Miss Fails in Court

Little Murders

This looks like a good one. I'll keep searching for more information.



(From Waterloo Courier, Waterloo, Iowa, December 15, 1897)

Miss Fails in Court

 

Murder in Second Degree

That is her Plea.—She Will Be Sentenced Saturday.—Kern Indicted for Murder.

 

Waverly, Dec. 10.— One chapter in the celebrated Kern murder  case was closed late yesterday afternoon, when Delilah Fails, supported by Mrs. Parrot, wife of Sheriff Parrott, staggered into the crowded court room, and through her attorney, E. L. Smalley, entered a plea of guilty to murder in the second degree.

August Hetzke.

Little Murders:

From Defenders and Offenders:

August Hetzke.

"This individual was convicted in Chicago, Ills., of murder in the first degree, he having beaten his little step-son to death. He was always most cruel to the child and on every opportunity treated him in an inhuman manner. The child’s suffering only seemed more to anger this brute, until at last he beat him to death. The case caused a great deal of excitement at the time in Chicago."

 

---

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

“…cut off in her youthful bloom”

In August of 1810, four little girls picking berries at the foot of a precipice near Uniontown, Pennsylvania, discovered the broken body of a beautiful young woman.  She was identified as Polly Williams, last seen walking to White Rocks to meet her fiancé Philip Rogers. Though the mysteries of Polly Williams’s death have endured for two centuries, her story is neatly summarized the words engraved on her tombstone:

Behold with pity, you that pass by;
Here doth the bones of Polly Williams lie;
Who was cut off in her youthful bloom;
By a vile wretch, her pretended groom.

Three Iowa Murders.

Little Murders

Here are three little Iowa murders from the same edition of The Marion Sentinel:



(From The Marion Sentinel, Merion, Iowa, December 9, 1897)

Mrs. Behrens Found Guilty.

 

Davenport Woman Convicted of Killing her Husband.

Davenport, Dec. 2.—In the second trial of Mrs. Claus Behrens the jury returned a verdict of guilty of murder in the first degree, fixing the penalty at life imprisonment at hard labor. This is the first instance in which a woman has been convicted of murder in the Second congressional district. The case has become celebrated, and has cost the county two trials, with another one following. The evidence showed that Mrs. Behrens administered paris green, causing her husband’s death in order to get his insurance and then marry Henry Brendt, who, it is alleged, gave her the poison. He will be tried next week.

The Talbotts.

Dr. Perry H. Talbott was among the most prominent citizens of Nodaway County, Missouri. In addition to being a skilled physician, Talbott was state legislator, a writer and a newspaper editor. He was a civic minded citizen with strong beliefs, highly admired by friends and neighbors. But towards his family, Dr. Talbott was cold and distant. Miserly and neglectful, he had little interaction with his children beyond the occasional scolding. When Dr. Talbott was shot by an unknown assassin on September 18, 1880, in his dying breath he blamed his political enemies. The Nodaway county authorities, however, believed the killer was someone closer to home.

August Detlaf.

Little Murders:

From Defenders and Offenders:

August Detlaf.

"John Phillips and Skip Larking of Chicago, Ills., were shot and instantly killed on the evening of July 29, 1888, by August Detlaf, who is a Pole. The two men were on their way home from a ball game. The murder was a most unprovoked one and occurred in a general row among a number of Poles, precipitated by some jesting remarks made by Phillips and Larkin. During the affray, Detlaf appeared on the scene suddenly, with a 44 caliber revolver and deliberately shot the two men alluded to."

 

---

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

Alabama Lynching.

Little Murders

(From The Davenport Daily Leader, Davenport, Iowa, January 1, 1893)

Alabama Lynching.

 

Two Murders Strung Up by a Mob.

Not given a chance for prayer.
 

Unlike Most Southern Lynchings the Victims This Time Were White Men and Had Murdered a Tax Collector and Robbed Him of $2,000 in Cash—Both Men Confessed Their Crime—How the Mob Entered the Jail.
 

Greenville, Ala., Dec. 31. – About midnight Thursday night two strangers went to the residence of Jailer Hill Bargainer and, arousing him, told him they had a prisoner to put in jail. Bargainer went with them to the jail and upon reaching that place was met by 100 armed and masked men, who, with pistols pointed at his head, demanded the keys of the jail. He gave the up and the cells of the John Hipp and Charles Kelley, murderers of Tax Collector C. J. Armstrong of Butler county were opened. Both men were taken out in their nightclothing. Ropes were place about their necks and they were hurried to the court house near by and hanged, not even being given time to pray. The mob then quietly dispersed. The verdict of the coroner’s jury was that the men were hanged by unknown Persons.

The Murder of Armstrong.

On Dec. 17 last, Tax Collector Armstrong while collecting taxes in Butler county was waylaid, murdered and robbed at Panther Creek bridge, the murderers getting $2,000. Rewards amounting to $1.500 were offered for the arrest of the murderers and great indignation existed among citizens. A week ago John Hipp, a noted desperado, was arrested for the murder after a desperate fight with the sheriff’s posse, in which Hipp was seriously wounded. Last Monday Charles Kelly was arrested in Monroe county, Ky, as Hipp’s accomplice. The confession of the gang made the evidence convincing. Both were white men.

 

---

The Davenport Daily Leader, Davenport, Iowa, January 1, 1893

A House Divided.

Tensions in the Ware household outside of Berlin, New Jersey, were near the breaking point. On August 16, 1870 they snapped, when a dispute over a milk pan turned mother against daughter, brother against sister, and drove John C. Ware to turn a shotgun on his father.

Nels Olsen Holong

Little Murders:

From Defenders and Offenders:

Nels Olsen Holong.

"Nels Olsen Hulong is another one filling the long list of murderers.  The crime was committed at Fergus Falls, Minn., and the victim was a woman named Lillie Field. The case was at the time the sensation of that part of the country, and the evidence was so plain that it only took the jury twenty minutes to find the fatal verdict."

 

---

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

The Murder of Patrick H. Dwyer

Little Murders
 

(From The New York Times, New York, NY, January 26, 1883.)

The Murder of Patrick H. Dwyer

Recorder Smyth’s Charge—The Jury Locked up for the Night.

The trial of Charles H. Warren, a contortionist, for the murder of Patrick H. Dwyer, proprietor of a pool room at No. 108 Bowery, in a dispute arising out of the refusal of the former to engage in a game of pool on the night of Sept. 21 last, was resumed in the Court of General Sessions yesterday. The deceased saloon keeper received a shot in the back, which proved fatal. Warren, who is an extraordinary freak of nature, amused the court officers during the long hours in which the jurors were deliberating on his case by his wonderful actions, dislocating the various joins of his body at will and resetting them with a sharp click, disagreeably suggestive of the operating room. The defense was that Warren fired in self-defense, Dwyer having attempted to shoot him. The case on both sides having closed on Wednesday evening, Recorder Smyth, on the opening of court yesterday, commenced his charge to the jury, and occupied an hour and a quarter in his delivery. His Honor charged that if the jury believed that before firing of the fatal shot Warren had time for premeditation and formation of a design to kill, his offense, if any was murder in the first degree. If he showed no premeditation, his offense would be murder in the second degree. He withdrew the offense of manslaughter in the first and second degrees form their consideration as inapplicable to the case at issue, and defined the law in relation to manslaughter in the third and fourth degrees. If, he said, Warren believed that Dwyer intended to kill him or to do him serious bodily harm, he had the right to take the life of the latter. It was no longer the law of the State, the court explained, that a man should retire before an armed assailant, when to do so would expose his life or person to danger. He had a perfect right, in the defense of his person or life, if unable to escape in safety from his antagonist, to stand his ground, and, if necessary, take the life of his assailant. He would be justified, too, in governing himself according to appearances. If he was menaced with a pistol—even though it should afterwards transpire that the weapon was not loaded—he had the right to act upon appearances, and take the life of his assailant. His Honor charged the jury to take into consideration the evidence of the defendant’s previous good character, and if they had any reasonable doubt of the guilt of the defendant it was their duty to give him the benefit of that doubt and acquit.

 

The jury retired at 12:50 P. M. and at 10 last night, not having agreed upon a verdict, was locked up for the night.


 

(From The New York Times, New York, NY, January 27, 1883.)

 

The Warren Jury Disagrees

 

The jury in the case of Charles H. Warren, the contortionist, on trial for the murder of Patrick H. Dwyer, proprietor of a saloon at No. 108 Bowery, whom he shot in a dispute arising from a refusal of the defendant to play a game of pool, entered the Court of General Sessions yesterday morning, after having been locked up all night, and had the evidence of one of the witnesses of the prosecution read to them. They returned to their room and on coming into court again at 2 P. M., informed Recorder Smyth that they found it impossible to agree upon a verdict. As they had been together 25 hours and could arrive at no conclusion, the Recorder said he did not feel justified in detaining them any longer, and discharged them from the further consideration of the case. The jury stood nine for acquittal, and three for conviction of some grade of murder. Warren was then taken back to the Tombs. His counsel will endeavor to procure his release on bail.

The Baltimore Sorrow.

William James and Denwood Hinds of Baltimore were close friends who had served together in the Fifth Maryland Regiment. The friendship would have remained strong if William’s sister, Lizzie James, had not become hopelessly infatuated with Denwood Hinds. Lizzie’s love set off a chain of events that not only ended her brother’s friendship with Denwood, but resulted in her own death and the murder of her father.

Brutal Murder in Middletown.

On September 24, 1843, Lucien Hall murdered Mrs. Lavinia Bacon in Middletown, Connecticut.  I am planning a more detailed post on this murder, but for now, here is a great picture and summary reprinted from the 1844 edition of Confessions, Trials, and Biographical Sketches of the Most Cold Blooded Murderers by George N. Thomson:

Brutal Murder in Middletown.

A brutal murder was committed at Middletown on the person of Mrs. Bacon, by a man named Hall who was one of three taken up on suspicion. Hall confessed himself to be the murderer at the trial, and said he could not let the innocent suffer. He says he entered the house and took some money from a desk, before Mrs. Bacon discovered him. She entered the room where he was, he knocked her down with a chair, and beat her to death. He stabbed her with a large butcher knife several times while she was struggling to save her life. The murder was committed about 11 o’clock, A. M. The jury found him guilty, and he was sentenced to be hung on the 20th of June 1844.

Source:

Thomson, George N, Confessions, trials, and biographical sketches of the most cold blooded murderers, who have been executed in this country from its first settlement down to the present time ... Hartford: S. Andrus and Son, 1844.

A Serial Murderer in the Regiment?

Check out my guest post at Civil War Medicine (and Writing) on Samuel E. Calhoun, who was either a psychopathic killer or the subject of a tall tale.

Joe Doran.

Little Murders:

From Defenders and Offenders:

Joe Doran.

"Joe Doran was sentenced to a term of sixty years in the penitentiary, for murdering his father-in-law, at a place called Lamar. Owing to the man’s laziness and refusal to support his wife and two children, she left him and went to live with her father. The husband being denied the privilege of even seeing the children became angry, purchased a revolver, and deliberately shot down the father and his wife. He was tried and subsequently received the above sentence."

---

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

"...as though he had shot her.”

Mary Pomeroy was the organist at the Prospect Avenue Presbyterian Church in Jersey City, New Jersey. In 1874 she was a beautiful young woman and an accomplished musician with a sterling reputation. Mary was renowned for her purity and virtue until she was seduced and abandoned by her pastor, the Reverend John Glendenning. She died soon after giving birth; her doctor said the cause of death was “a broken heart.” While Mary was technically not murdered, the people of Jersey City saw no difference. One newspaper story said of Reverend Glendenning: “He is as truly the murderer of Mary Pomeroy as though he had shot her.”

Death in the Family.

Family murders are always the most tragic and inexplicable. Whether the motive is greed, jealousy, or pent up animosity the killer is driven to a state of animal rage (or in the case of Lydia Sherman, single-minded determination) that knows no mercy. Here, in chronological order, is a list of murders where two or more family members were killed by the same hand.

	The Lester Brothers, 1850 – Reuben Dunbar clubbed and strangled his two young stepbrothers out of fear they would inherit property he believed was rightfully his.
	Lydia Sherman, 1864 – Over the course of seven years, Lydia Sherman poisoned three husbands, five children and two stepchildren.
	The Deering Family, 1866 – In a plan to rob his employer, Antoine Probst murdered six members of the Deering Family—including four children—with an axe and a hammer.
	The Christensens, 1873 –There have been several theories concerning the axe murder of Karen Anne Christensen and her sister-in-law, Anethe Matea Chretensen on Smuttynose Island, but the most likely killer was the man executed by the state, Louis Wagner.
	The Woolfolk Family, 1887 – Thomas Woolfolk was convicted of the axe murder of nine members of his family ranging in age from 18 months to 84 years.
	The Bordens, 1892—America’s most famous unsolved crime. Lizzie Borden was acquitted of the brutal axe murder of her father, Andrew Borden and her stepmother, Abby Borden.
	The Meeks Family, 1894 – Four members of the Meeks family where shot and beaten to death as they were traveling on the road. Only six-year-old Nellie Meeks lived to tell the tale.

xxx

Mysteries Cleared Up

Little Murders

This headline from the Davenport Daily Leader, December 9, 1894 references two sensational murder cases. The second case, the murder of Catherine Ging in Minneapolis, has already been covered in detail in this post: The Minneapolis Svengali.

 

Here is the "Packing Box Victim at Chicago:"

 

(From The Davenport Daily Leader, Davenport, Iowa, December 9, 1894.)

Mysteries Cleared Up

Two Sensational Murder Cases Made Plain.

Packing Box Victim at Chicago.

 

He was Killed by His Assistant, Jordan, According to a Confession Made by a Man Who Agreed to Help Dispose of the Body—Confession of Adry Hayward Clears Up the Murder of Miss Catherine Ging at Minneapolis.

Chicago, Dec. 8 – The mystery surrounding the murder of A. D. Barnes, the janitor of the Hiawatha building, whose remains were found in a packing box near Sixty-third street, has been solved. Two men and a woman were arrested. One, named Jordan, was Barnes’s assistant. The other was known as Jersey and sometimes did odd jobs about the place. The woman in the case is the wife of another janitor and from appearance was intimate with Barnes. She says that Jordan and Barnes often quarreled about her. The mystery was solved, however, by a confession, and Jersey was the man who confessed. To police officials he told the following story:

Mrs. Martin Steinhauser.

Little Murders:

From Defenders and Offenders:

Mrs. Martin Steinhauser.

"In the early part of 1888, Mrs. Martin Steinhauser was convicted of murder in Palmyra, Wis., the victim being her husband. The shooting was done at night, after the couple had retired. It appeared she had a lover by the name of Henry Rohrmason, who lived in the house with them. They conspired to rid themselves of the husband, and he also was convicted as an accomplice. She maintained that her husband continually abused her, and on the night in question he attempted to shoot her. In endeavoring to take the pistol away, it exploded, killing him. The evidence proved the contrary, and she received a life sentence."

 

---

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

A Matter of Honor.

In the autumn of 1882, in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, Nicholas L. Dukes learned that his fiancée, Lizzie Nutt, had been intimate with other men. An honorable man would have confronted his betrothed and ended their engagement face-to-face. Dukes chose to break the engagement in a letter written to Lizzie’s father, Civil War hero and Cashier of the Pennsylvania State Treasury, Captain A. C. Nutt. The resulting conflict was so divisive and violent that it would take two murders and two controversial trial verdicts to restore honor to Uniontown.

Five Surprising Facts about Salem Witchcraft.

Visit The History Press Blog to read my guest post, Five Surprising Facts about Salem Witchcraft.