of him.”

She said she called Tolan a dirty pimp, and he rushed at her with a knife. Lizzie jumped between them and was stabbed. Maggie twisted the knife from his hand, cutting her hands in the process, then aimed a blow at him.

“I know I must have stabbed him somewhere,” she said,  “but I know I did not cut my sister; I would not do it for the world…I love her very much, because she is all the relation I have in the world that I care for, and  I would not do anything to harm her.”

Maggie was arraigned on January 21 for the murder of her sister. She pleaded not guilty. When the case went before the Supreme Judicial Court on May 7, she changed her plea to guilty of manslaughter, which the court accepted. Sheriff Clark testified that since her arrest, Maggie expressed a great deal of grief for the loss of her sister. The judge sentenced her to three years of hard labor in the Suffolk County House of Correction.

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Sources: 

“Another Murder at Boston,” New Haven Evening Register, January 20, 1880.
“The Hawkins Street Murder,” The Boston Globe, May 7, 1880.
“Horrible Harlotry,” Illustrated Police News, January 31, 1880.
“Killed Her Sister,” The Washington Post, January 20, 1880.
“Margaret Anderson,” The Boston Globe, January 20, 1880.
“Margaret Anderson,” The Boston Globe, January 21, 1880.
“Murder,” The Boston Globe, January 20, 1880.
“Sororicide,” Buffalo Weekly Courier, January 28, 1880.

Harry and Catherine.

 

Harry and Catherine.
(Harry Hayward: Life, crimes, dying confession and execution of the Celebrated Minneapolis Criminal.)

Harry Hayward was a handsome young conman from a wealthy Minneapolis family. He persuaded Catherine Ging to make him beneficiary on a life insurance policy, then, on December 3, 1894, he lured her to her death. 

Read the full story here: The Minneapolis Svengali.

A Murder on Ice.

A group of young boys from Lambertville, New Jersey, went skating on Island Creek on December 15, 1880. They brought their lunches and, when they sat down to eat, they built a fire on the ice to keep warm. John Pierman, an older boy (age reported variously as 15, 16, or 18) with another group, came upon them and started kicking the burning wood around the ice. Theodore Parker, aged 13 or 14, told Pierman to stop. An argument ensued and words led to blows. When Parker struck Pierman in the face, breaking his pipe, Pierman pulled out a knife and plunged it into Parker’s left breast, piercing his heart.

As Parker fell, Pierman immediately ran over the ice toward Pennsylvania. Parker died two or three minutes later. The rest of the boys ran after Pierman, hoping to catch him and bring him back. They followed him for several miles until they lost sight of him in Deer Park, Pennsylvania. All but four of the boys turned back.

Someone in Centerville saw Pierman go into a barn, and the boys found him there, hiding in a hay mow. He surrendered peacefully, handing over the knife, a shoemaker’s knife with a two and a half inch blade. They did not tell him that Parker was dead.

Pierman was taken to the Fleminton Jail. The following morning, he learned that he had killed Parker, and he broke down in tears. He confessed to the murder and added that his father had advised him to use a knife or a brickbat whenever he got into a quarrel.

Theodore Parker’s funeral drew a large crowd. The Boozer Cadets, a boys’ drill team (founded by J. Fennemore Boozer) of which Parker was a member, turned out in full force.

John Pierman was held until the following April, when the Hunterdon County Court of Oyer and Terminer convened. He entered a plea of non vult to manslaughter—a “no contest” plea, accepting the court’s judgment without admitting guilt, thus avoiding a jury trial. Pierman had a reputation for being reckless and good-for-nothing; he never attended school and was allowed to roam at large. Dr. John W. Ward testified that Pierman’s mental development was of a very low order as a result of improper training by his parents. His counsel made a plea for judicial clemency, and the court sentenced Pierman to the State Prison for a term of five years.

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Sources: 

“A Boy Murdered,” Lambertville record. [volume], December 15, 1880.

“A Boy of Thirteen Murdered by A Youth of Eighteen,” Philadelphia Inquirer, December 16, 1880.
“The Boy Murderer,” The New York Herald, December 17, 1880.
History of West Amwell 

“Killed on the Ice,” New York Herald, December 16, 1880.
“Local Affairs,” Lambertville record, December 22, 1880.
“Murder on Ice,” Illustrated Police News, January 1, 1881.
“News Article,” Lambertville record, February 9, 1881.
“Terrible Tragedy at Lambertville,” Daily State Gazette, December 16, 1880.
“A Young Murderer Sentenced,” Evening Post., April 21, 1881.

Clara and Daniel.

 

("On Trial for Murder," Daily Inter Ocean, November 27, 1895.)

During a time of conflict between the Shanks family and the Keller family in rural Indiana, the body of 18-year-old Clara Shanks was found floating in Wolf Creek. Circumstantial evidence pointed to Daniel Keller, who had a clandestine romance with Clara.

Read the full story here: The Wolf Creek Tragedy.

So far From Home: The Pearl Bryan Murder.

 So far From Home: The Pearl Bryan Murder - Amazon, Audible.

Who Killed Carrie Farrel?

Mrs. Carrie Farrel left her home in Sibley, Iowa, at 7:00 a.m. on May 6, 1889. She went on horseback to visit her parents, who lived about two miles away. When she didn’t return that night, her husband thought nothing strange of her absence. It was not unusual for Carrie to spend the night with her parents. But when her horse returned home riderless the following morning, her husband became alarmed and began searching for her.

He found his wife’s lifeless body lying in a pool of water. On the left side of her face, just below the eye, was a deep scar, indicating a sudden and powerful blow administered by a strong man. He found other bruises around her face and shoulders. On the ground, forty rods away, was a basket of eggs, unharmed, which was taken as another indication of foul play.

Carrie’s parents said she had left their house at 6:00 the previous evening. She took a diagonal course across the field to the main road. This route took her to a seldom-frequented bridge over a slough. In her left hand, she carried a basket of eggs. Although Carrie Farrel had no known enemies, her death was assumed to be a murder. She was highly respected in her neighborhood, and “woe be to the suspected murderer.”

This story was picked up by the Associated Press, and versions of it appeared in papers throughout the country under headlines such as: “A Mysterious Murder,” “Evidence of Foul Play,” “Murdered on a Road,” and “Who Killed Mrs. Carrie Farrel?” However, back in Iowa, the Davenport Democrat Gazette reported that the relatives of Mrs. Carrie Farrel were so well satisfied that death came from being thrown from her horse that no inquest was held. “The story sent out by the Associated Press was highly sensational and wide of the truth.”

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Sources: 

“All Around Iowa,” Davenport Democrat Gazette, May 11, 1889.
“Evidence of Foul Play,” Daily Arkansas Gazette, May 9, 1889.
“Murdered on a Road,” Manhattan Mercury, May 15, 1889.
“Mysterious Murder,” St. Paul daily globe., May 8, 1889.
“A Mysterious Murder,” The Minneapolis Journal, May 8, 1889.
“Who Killed Mrs. Carrie Farrel,” National Police Gazette, June 1, 1889.

James and Sarah Jane.

 

James E. Eldredge and Sarah Jane Gould.
(The Trial of James E Eldredge )

James E. Eldredge left his home in Canton, New York in the spring of 1856. He returned six months later with a new name and a duplicitous personality to match. All those around him soon learned to distrust anything the young man said—all except his fiancé, Sarah Jane Gould. She remained trusting to the end, when Eldredge poisoned Sarah Jane to pursue her younger sister.

Read the full story here: James E. Eldredge.

Asked His Wife to Shoot Him.

Lourens Signourette and his wife lived near Foster’s Bar, a remote camp in the Yubas Foot Hills in California. Lourens had been ailing for quite a while, and on December 1, 1891, he decided to end his life by taking strychnine. The poison did not have the immediate effect that he wanted, so he asked his wife to get his shotgun and shoot him.

She honored his request but had trouble getting the gun to work. When she finally fired, the shot did not kill her husband. He then told her to pile brush over him and set it on fire to burn him to death. This she refused to do. Instead, she walked some distance to a cabin occupied by a man named George and asked him to help burn her husband. George also refused, and he notified a constable about the situation. When they all returned to the Signourettes’ cabin, they found Lourens dead.

The constable arrested Mrs. Signourette. She told the police about Lourens taking strychnine and his request to be shot. She justified her action by saying that she promised to obey him when they were married. The County Coroner announced that he and a physician would travel to Foster’s Bar, where the body of Lourens Signourette would be exhumed and autopsied. If the facts were not as Mrs. Signourette related, she would be charged with murder.

While this story was published in newspapers across the country, the details, even in California papers, were very sparse. None of the stories included Mrs. Signourette’s first name, George’s last name, or the results of the autopsy (and the picture is not accurate). It is probably safe to assume that the coroner was satisfied with the outcome and dropped the matter.

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Sources: 

“Accommodated with a Killing,” Illustrated Police News, January 2, 1892.
“Announcements,” Mayfield Weekly Monitor, December 16, 1891.
“The Coroner Will Investigate,” Sacremento Daily Union, December 10, 1891.
“He Said Shoot and She Shot,” Trenton Times., December 9, 1891.
“Likely Died Happy,” Daily Inter Ocean, December 8, 1891.
“She Complied with the Request,” Helena independent, December 8, 1891.

The Late Mr. Benjamin Nathan.

Harper's Weekly, August 20, 1870.

Benjamin Nathan, a wealthy stockbroker and philanthropist, was found brutally beaten to death in his Manhattan home the morning of July 29, 1870. Some jewelry and a small amount of cash were stolen, and the police were quick to rule the incident a burglary gone bad. But if so, how and when did the burglars enter? And how could four others staying in the house sleep through the violent attack? In fact, the Nathan murder looked more like a classic locked-room mystery—a mystery that remains unsolved.

Read the full story here:

Who Killed Benjamin Nathan?

The Crosby Street Murder.

At around 6:30, the morning of February 4, 1877, the residents of Crosby Street in New York City were alarmed by a woman’s shriek. Many were preparing for church that Sunday morning, and from their windows, they watched the woman, barefoot, wearing just a skirt and a thin chemise, run across the street, pursued by a man wielding what appeared to be a long iron spike. She ran to the house at 52 Crosby Street, screaming, “Open the door; for the blessed Virgin’s sake, open the door.”

As the man reached the doorstep, she turned and said to him, “For God’s sake, James, don’t strike me!”

He plunged the weapon into her breast. She fell to her knees, then tried to rise but fell backwards onto the sidewalk. The man quickly ran up to Spring Street and disappeared. A second man started running toward the Bowery and was intercepted by a policeman who took him into custody and held him as a witness. Two more policemen carried the woman in a stretcher to the Mulberry Street station, where she died.

Tinsmith's Reamer

The weapon was a tinsmith’s reamer, an iron tool for cutting holes in block tin. It was about a foot long, pointed at the end with a square blade, and a little iron crossbar welded to the shank. The killer left it behind—in some accounts, he left it stuck in her chest.

From officers’ reports and eyewitness accounts, the police were able to identify the killer as James Flood, a tinsmith.  They reconstructed the sequence of events leading to the murder. Around midnight, the night before the murder, Officer Corry saw Flood standing in front of a grocery shop on Crosby Street owned by a German man named William Alfka. Flood said his wife, Mary, was in the shop, “criminally intimate” with Alfka, and he wanted Corry to bring her out. Corry told him there was nothing he could do, so Flood left.

Flood went to the Bowery and met up with Joseph Morrison, the witness who would be arrested at the scene of the murder. They went on a spree, going from saloon to saloon, drinking all night. Early in the morning, they were back in the alley behind Alfka’s store, though Morrison didn’t know why. Flood went into a hall outside Alfka’s bedroom in the rear of the shop and tried to break into the locked bedroom door.  When Mary heard him, she hastily put on her skirt and ran, barefoot, out the other door, through the front of the shop, into the street. Alfka hid the rest of her clothing under his mattress.

Flood went back outside and chased Mary across the street. She ran to the door of 52 Crosby, where she and Flood had previously lived together. The door was locked, and no one came to open it. Flood caught her on the front steps and killed her, then fled.

The police took Alfka into custody to guarantee he would appear at the coroner’s inquest. James Flood had gone to Brooklyn and remained at large until Tuesday night. He didn’t realize he had killed Mary until he read it in the newspaper. When he learned that the police were looking for him, he turned himself in at the Fourth Precinct Station in Brooklyn.

The inquest was held on Friday, February 9. A coroner’s jury heard the testimony and charged James Flood with first-degree murder. Joseph Morrison was charged as an accomplice. Both were held without bail, awaiting the Grand Jury.

While the suspects were in custody, the police learned more about James and Mary Flood. His real name was James McFarland. He changed it to Flood, his mother’s maiden name, when he fled a murder charge in Toledo, Ohio. He met and fell in love with Mary Beach in Toledo. Both were in their twenties and born in Ireland. But he was not the only man in love with Mary, and James stabbed and killed his rival in a street fight. 

James changed his name and fled with Mary to New York City, where they rented a room at 52 Crosby Street. But things did not go well; his work took him out of town for months at a time, leaving Mary with no income. When he was home, James would drink excessively and ill-treat Mary. During his absences, Mary became intimate with William Alfka, the grocer across the street. Finally, James and Mary separated, and each found different lodgings off Crosby Street. Wracked with jealousy, James kept watch on Mary’s activities.

James Flood was indicted for first-degree murder, and Joseph Morrison was released. At his trial in June 1877, Flood was represented by William Howe of Howe and Hummel, the city’s most successful criminal attorneys. Howe did not win an acquittal but managed to save Flood’s life. The jury found him guilty of second-degree murder. During the sentencing, Judge Sutherland expressed his disapproval with the verdict, saying:

Flood, you ought to be full of gratitude to the jury. You have had a lucky escape. Had not the jury the right to determine from the evidence in the case, from your prowling around that grocery store and telling the policeman that you thought your wife was in there with Alfka, that you formed a premeditated design to kill.  I repeat, you ought to be thankful to the jury for treating you so mercifully, and no man ever had a fairer trial. The sentence of the Court is that you be confined in State Prison for the term of your natural life. 

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Sources: 

“An Escape from the Gallows,” New York Herald, July 1, 1877.
“The Antecedents of James Flood,” Chicago Daily News, February 12, 1877.
“Brutal Wife-Murder,” Chicago Daily Tribune, February 5, 1877.
“Crimes and Casualties,” Worcester Daily Press, February 5, 1877.
“Crime's Darkest Phases,” New-York Tribune, February 5, 1877.
“The Crosby Street Murder,” Evening Post, February 9, 1877.
“The Crosby Street Murder,” Evening Post., February 12, 1877.
“Flood, The Wife-Murderer,” Sunday Mercury, February 11, 1877.
“James Flood Surrenders Himself,” New-York Tribune, February 7, 1877.
“The Murder of Mrs. Flood,” New-York Tribune., February 10, 1877.
“Murdered for her Fault,” sun., February 5, 1877.
“Murdered For Her Fault,” Illustrated Police News, February 17, 1877.
“The "Reamer" Murder,” New York herald., February 7, 1877.
“The "Reamer" Murder,” New York herald., February 8, 1877.
“Slain in the Street,” New York herald., February 5, 1877.
“Summary of Law Cases,” New York herald., February 15, 1877.