Centenaries - whole and half

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50 years ago - 1966 September 18 - In North Carolina, Parker Kiser dies of what was originally determined to be natural causes but it is now believed that he had been arsenic poisoned by his daughter Blanche Taylor Moore. She went on to kill several more in the same manner then was finally caught and sentenced to execution in 1991. Moore currently resides on death row.

50 years ago - 1966 September 18 - Valerie Percy, 21 and the daughter of U. S. Senatorial candidate Charles Percy, is beaten and stabbed to death in her bedroom of the family's Kenilworth, Illinois home. Her stepmother said she was awakened by a noise and saw a dark haired man flee from Valerie's room. Mr. Percy won the election but the murder was never solved.

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50 years ago - 1966 September 13 - Ursula Rohling, 20, is raped and strangled while visiting a German park. Police originally accused her borfriend of the crime and he committed suicide as a result. Further investigation, years later, will show that her actual slayer was serial killer Joachim Kroll who will continue murdering for ten more years after this assault. At that stage, the plumbing in Kroll's apartment building was found to be clogged with the remains of a small child and this led to his arrest. He was given a life term and died imprisoned in 1991.

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50 years ago - 1966 September 10 - After visiting a London club frquented by servicemen, Jeremiah Murphy, 44, is stabbed to death. No motive was ever determined for the unsolved murder of this homeless Irishman.

50 years ago - 1966 September 10 - In Mason City, Iowa, Norma Horgen vanishes just a few blocks from her residence. Later in the day, the 18-year-old cosmetology student's body will be found in Clear Lake. In 1992, a male student was charged with her murder but the case against him was eventually dismissed due to problems with the evidence. The case is still unsolved.

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100 years ago - 1916 September 7 - Nicholas Morello, the head of his namesake New York crime family, is gunned down in front of a Brooklyn restaurant along with his bodyguard Charles Ubriaco. The hit was on the orders of Pellegrino Morano, the head of his namesake and rival crime family. Morano and all but one of his involved subordinates were convicted and sent to prison for terms ranging from six years to life. The remaining man, Antonio Parretti fled the country but returned in 1926 thinking the coast was clear. He was howerver arrested, convicted and went to the electric chair in 1927.

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50 years ago - 1966 September 6 - In Cape Town, South African Prime Minister Hendrik Verwoerd is stabbed to death as he enters the House of Assembly. The assassin, Dimitri Tsafendas was ordered held for life due to insanity and died still confined in 1999.

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50 years ago - 1966 September 3 - Six-year-old Julia Beckwith of Milwaukee is raped, strangled and slain. She is the first young lady to be murdered by serial killer Michael Lee Herrington. In the subsequent year, Herrington was convicted of this and another murder and sent to prison for two consecutive life terms.

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50 years ago - 1966 September 1 - After checking into New Jersey's Riverdell Hospital for routine gallbladder surgery, Mary Muentener, 80, dies mysteriously. She is the seventh of nine noncritical admittees to suffer an unexplained death there in an eleven month period. Dr. Mario Jascalevich was charged with murderering some of the patients with curare but was aquitted at the conclusion of his trial, leaving the case unsolved. He then moved back to his native country of Argentina and died there in 1984.

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50 years ago - 1966 August 29 - Sayyid Qutb is executed by hanging in Egypt. He had been accused of plotting to assassinate President Gamal Abdel Nasser and overthrow his government.

50 years ago - 1966 August 29 - Thirteen-year-old Marvin Gibbs dies while being treated in Georgia hospital. Marvin had been poisoned by his mother Janie Lou Gibbs but this will not be determined until after she also murders her husband, two other sons and a grandson. The serial killer was eventually convicted and sentenced to five consecutive life terms.

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50 years ago - 1966 August 27 - After checking into New Jersey's Riverdell Hospital with a suspected uncer, Frank Biggs dies mysteriously. He is the sixth of nine noncritical admittees to suffer an unexplained death there in an eleven month period. Dr. Mario Jascalevich was charged with murderering some of the patients with curare but was aquitted at his trial. He then moved back to his native Argentina and died there in 1984.

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100 years ago - 1916 August 19 - Celestine Buisson disappears after going to meet Henri Landru. She is believed to be the eighth of his, at least, 11 victims. His scheme was to seduce lonely older women then murder them after gaining access to their insurance and funds. Landru went to the French guillotine in 1922. It was a query by Celestine's sister that evenually led to the killer's arrest.

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150 years ago - 1866 August 17 - New York City gang leader Bernard Fiery is hanged for murdering bar owner Henry Lazarus with a stab to the throat.

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50 years ago - 1966 August 14 - Jane Taylor, 10, is never seen again after going on a bicycle ride in Mobberly, England. It is believed that she was a victim of serial child killer Raymond Morris who was eventually convicted of another murder and given a term of life in prison.

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50 years ago - 1966 August 12 - Three members of a car theft ring, Harry Roberts, John Duddy and John Witney are pulled over by British policemen Christopher Head, David Wombwell and Geoffrey Fox. The officers are then gunned down by Roberts and Duddy. All the criminals were eventually convicted of the murders and given long prison terms. Duddy died still incarcerated in 1981 while Witney was released in 1991 and murdered in 1999. The sole survivor, Harry Roberts was paroled in 2014.

[Ginger]

50 years ago - 1966 August 10 - In Oklahoma, James French goes to the electric chair for the murder of his cellmate, Eddie Shelton. At the time of the murder, French was serving a life term for killing a motorist who'd picked him up hitchhiking in 1958.

He's the one who rather famously quipped "Hey, fellas. How about this for a headline for tomorrow’s paper? French Fries!" on his way to the chair.

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150 years ago - 1866 August 11 - Francis Bradley is hanged on the Channel Island of Jersey for the murder, in her home, of Esther Le Brun, 62.