Saturday, July 5, 2025
Dr. John W. Hughes.
Saturday, June 28, 2025
The Mysterious Murder.
Coroner Norris examined the trunk and believed, from the healthy-looking
flesh, that the body had been living no more than six or eight hours before it
was found. It had been thrown in the water so recently that a portion of the
clothing was still dry. It was a young man dressed in a fashionable style. He wore a white muslin shirt
with a small, narrow pleated bosom, a white flannel undershirt, a section of
coat, and a gray vest. A soft gray hat had been in the package, along with a piece
of iron to weigh it down. The coroner concluded that the man had been murdered.
One week later, on October 10, a package wrapped in the same
manner was found at the foot of Corlears Street in New York City. Inside was
the pelvis that went with the trunk. In one of the pockets of the pants
connected to the pelvis was a ring of six keys, including one fancy bureau key
with a brass top. The same day, the thighs were found, twelve miles away in
Gravesend Bay. On the 13th, the legs and feet, still wearing boots
and clothing, were picked up off Yellow Hook. The Common Council of Brooklyn
offered a reward of $1,000 for the discovery of the murderer or murderers.
Several people who had recently missed friends and relatives
called on the 42nd Precinct to view the remains. No one was able to recognize the man, and the
authorities feared that without the head, identification would be impossible.
Finally, on October 17, the head was found, floating in the
water, near Fort Hamilton. It was packaged like the other pieces, wrapped in oilcloth.
Coroner Norris sent a messenger to bring the head to Brooklyn.
The head was that of a handsome young man, about thirty-five years of age, with
chestnut brown hair, inclined to curl, whiskers thick and short, with mustaches
of a sandy color. It was perfectly matched to the other body parts.
It was certain, now, that the man had been murdered. The
head had a bullet wound in the right temple and another below the right
eye. The head was in such good condition
that the coroner determined that it had to have been floating for less than 14 days.
A cast was made of the face, the head, and the remains were photographed, and the
head was put on public display in the rotunda of the Brooklyn City Hall. The mayors of New York and Brooklyn each
offered rewards of up to $1,000 each for information on the murder. Frank Leslie’s
Illustrated Newspaper, a national publication, printed an engraving of the photograph
in the hope that one of its readers would recognize the man.
But, there were very few serious identifications. A young
man named Meechum left Lovejoy’s Hotel on September 30 and had not been seen
since. No one was able to identify the head as Meechum’s. A woman positively identified the murdered
man as her missing son, but this was proven untrue. Another claimed it was her
missing husband. He was a discharged soldier, and they had recently married.
The next day, he got his civilian clothes and disappeared. This claim was debunked
when the coroner asked for her marriage certificate showing that she was
married on October 7. The first body part appeared on October 3.
By November 11, the head and other remains were so
decomposed as to be beyond recognition. Coroner Norris ordered a post-mortem
examination. Dr. Spiers performed the post-mortem and gave a full report to the
coroner’s jury, who concluded that the man had died of a gunshot wound to the
brain, on or about the 2nd or 3rd of October 1864. They were
unable to say at whose hands the deceased received his wounds. The jury
recommended increasing the rewards offered for information and expressed hope
that Coroner Norris would continue his work on the case until it was successfully
solved. However, following the jury’s verdict, the case was essentially closed.
Sources:
“The Mysterious Murder,” Evening Post, November 11, 1864.
“The Mysterious Murder-,” Evening Post, October 17, 1864.
“The Body of a Murdered Man Found in the River,” New York Herald, October 4, 1864.
“Brooklyn Intelligence,” Journal of Commerce, Jr., October 26, 1864.
“Information Wanted,” Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, November 5, 1864.
“The Late Mysterious Murder,” Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, November 5, 1864.
“The Murder Mystery,” Press., October 19, 1864.
“The Mutilated Remains Found in the River,” Journal of Commerce, jr., October 5, 1864.
“The Mysterious Murder,” New York Herald, October 19, 1864.
“The Mysterious Murder,” Daily Times., October 19, 1864.
“The Mysterious Murder,” New-York Daily Tribune, November 15, 1864.
“The Mysterious Murder Case,” Journal of Commerce, Jr., October 18, 1864.
“New York Matters,” Newark Daily Advertiser, October 25, 1864.
Saturday, June 21, 2025
For Love of His Landlady.
Benjamin and Mary Merrill lived with their four-year-old son on Illinois Street in Chicago, where they ran a boarding house. During
the day, Benjamin worked as a broker, and Mary took care of the house along
with their chambermaid, Hattie Berk.
In May 1888, 22-year-old Andrew J. Martin took residence in
the Merrills’ boarding house. He worked nights as a stationary engineer for the
Union Steamboat Company. During the day, he lounged around the house, trying to
ingratiate himself with Mrs. Merrill. 33-year-old Mary Merril, a tall,
attractive brunette, was pleasant toward Martin, but was happily married and had no
interest in his advances.
By December 1888, Martin was desperately in love and would
not leave Mary alone. When other boarders began commenting on Martin’s behavior,
Hattie Berk took their concerns to Mary.
Martin learned of this and on December 10, he approached Mary,
who was sitting in the parlor, and tried to persuade her to discharge Hattie.
He told her that Hattie was a loose character and would bring disgrace upon the
house. Mary turned on him and said it was time for him to attend to his own
business and leave the affairs of the house alone. She did not care to have any more of his
interference in her business and hoped he would leave the house as soon as he
could find another place to live.
“Do you mean that?” Martin asked.
“I certainly do, Mr. Martin,” said Mary, “It will be best
all around if you do.”
Martin said no more; he got up and left the house. Mary went
upstairs to the room where Hattie was making the bed.
“Hattie, don’t you think I have a right to mind my own
business?” said Mary, perhaps feeling guilty about being so harsh with Martin.
“Why certainly,” said Hattie, and they discussed Martin’s
disruptive behavior.
Martin came back into the house and quietly climbed the
stairs. He stood for a moment outside the room and overheard their
conversation. Then he entered the room, and “affecting a devilish suavity,” he
drew a pistol from his pocket.
![]() |
Hattie fled downstairs, picked up the Merrills’ son, and ran
into the street screaming. She drew the attention of a policeman, who followed
her back to the house. The upstairs room was a revolting sight. Martin lay
dead, face up on the floor. Mary, lying in a pool of blood, was still alive. Conscious,
but unable to speak, she lay that way for three hours before dying.
When Benjamin Merrill heard the news of his wife’s murder,
he became hysterical and rushed home from work. Though he knew the killer was
dead as well, he screamed, “Let me at him. He should be drawn and quartered.”
Later, he spoke more calmly:
No husband ever loved a wife more than I did mine. She was so sympathetic, and glorified in my success, and sympathized in my failures. She was all that a wife could be, true as steel and pure as a virgin.
Martin was a boy, a country lad. He was a good-hearted fellow, too, and often took our little boy to plays. Of course, he loved my wife. Who could blame him for loving her? But I was not jealous, for she told me everything and only looked on him as I did, as a good-natured country boy.
Benjamin was not well enough to testify at the coroner’s
inquest the following day. Hattie Berk, the
eyewitness, told the whole story on
the stand. The jury came to the only conclusion possible: that Andrew Martin
committed suicide after shooting Mary Merrill twice.
Sources:
“Double Tragedy in Chicago,” The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 11, 1888.
“Faithful to the Last,” Evening Post, December 11, 1888.
“For Love of His Landlady,” News and Courier, December 11, 1888.
“The Martin Merrill Tragedy,” Chicago Daily News, December 11, 1888.
“Martin's Awful Crime,” Chicago Daily News, December 11, 1888.
“The Merrill Martin Murder,” Daily Inter Ocean, December 12, 1888.
“Sensational Double Tragedy,” Indianapolis Journal., December 11, 1888.
Saturday, June 14, 2025
The Acquital of Joseph A. Blair.
Later that night, Blair returned to the stable with a pistol in his pocket. They argued again, and Blair followed Armstrong when he went up to his room above the stable. Two minutes later, a gunshot was heard, and Armstrong was dead.
A coroner’s jury charged Blair with manslaughter. However, after 2,000 workingmen held a rally protesting the light charge against Blair for killing one of their peers, the prosecution, led by the New Jersey Attorney General, raised the charge to first-degree murder.
Joseph Blair’s trial lasted seventeen days, with three days of impassioned closing arguments for and against his conviction of first-degree murder. When the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, Blair appeared utterly dazed for a moment, then fell over the pile of law books on the table and sobbed loudly.
Read the full story here: The Murdered Coachman.
Illustration from Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, November 8, 1879.
Saturday, June 7, 2025
Life, Crimes, and Conviction of Lydia Sherman.
When the press learned that Lydia Sherman had poisoned three husbands and eight children, they called her “The Arch Murderess of Connecticut,” “The Modern Borgia,” and “The Poison Fiend.”
Read the full story here: The Poison Fiend.
Saturday, May 31, 2025
The Harris-Burroughs Affair.
A young woman entered the Treasury Building in Washington,
D.C. on the afternoon of January 30, 1865. She went to the office of the Comptroller
of the Currency and opened the door just enough to peek in and see the clerks
at work. After locating the man she sought, she closed the door and waited in
the hall for his workday to end.
The man, A.J. Burroughs (Adoniram Judson, sometimes reported as Andrew Jackson), left the office at 4:00. He hadn’t gone more than three feet when he heard the crack of a pistol. Realizing that he had been shot, he turned around to see the female form standing in the hall. “Oh!” he exclaimed and hurried toward the stairway. A second shot rang out, and he fell to the floor. His comrades, thinking he had fainted, rushed to his aid. They conveyed him to a room nearby where he died fifteen minutes later.
Saturday, May 24, 2025
Was Abbott Innocent?
![]() |
Illustrated Police News, February 28, 1885. |
A tramp was seen in the neighborhood that day looking for work. A neighbor of the Crues, Jennie Carr, identified the tramp as Stearns K. Abbott from a police photograph. Abbott had recently been released from New Hampshire State Prison, where he had served time for larceny. He had also served prison time in Massachusetts and Connecticut. Abbott had already left town, so the police circulated his photograph among New England police departments. Ten days later, Abbott was arrested in East Weare, New Hampshire.
Abbott was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang, but there was lingering doubt as to his guilt. In February 1885, Chief Wade of the State District Police said:
I never thought Abbot Killed that woman. Why, there was a whole hour of her husband’s time that was unaccounted for, and that length of time was sufficient for him to commit the deed in. It was the old story, though, of giving a dog a bad name and everybody will kick it. Abbott had a bad reputation and no friends to look out for his interests. That Jennie Carr that swore so strongly in the case knew a good deal more than she swore to. She didn’t care to tell all she knew. I have no doubt that the truth will come out in this case and that it will be at last cleared up. Stearns Kendall Abbott is an innocent man, so far as the murder of Mrs. Crue is concerned.
The truth never did come out, but public pressure led the state governor to commute Abbott's sentence to life in prison. Abbott served thirty years of his sentence before being pardoned in 1911. He never wavered in his assertion of innocence.
Saturday, May 17, 2025
The Prince Street Murder.
Bertha Levy entered the house at 111 Prince Street, Manhattan,
just before 10:00 a.m. on January 18, 1880. She was a hairdresser, and she had
an appointment with Annie Downey, who lived on the second floor. No one
responded to her knocks, and the door was locked. The owner of the
house did not have a key to the room. Fearing the worst, they summoned the
police; the Eighth Precinct Station House was less than a block away.
Officer Sweeny and Sergeant McNally broke the door open and found Annie Downey’s lifeless body lying prostrate on the blood-soaked bed. A pillowcase was tightly bound around her throat. Her left arm was bent, and her fingers were clutching the pillowcase. Ugly gashes on her forehead and bruises marred her face.
Saturday, May 10, 2025
Some Very Cold Cases.
In 2014, Murder by Gaslight posted Unsolved, a collection of
19th-century murders that had never been fully explained. The list included
some famous cases, including the murders of Andrew and Abby Borden, Carrie
Brown, Benjamin Nathan, as well as several other homicides that were never
prosecuted.
Since then, Murder by Gaslight has posted many more murder cases
that were never solved. Either the evidence was too thin to charge the prime
suspect, or the entire case was shrouded in mystery. Here are a few of Murder by Gaslight’s very cold cases:
![]() |
The Assassination of Corlis.On March 20, 1843, Charles G. Corlis was shot outside of the bowling saloon he owned in New York City. Witnesses saw someone running from the scene—maybe a man, maybe a woman, maybe a man dressed as a woman. Suspicion fell on Henry Colton because Corlis was having an affair with his wife, Hannah. The police arrested both Coltons, but Henry had an alibi, and no one could say conclusively that the woman in question was Hannah. The Coltons were released from custody, and no one was ever charged with the murder.
|
![]() |
A Shrewd Rascal.
Samuel Smith and his wife Emma appeared to the world as a happy and affectionate young couple. She was pretty and vivacious with a dazzling wardrobe, and he was energetic with a winning personality. But beneath the surface was a hidden turmoil that did not come to light until 1885, when Emma was found dead in their Chicago apartment, her head blown apart by a shotgun blast. Samuel Smith was the prime suspect, but he left Chicago and was never seen again.
|
![]() |
The Snell Murder.In the wee hours of February 8, 1888, burglars broke into
the mansion of Amos J. Snell, one of the wealthiest men in Chicago. They went
straight to Snell’s office and opened his safe and a strong box, but when they did
not find the fortune they expected, they went upstairs and began gathering
silver items. Snell heard them in the parlor and fired his pistol through the
closed door. The thieves fired back, killing Snell. Despite a large reward and
a massive manhunt leading to more than 1,000 arrests, no one was charged with Snell’s
murder. |
![]() |
The Maggie Hourigan Mystery.The body of Maggie Hourigan was found floating in a pool of
water on October 20, 1889. Dr. S. Walter Scott performed a hasty autopsy and concluded
she had committed suicide. No one who knew her believed that Maggie had killed
herself, and a second autopsy discovered a wound on the side of her head, indicating
that she was dead or unconscious when she entered the water. With no other
suspects, the New York Sun implied that Dr. Scott may have come to a false
conclusion to hide his own involvement in the murder. He sued the Sun for libel
and received a settlement. The true circumstances of Maggie Hourigan’s death
remain a mystery. |
![]() |
The Mysteries of Mary Tobin.On May 12, 1889, the janitor of the Clifton Boat Club on Staten Island found the body of Mary Tobin floating in the water. The police suspected suicide. Perhaps she had been seduced and betrayed and had drowned herself to hide her shame. But the coroner found no evidence of pregnancy or abortion. He found no marks of violence and no trace of poison. Mary Tobin’s life was filled with mystery; she was engaged to be married but also contemplating joining a convent. The final mystery of Mary Tobin’s life—did she die by murder, suicide, or accident—has never been solved. |
![]() |
The Stillwell Murder.Fannie Stillwell told police that around 2:00 am on December
30, 1889, she heard a disturbance and got up to find her husband, Amos, lying in
a pool of blood, with a terrible gash in his head. Amos Stillwell was one of
the wealthiest men in Hannibal, Missouri, and his wife was 30 years younger than
he was. The police investigation was futile, but a year later, when Fannie
Stillwell married her physician, Dr. Hearne, the couple became the prime
suspects. Dr. Hearn was tried and found not guilty; charges against Fannie were
effectively dropped as well. The people of Hannibal would remain appalled that
one of their most prominent residents could be murdered without retribution. |
![]() |
15 Corning Street.The strangulation of Alice Brown in her room at 15 Corning
Street in Boston’s South End dominated the front page of the city’s daily
newspapers in the autumn of 1897. The Boston newspapers aggressively
followed clues and gathered background, hoping to scoop each other and the
police in their vivid reporting of the crime. In the end, they may have been
too aggressive, adding more confusion than clarity. The case was muddled with
rumor and innuendo, but not enough evidence to indict anyone. It remains one of
the city’s unsolved mysteries. |
![]() |
The Medford Mystery.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. The mystery was never resolved. |
Friday, May 2, 2025
A Honeymoon Tragedy.
Around 3:00, on the afternoon of June 15, 1886, a bellboy heard
gunshots while responding to a prolonged ring from room 25 on the second floor
of the Sturtevant House in New York City. No one answered his knocks, and the
door was locked. He heard groans coming from inside and, together with the hotel
carpenter, they burst into the room.
The occupants, a man and a woman, both lay on the floor, their heads upon pillows. They had both been shot but were still alive. The man was holding a revolver. George Hutty, the carpenter, was the first to approach the pair. He raised the man’s head and said, “Why have you done this?”
Saturday, April 26, 2025
Views of the Fisk Assassination.
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
![]() |
1. Life, Adventures, Strange Career and Assassination of Col. James Fisk Jr. (Philadelphia: Barclay and Co, 1872.)
2. Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, January 20, 1872.
3. The Life of James Fisk Jr. (Philadelphia: Union Publishing Company, 1872.)
4. “The Stokes-Fisk Assassination,” Illustrated Police News, January 11, 1872.
Saturday, April 19, 2025
Liquor and Free Love.
As Police Officers Henry Johnson and Eli Veazie were leaving
the Chelsea, Massachusetts City Marshal’s office on the evening of February 17,
1872, they were approached by a man, intoxicated and in a state of agitation.
“I have had my revenge. I want you to go with me,” he said, “I suppose I have killed him and shall have to suffer for it.”
Saturday, April 12, 2025
Parting from Her Doomed Lover.
![]() |
National Police Gazette, December 29, 1888. |
Franklin Asbury Hawkins murdered his mother on October 29, 1887, and dumped her body, beaten and shot, by the side of the road in Islip, Long Island. 22-year-old Hawkins was angered that his mother objected to his desire to marry Hattie Schrecht, a servant girl. Hawkins was easily convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to be hanged in December 1888.
Hattie Schrecht visited Hawkins in his jail cell the night before his execution. She blamed herself for the murder, but the weeping girl assured her doomed lover that they would meet again in heaven.
Saturday, April 5, 2025
Shot Down in Court.
Police Officers Farson and Conway were patrolling the neighborhood of Orleans and Washinton Streets in Memphis, Tennessee, on the night of April 28, 1890, when they heard a cry of,” Help! Murder!” They hurried to the source and opened the door to find a woman lying on the floor with a heavy-set man over her with a death grip on her throat. They arrested the man and took him to Central Station, where they learned that they had captured Jake Ackerman, one of the most successful and dangerous criminals in the country.
Saturday, March 29, 2025
Miss Tobin's Mysterious Death.
![]() |
National Police Gazette, June 1, 1889. |
Mary Tobin’s life was clouded with mysteries and contradictions. She had come to Staten Island from Franklin, Pennsylvania. However, when her family learned of her death, they thought she was in Clifton, South Carolina.
The police suspected suicide. Perhaps she had been seduced and betrayed and drowned herself to hide her shame. But the coroner found no evidence of pregnancy or abortion. He found no marks of violence and no trace of poison.
In the two years that she lived on Staten Island, she went from being an active Methodist to an avid and very vocal atheist to a High Church Episcopalian. Her pastor said that prior to her death, Mary had consulted him about joining the Episcopal Sisters and moving to a convent.
It was well known that Mary was engaged to be married, but none of her friends or relations knew the identity of her fiancé. At the inquest, Dr. William Bryan revealed that he was engaged to Mary. Though the date had not been set, they planned to be married.
The final mystery of Mary Tobin’s life—did she die by murder, suicide, or accident—has never been solved.
Read the full story here: The Mysteries of Mary Tobin.
Saturday, March 22, 2025
The Hill's Grove Mystery.


Two days after her disappearance, search parties formed to look for any trace of Emma between Hill’s Grove and Pontiac. They focused on the river and ponds in the area, fearing that she may have fallen in and drowned. On November 14, when the search was all but abandoned, a group of searchers discovered Emma’s body in the bushes on a knoll, near the road.
Thursday, March 20, 2025
An Illustrated Encyclopedia: The 1891 Murder Of Carrie Brown.
An Illustrated Encyclopedia: The 1891 Murder Of Carrie Brown, a new book by Howard and Nina Brown of JTRForums.com, is a comprehensive summary of the people, places, and things associated with one of New York City’s most sensational murder cases. The brutal murder of Carrie Brown shocked the people of New York and challenged their police force. Many believed that it was the work of London’s Jack the Ripper, making the investigation even more urgent. The Browns’ new book profiles all of the characters involved and views the case from all angles.
Available at Amazon.
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Mary and Oscar.
![]() |
Mary Barrows and Oscar Blaney. Illustrated Police News, May 9, 1885, |
In 1883, Mary Barrows of Kittery, Maine, persuaded her son-in-law,
Oscar Blaney, to murder her husband, Thomas Barrows. Mary had been married before and
had a daughter by her first husband. Thomas never got along with his
stepdaughter, and he despised Oscar. He went into a rage whenever they visited
because he believed Mary planned to transfer the deed of their farm to her
daughter.
Mary and Oscar agreed that there would be no peace in their
lives until Thomas was dead and they decided to make it happen. On November 14,
1883, Oscar ambushed Thomas near the barn, shot him three times, and fled. The
shots did not kill Thomas, and he managed to crawl back to the house. Mary went
to get Oscar to finish the job. Oscar shot Thomas twice more, killing him.
Mary tried to claim that Thomas had committed suicide but
had trouble explaining five bullet wounds. Mary Barrows and Oscar Blaney were
both convicted of murder.
Read the full story here: The Kittery Crime.
Saturday, March 8, 2025
Mother and Son Murderers.
A driverless horse and wagon wandered aimlessly in the prairie
between Fort Gibson and Tahlequah in Indian Territory on December 3, 1883. Jim
Merrill heard the wagon come up to his front gate and went out to investigate.
In the bed of the wagon, he found the body of Arch Casey with a large bullet
hole in his left breast.
The wagon tracks were clearly visible in the dirt. They
followed a meandering route, sometimes on the road, sometimes off. Then, at one
point, they stuck to the road as if someone had guided the wagon to that spot
and then abandoned it. The tracks led back to the house of Mrs. Mary Matoy,
about a hundred yards north of the road to Tahlequah.
Mrs. Matoy was a widow who had "...born the reputation of being loose in character—a hard case—shrewd, bold and dangerous." Her son Jimmie (age reported variously 12-15) also had a bad reputation. They claimed to have no knowledge of the murder, but the Indian Police searched the house and found blood stains under a bed and a splotch of blood where the wagon had stood. The day before, Jimmie had borrowed a large-bore gun and four cartridges from a neighbor. He returned it the next morning, having shot two of the cartridges.
Captain Sam Sixkiller of the Indian Police was convinced of their
guilt. He arrested them both and conveyed them to Muskogee. From there, they
were taken to Fort Smith, Arkansas to await trial in the U.S. District Court.
Arch Casey was an Irishman who came to Fort Gibson in 1866
with the 19th Regiment of the U.S. Infantry. After discharge, he remained
in the district. He married a native woman and had three children. Casey was
described as industrious and peaceable but sometimes drank too much. His wife
died several years earlier, and he began a relationship with Mary Matoy. He
lived, off and on, at her house during the last three years.
While in jail in Fort Smith, Mary Matoy had her four-year-old
daughter in the cell with her. They lived that way for the next six months
until her trial the following June.
Both Mary and Jimmie persistently denied all knowledge of
the killing until a few days before their trial, when they acknowledged the
crime but claimed self-defense. On the witness stand, Mary explained what
happened:
Casey came to my house shortly after dinner time, and alighting from his wagon came in and began to abuse me. I went out in the yard. He followed and pushed me down over a pile of rocks. Jimmie ran into the house and got a gun. When he came out, Casey chased him around behind the house with an ax-handle. I then heard the gunshot, and going around there saw Casey lying on the ground. He died almost instantly. We were scared, and concluded the best thing we could do was to conceal the crime; so we dragged the body into the house, and taking the bedding from the slats laid Casey on them, and then put the bedding back on top of him. We did this to prevent anyone from seeing him who might chance to pass during the evening. After dark, we dragged the body to the wagon in the yard, and placed it in such a way as to make it appear that he had been shot in the wagon, and fallen off the seat. We then got in the wagon, taking my little girl along, and drove in a round-about way to where the team was found next morning, sometimes driving out of the road to make it appear that the team had got there without any driver. After abandoning the team we walked back home through the woods, a distance of nine miles, arriving there about daylight, carrying my little girl all the way back.
The Matoys had been charged with murder, but Mary’s explanation
was enough to convince the jury to find them guilty of the lesser charge of
manslaughter. The judge gave them the maximum sentence—ten years in prison and
a $1,000 fine.
Chief Deputy U.S. Marshal C.M. Barnes took Mary and Jimmie,
along with nine other convicts, to the House of Correction in Detroit, Michigan.
Mary was not allowed to take her little daughter to prison with her. They had
an emotional farewell in Arkansas before leaving. The girl was adopted by a
family in Fort Smith.
Sources:
“[Casey; Fort Gibson; Mrs,” Cherokee Advocate, December 7, 1883.
“[Matoy; Casey],” Cherokee Advocate, December 14, 1883.
“Arrested for Murder,” Rockford Daily Register., December 19, 1883.
“Capt.Hyde,” Indian chieftain., December 28, 1883.
“Mother and Child Acting as Murderers,” National Police Gazette, July 26, 1884.
“Mother And Child Take a Sad Farewell, the Former Leaving for a Prison Cell,” Daily Arkansas Gazette, July 23, 1884.
“Mother and Son Sentenced,” Fort Worth daily gazette., June 20, 1884.
“Woman Convicted of Murder,” Rockford Daily Register., June 20, 1884.
Saturday, March 1, 2025
Kitty Mulcahey's Fury.
![]() |
National Police Gazette, January 14, 1882. |
The police and reporters were not satisfied with her story. The newsmen wanted the name of the other man and the location of the pistol, and they pressed her to implicate her pimp, Billy Scharlow. Kitty was unhappy with the way she was portrayed in the press and became increasingly annoyed by their incessant questioning. In January, she had enough, and with a fierce outburst of temper, she doused the reporters from head to foot with water from a bucket in her cell.
Before her trial, Kitty recanted her confession, and without it, there was very little evidence against her. She was found not guilty and released from custody.