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| Dr. John W. Hughes. |
Dr. John W. Hughes was a restless, intemperate man whose life never ran smoothly. When his home life turned sour, he found love with a woman half his age. Then, he lost her through an act of deception, and in a fit of drunken rage, Dr. Hughes killed his one true love.
Date: August 9, 1865
Location: Bedford, Ohio
Victim: Tamzen Parsons
Cause of Death: Gunshot
Accused: Dr. John W. Hughes
Sometime after 11:00, the night of January 15, 1888, Mrs. Emma Belden was awakened by someone ringing the front doorbell. She went to the door and heard the person trying to get inside.
“Who’s there,” she called.
“Let me in,” a gruff voice responded.
“You can’t get in.”
The man outside started kicking the door, trying to break in.
Alice Hoyle last saw her sister, Lillie, the night of September 1, 1887, in the room they shared in Webster, Massachusetts. Lillie left to use the outhouse, and Alice fell asleep. Lillie never returned. The next morning, Alice went out, thinking Lillie had already left for work. That is the story Alice told the police— as the investigation progressed, she would change it several times.
Read the full story here: The Webster Mystery.
Howard and Nina have written a book on the Carrie Brown murder, East Side Story: 1891 Murder Case of Carrie Brown, available here: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/east-side-story-howard-and-nina-brown/1144649128?ean=9798855694468
They also run Carrie Brown: Murder In The East River Hotel, a discussion site on the Carrie Brown case.
East Side Story.
It isn't often that the perpetrator in one case of murder becomes the catalyst for the revision of the narrative in another murder case.
This revision to a crucial aspect within the 123-year narrative in the 'Old Shakespeare' murder case ( the nickname of Carrie Brown, murdered in the East River Hotel on April 23, 1891) came unintentionally from James M. Dougherty when he wrote a letter to NY Governor Benjamin Odell on June 22nd, 1901. Dougherty was a convicted lunatic in Dannemora Prison in 1901.
Orange Terrell, of Terrell, Texas, had, for a number of years, been “paying his respects” to Sophia Wickson. In the spring of 1886, Sophia had another admirer, Miles Henderson, who was proving to be a successful rival to Tarrell. Around 9:30, the night of June 7, Tarrell went to the house of Austin Thomas, where he knew Sophia was stopping. Expecting trouble, he took his revolver with him.
When he got to the house, Tarrell found Henderson already there. Without a word, he opened fire on the couple. He hit Henderson in the chest then turned his attention to Sophia. He emptied his pistol, hitting her once on the leg. Then he fled.
While Tarrell was gone, Dr. J. A. Stovall was summoned to attend to the wounded. After reloading his revolver, Terrell returned to the house. He gave his pocketbook to Dr. Stovall and told him the money in it was to pay his room and board, as he did not expect to leave that house alive. He took off his shoes and lay down on a bed in the front room.
When City Marshal, Jim Keller, learned of the shooting and that Terrell was still in the house, he went with several other men to surround the place. Keller went in the back door, through the kitchen, into the front room. Seeing Tarrell lying on the bed, he ordered him to throw up his hands and surrender. Tarrell’s hands went up, but he was still holding the pistol. He fired at Keller, barely missing him. Keller then fired five or six times, riddling Terrell with bullets, killing him instantly.
Two days later, the coroner impaneled a jury. After hearing the evidence, they ruled that Marshal Keller was justified in his action.
In 1876, Robert Southern was the most eligible bachelor in Pickens County, Georgia. Kate Hambrick and Narcissa Cowan were rivals for his affection. Kate was the winner; she and Robert married that autumn. But Kate’s victory was short-lived; Robert was still secretly seeing Narcissa. At a Christmas party that year, he danced with Narissa and paid her more attention than Kate thought proper. Kate Southern solved the problem by stabbing her rival in the chest with a penknife.
Read the full story here: Mrs. Southern's Sad Case.
W. C.
Hultz left his law office in Sullivan, Indiana at around 8:30 on the morning of
December 24, 1893. He did not notice a tramp, with long hair and whiskers,
wearing a long, ragged overcoat, a slouch hat and rubber boots in the doorway
across the street. The tramp walked
toward Hultz, and when he was about six feet away, he drew a double-barreled
shotgun from his coat and fired a charge of buckshot into Hultz’s back. He ran into a livery stable, and the tramp fired the second barrel into his
shoulder. Hultz staggered and fell onto the floor. Luke Lucas, a stable employee,
ran to his aid.
The tramp
was in disguise. The hair and whiskers were false, but Hultz recognized him
right away.
“Luke, Lem Willis has shot me,” said Hultz. “Turn
me over on my left side.”
Luke turned him as requested. Hultz tried to rise but fell back and died.
Read the full story here: The Maggie Hourigan Mystery.
Read the full story here: The Northwood Murderer.
- The Boston Herald’s vivid description of the murder of Josephine Brown on Christmas Eve, 1891.
Read the full story here: Two Shots, A Shriek.
The morning of February 5, 1895, Dr. John E Rader was found murdered in the house of Mrs. Catherine McQuinn in Jackson, Kentucky. Catherine told police they were drinking whiskey with her paramour Tom Smith and when Tom passed out, Dr. Rader assaulted her. She shot him in self-defense.
Catherine could have committed the murder; she was a rough, course woman with a bad reputation. But the police were inclined to suspect her lover, “Bad Tom” Smith. He had been indicted for murder seven times before but escaped justice when crucial witnesses disappeared. This time, however, his luck ran out. Both Tom and Catherine were convicted of first-degree murder.
Read the full story here: Lunatic Dougherty.
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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