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| Laura D. Fair and Alexander P. Crittenden |
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| Laura D. Fair and Alexander P. Crittenden |
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| William H. Devlin (Illustrated Police News, December 22, 1877) |
The officers went to the home of William and Ellen Devlin and found the door locked. After receiving no response to their knocks, they broke it open. Inside, they were shocked to find a woman lying on the bedroom floor, battered and wounded, blood oozing from a deep gash behind her left ear, and her whole face was swollen and distorted, all indicating an agonizing death. On her breast, an infant lay dead, its neck and face showing signs of brutal treatment.
The Devlins had three other children: a boy, 10, a girl, 7, and a boy, 5, who the police found at their grandmother’s house. They were reluctant to speak of the assault, but after a meal at the police station, they told what had happened. On Saturday, their mother, Ellen Devlin, suffered from a toothache. She went to Sheldon & Rodliff’s grocery store and borrowed twenty-five cents on her husband’s account to have her tooth extracted. When their father, William Devlin, heard this, he was livid. He believed she had borrowed the money to buy alcohol. William was drunk, himself, when he came home that night, and he began to berate and threaten his wife. Their argument quickly came to blows when he punched her above the right eye. He threw her on the floor, kicked her, and began jumping on her. She gained her feet as soon as possible and, grabbing the baby, started upstairs. He threw her down again and dragged her into the bedroom. He beat her with a piece of wood, poured water on her head, stabbed her in the neck with a butcher knife, and then covered her with a few old dresses. The children were crying to see their mother so abused. William told them to keep quiet, or he would kill them.
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| Discovery of the Bodies. (Illustrated Police News, December 22, 1877) |
On Sunday, William went out, locking the children in the house. During the day, the oldest boy, John Devlin, uncovered his mother’s face and could see she was dead. When their father returned, the baby was crying. William tried feeding it, but when that failed to quiet the infant, he covered its head with the bedclothes and smothered it to death.
Monday morning, William gave John ten cents to buy the children candy. He said to go to his grandmother’s and say that his mother was dead, but to say nothing of the row between their mother and father. When the children left, he locked all the doors and windows.
William went to an attorney’s office to collect $20 pension that he was owed. Then he walked to the North Chelmsford train station and bought a ticket to Ayer, Massachusetts. There, he bought a ticket to Rutland, Vermont. When the police learned he had a sister in Rutland, they were able to trace his movements. They telegraphed ahead, and the news reached Bellows Falls, Vermont, before the train arrived. After some resistance, he was taken off the train.
The following day, Devlin was put in irons and, sitting between two officers, was taken by train back to Lowell. Hundreds of spectators were waiting at the depot, and they followed the carriage to the police station. Devlin was kept under heavy guard due to threats of lynching.
William Devlin was born in Ireland and emigrated to Vermont in 1852. He fought for the Union in the Civil War and, after the war, met and married Ellen Manning. They moved to Lowell and had been there about eleven years. Ellen’s mother had nothing good to say about her son-in-law. He was a heavy drinker, and she told the press that “drunk or sober, he was the ugliest man she ever knew.” By the time of the murder, Ellen was addicted to alcohol as well.
Devlin was indicted on two counts of first-degree murder. His trial before the Supreme Judicial Court in East Cambridge began on December 3, 1878. The only witness for the defense was Devlin himself, testifying on his own behalf. Stressing his war record, Devlin said he received a saber cut on his head at Antietam. Since then, he had usually been dizzy when in the sun, and when drunk, he got a blur over his eyes, so he did not know what he was doing.
On the day of the murder, he came home about half past four, somewhat intoxicated. His wife was sleeping with the baby in her arms; she got up and went upstairs; he took the baby out of her arms. When she was about halfway up, she fell headlong. He put out his arm to catch her and dragged her into the bedroom. He went out for more drinks, came back, and, leaving his wife on the floor, went to sleep in the chair. She slept all day Sunday, and on Monday morning, he found her dead.
The most persuasive testimony came from Devlin’s children, now a year older. John Devlin, 11, testified to seeing his father kick his mother, jump upon her, and throw her downstairs. He stamped on her six or seven times and stabbed her twice. 8-year-old Nellie Devlin said she saw her father strike her mother with a knife. Mother said, “Don’t kill me.” Father said, “Yes, I will.”
Devlin’s attorney, after defining for the jury the different degrees of murder, argued that his client was so much under the influence of alcohol at the time to be in a state of mind unable to commit the offense of murder in the first degree.
The jury deliberated for seven hours before returning a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree. Devlin took it in stride, saying, “Well, gentlemen, I suppose I’ve got to hang for it.”
Following his conviction, community attitudes against Devlin changed somewhat. Sympathetic supporters circulated a petition to commute his sentence to life in prison. Governor Talbot and the council agreed to a public hearing. The main argument for commutation was to prevent the stigma of Devlin’s death on the gallows from being fastened on his children. Devlin’s attorney argued that the children’s testimony had been coached by the victim’s parents, and the jury had been confused about their choices. Chief State Detective Clemence testified that “Devlin was a man of many vices and few virtues. He was of a nervous temperament, jealous and revengeful, and had several times mad unprovoked assaults on persons.” The governor declined to commute the sentence.
William Devlin was hanged in Cambridge on May 14, 1879. His last words on the gallows were, “I thank all my friends for their kindness to me. I recommend all my friends abstain from rum, and I recommend my soul to God.”
His love for Mary Anderson became his sole controlling passion, and soon turned to delusion. Dougherty believed Mary Anderson loved him as well, but she was surrounded by a group of conspirators who worked to keep them apart. He began following her to every city where she performed. In 1889, his stalking came to the attention of the New York City Police. They declared him insane and sent him to King’s County Insane Asylum in Brooklyn.
As his condition appeared to improve and his obsession with Mary Anderson subsided, the doctors no longer considered Dougherty a threat. He was put to work on the asylum’s farm, and he took the opportunity to escape. In October 1890, Dougherty returned to the asylum with a loaded revolver and murdered Dr. Lloyd, one of the physicians who, he felt, mistreated him.
“I did it. I meant to kill him and would have killed ten more if I had the chance,” he told the police. “I am not crazy, but as sane as the sanest man that walks New York today.”
The court agreed that Dougherty was sane and sentenced him to life in Sing Sing Prison.
Read the full story here: Lunatic Dougherty.
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One Week Only! On sale for 99 cents! The Pearl Bryan Murder "Yes. they drove far from the city, To a place so far from home, There they left her body lying Headless and all stained with blood" |
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| (Illustrated Police News, February 1, 1885) |
There was no response, so she ran to a neighbor for help. He found George alive but unconscious. On the floor was a small pool of blood from a wound in the back of his head, believed to have been sustained when his head hit the barrel. A doctor was summoned, but there was little he could do. George remained unconscious but held on until 10:15 that night. The official cause of death was “paralysis of brain.”
On Saturday, Sarah’s young nephew, Benny, was playing in the cellar and found a seven-shot Robin Hood pistol under the stairwell. One shot had been fired. He gave it to Sarah, who passed it on to her father-in-law. He gave it to the police the following day. When Medical Examiner Carlton heard of the discovery, he deemed it necessary to examine the body. George’s funeral was being held at the First Universalist Church. Following the service, the body was taken back to the undertaker’s, where Carlton performed an autopsy.
The autopsy showed that the wound behind George’s left ear was a bullet wound. The bullet was still in the skull. It was removed and found to match the bullets in the pistol found under the cellar stairs.
Everyone’s first thought was that George Proctor had committed suicide. He was the owner of the Produce Exchange in Salem. In the week before his death, he made his will, paid his insurance assessments, settled his accounts, and installed his brother as manager of the Exchange. But from the position of the wound and the fact that the hairs around it were not singed, the Medical Examiner concluded the wound was not self-inflicted.
George Proctor was murdered in the cellar of his own home, but it was unclear who would benefit from his death. The Proctors lived comfortably, but they were not wealthy. Some of his business ventures had failed. The will left his insurance benefit in trust for his widow and children; his brother would remain manager of the Exchange, and net profits would be divided semi-annually between his wife and his brother.
On August 1, Judge Osgood held an informal hearing where Sarah Proctors and other witnesses testified as to the circumstances of the murder. The hearing lasted two days, but nothing was resolved.
The following February, at a spiritualist meeting, a medium named Mrs. S. Dick communicated with George Proctor. She received tidings from the spirit world, then she suddenly paused and said, “I cannot go any further until I tell something which is the message that I hear, ‘No woman had anything to do with my death. George K. Proctor.’”
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| (Illustrated Police News, February 1, 1885) |
“Mrs. Proctor, I have a very painful duty to perform,” said Marshal Hart at Sarah Proctor's door.
“What is it, Mr. Hart?” she replied.
“I am instructed to arrest you, Mrs. Proctor, for causing the death of your husband, George K. Proctor.”
She fell back, as though stunned, and burst into tears. “You know I didn’t do that; you know I am innocent.”
The Marshal took her to jail in Lawrence.
Statements from people who knew the Proctors told the lawmen that their household was not a happy one. Sarah Proctor had a violent temper when aroused, and on more than one occasion, just before his death, George came to the police station and asked for protection. The City Marshal told him that he could obtain a warrant against his wife, but advised him not to bring public scandal on his family. George and his wife spent very little time together, and his friends advised him to get a legal separation.
Owing to trouble with her mother, their oldest daughter, Lilly, moved out of the house a year before Sarah’s arrest. Their other daughter was not on speaking terms with her mother and sued her for her share of the income from the Produce Exchange. She testified against her mother before the Grand Jury.
Sarah claimed that she had not heard a gunshot that morning, but the police conducted experiments that proved the shot would have been heard anywhere in the house. Her mother had sent Lilly out of town that day, and the younger sister was asleep. They also proved that the pistol could not have been thrown to the spot under the stairs where it was found. Other witnesses claimed there were towels saturated with blood at the house that morning, indicating that the bullet had bled more profusely than first thought. The police claimed to have additional evidence against Sarah that they did not make public.
Sarah Proctor remained in jail until May 12, 1885, when her case came before the Supreme Judicial Court. Attorney General Sherman moved that Sarah P. Proctor be arraigned on the charge of murder. However, he told the court that since the Grand Jury indictment, a number of important witnesses had changed their testimony and the evidence needed to be examined with more care.
“Since then, “ said the Attorney General, “I have, with the assistance of the district attorney and the officers, made a most thorough and searching examination of this important case, and I have come to the conclusion that I cannot expect or properly ask a jury to convict the prisoner on the evidence which we have at present.”
While the arraignment stayed in effect, Mrs. Proctor was released from custody. Public sympathy turned in her favor, and the suicide theory was revised, but the case remained unsolved.
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| Sadie and Clarence. |
When John Keys and Eva Dickenson were married in Cincinnati on August 21, 1890, they told their relatives that they planned to honeymoon on the Atlantic coast, but John had another plan. He purchased an Ohio River shanty-boat and planned a slow trip downriver to St. Louis. It would not be their last deception; in fact, what transpired on that fateful journey would remain forever shrouded in mystery.
Read the full story here: The Lawrenceburg Shanty-boat Mystery.
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| (Illustrated Police News, April 3, 1886.) |
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| Ida Quinlan and Sophia Grant. |
Mrs. Ida Quinlan went out to buy a pair of stockings at
around 9:00 on the night of February 1, 1896, leaving her baby in the care of
her sister, Mrs. Sophia Grant. She took a streetcar to the store several miles
away and returned to the house at around 11:00. Entering the sitting room, she
was surprised to find the drawers of the chiffoniers pulled out and their
contents spread on the floor. She called for Sophia and, getting no response,
went into the kitchen, where she found her sister lying dead on the floor,
covered with blood. Horrified, Ida ran from the house to seek assistance from
the neighbors. At least that was the story she told the police. The following
day, Ida Quinlan was arrested for the murder of her sister.
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| Daniel Sickles, Teresa Bagioli, Phillip Key |
In 1859, Dan Sickles, a congressman from New York (and future Union General), was married to the most beautiful woman in Washington, but his other interests, including his mistresses, often kept him away from home. His lonely young wife, Teresa, found comfort in the arms of Philip Barton Key, D.C. District Attorney and son of poet Francis Scott Key. When Sickles learned of their affair, he armed himself and confronted Key on the street. Blinded by rage, he shot and killed his wife’s lover. Was it premeditated murder or temporary insanity?
Read the full story here: Dan Sickle's Temporary Insanity.
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| Illustrated Police News, February 8, 1879. |

Howard and Nina Brown are frequent contributors to Murder by Gaslight, on matters pertaining to the 1891 murder of Carrie Brown, viewed by some as the work of London’s Jack the Ripper. The Browns run the website JTRForums.com, discussing all aspects of Jack the Ripper's murders, and CarrieBrown: Murder In The East River Hotel, a discussion site on the Carrie Brown case. They have written three books on Carrie Brown: East Side Story:1891 Murder Case of Carrie Brown, An Illustrated Encyclopedia and A -Z: The1891 Murder Of Carrie Brown In The East River Hotel, and 'Once A Happy Bride' The Tragic Life Of Carrie Brown: From Liverpool To The Lower East Side.
Their latest book, ‘Once a Happy Bride’, available from Amazon, covers aspects of
Carrie's life that have been generally glossed over, beginning with her days as
a young bride of a successful sea captain, and continuing through her days in New York, when she was never able
to shake the ravages of alcohol. Howard and Nina are sharing the foreword of their new book.
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| James Lattin and Ellen Lucas. (Daily Graphic, November 20, 1874.) |
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| (Philadelphia Inquirer, April 29, 1895.) |
Those who knew Jimmy Logue knew he frequently beat Johanna,
and they believed she had taken the opportunity of his absence to run away.
Logue searched for her, but he was arrested again for burglary and sent back to
prison. Nothing more was thought about Johanna’s disappearance until workmen
repairing the kitchen of the Philadelphia house found a woman’s skull under the
floorboards.
The skull was identified as Johanna’s by the formation of the teeth and the clothing found with the skull. Jimmy was in trouble again, but this time he had an alibi.
Read the full story here: "A Romance in Crime."
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| The Confession of Mary Cole, 1813. |
In December 1811, Agnes apparently moved out of the house. Mary told the neighbors that Agnes was offended by something the couple did, so she packed up and moved in with her brother in Bergen County. The following March, Mary and Cornelius left as well, moving in with his family. They rented the farm to another family.
The family that moved into the farmhouse perceived an unusual and unpleasant odor. They believed it was coming from beneath the floor, and in June, they pulled up some floorboards in the kitchen and found the source. It was the dead body of a woman lying in a shallow hole covered with ashes and swingle tow (flax fiber). They raised an alarm, the neighbors collected in the kitchen and were able to identify the body as that of Agnes Teaurs.
Stephen Pettus gave Hannah Southworth a glass of drugged champagne and had his way with her while she was unconscious. Hannah became pregnant and for years after, she badgered Pettus to acknowledge that he had ruined her. When all legal means were exhausted, she avenged her honor by shooting him in the back on a Brooklyn street.
Greed, jealousy, revenge, obsession – the motives of America’s gas-lit murders are universal and timeless. Yet their stories are tightly bound to a particular place and time; uniquely American, uniquely 19th Century.
Please note:
No artificial intelligence is used in any way to research or produce these posts.
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