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Caught in the Act.
Little MurdersCaught in the Act.Edward Newton Rowell and Johnson L Lynch had been neighbors in Utica, New York. Both were successful family men; Rowell a partner in a box manufacturing company and...
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Murderous Pennsylvania.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania was the site of quite a few brutal and sensational 19th century murders. While many of the crimes occurred in secluded rural areas, the city of Philadelphia saw some of...
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Triple Murder in Michigan.
William Major returned from a trip to Romeo, Michigan, to his home in Mount Vernon, Michigan, on December 27, 1890, to find that his daughter and young granddaughter had come for a visit. Major, a...
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The Nicely Brothers.
Brothers Joe and Dave Nicely were the prime suspects in the robbery and murder of Herman Umberger in his home in Jennertown, Pennsylvania on February 27, 1889. They were arrested, identified by eye...
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Murder. Fifth Act in a Protracted Tragedy.
Little Murders (FromMacon Weekly Telegraph, Macon, Georgia, October 2, 1868)Murder. Fifth Act in a Protracted Tragedy—Killing of I. C. Willis. From a note from our friend Capt. J. R. Pace, of...
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The Medford Mystery.
Little MurdersScene of the Debbins murder.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....
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The Lizzie Borden Chronicles.
The infamous Lizzie Borden now has her own television series and for the next several weeks she will be terrorizing her hometown, Fall River, Massachusetts. Set in the months after her acquittal for...
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John True Gordon.
John True GordonJohn True Gordon was convicted of one of Maine’s most gruesome crimes, the axe murder of his brother Almon, his brother’s wife Emma, and their infant daughter, Millie. Gordon denied any...
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Souvenirs of Murder.
Luminous-Lint, a website devoted to history, evolution and analysis of photography has a great on-line exhibition of 19th century British and American murder photographs: Murder Most Foul: A Selection...
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Shot His Wife's Paramour.
Little MurdersLemuel Willis told his wife he had business to take care of in the town of Carlisle, Indiana, ten miles away from their home in Sullivan, Indiana. On September 1, 1893, she took him to...
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Scenes from the Murder of Mary E. Hill.
On November 22, 1868, the body of Mrs. Mary E. Hill was found on the ground outside of her Philadelphia residence. It did not take the police long to realize that she had been beaten to death and her...
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The Northwood Murderer.
Franklin B. EvansWhen senseless a murder occurred with no obvious suspects, a community’s worst fear was that some transient had drifted into town, done his dirty work and left without a trace. The...
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Avenging Her Honor.
Little MurdersStephen L. Pettus stepped off the Fulton ferry boat from Brooklyn, the morning of November 22, 1889 and was walking up Fulton Street when he was accosted by a nervously distraught woman....
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Murderous Massachusetts.
Massachusetts, settled by Puritans, has long considered itself a model of morality and civilized behavior. But in spite of its lofty posturing, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts was the scene of a...
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The Murder of Pet Halsted.
Oliver "Pet" HalstedOliver Spencer Halsted Jr., better known as Pet, was a political gadfly in the Lincoln administration. Coming from a prominent family of New Jersey politicians, Pet Halsted was a...
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Lottie Volner and Jack Tinker.
Little MurdersThe Murder of Lottie VolnerGeorge and Lottie Volner ran a bakery and restaurant together in Rockville, Indiana, until one day in 1883, a customer named Charles Rutledge got a little too...
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Portraits of the Nicely Brothers.
After a recent post about the Nicely Brothers, who were hanged for the coldblooded murder of Herman Umberger in Jennerstown, Pennsylvania in 1889, I was contacted by Rick Carbone who told me he had...
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The Unwritten Law.
Little MurdersRobert McBride was the wealthy operator of a cotton seed oil mill in Newnan, Georgia. He had come to Georgia from New Jersey, and quickly entered the vigorous business life of Newnan,...
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The Silver Lake Mystery.
The discovery of a woman’s body in a barrel, buried in a ravine near Silver Lake, on Staten Island, New York in 1875 began a frantic investigation to determine who she was and how she had died. With...
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Recent Homicides—The Murder Mania.
(FromNew York Herald, January 28, 1872)Recent Homicides—The Murder Mania.The community is at present in the midst of a series of shocking murders which seem at undefined intervals to sweep over the...
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