Centenaries - whole and half

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1911 November 17 - Four assassins in colonial India who'd been hired by Dr. Henry Clark, break in and slash his wife, Louisa, to death. Last month, Clark had also killed Edward Fullum with an injection of poison. The murders were to eliminate some inconvenient spouses so the doctor could carry on his affair with Fullum's wife, Augusta. Both the unfaithful were convicted of the murders. Mrs. Fullum gave birth to Clark's child while incarcerated and eventually perished there from heat stroke in 1914. Clark went to the gallows in 1913.

50 years ago - 1961 November 17 - In a Toronto duplex, Ann Newman and Therland Carter are found murdered. Newman's throat had been cut and Carter was shot. Authorities found a ring next to Ann's body and this led to the arrest of Arthur Lucas. He was hanged for the murders in 1962.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1961 November 21 - In a Sydney public toilet, William "The Mutilator" MacDonald fatally stabs and slashes William Cobbin, 55. The serial killer then severed and took away the victim's genitalia. MacDonald went on to murder at least two more then was captured and is still incarcerated.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1911 November 24 - Henry Clay Beattie is executed in a Virginia electric chair. The young husband had shot his wife, Louise, in their car and tried to blame it on a fictitious carjacker. Police did, however, find the murder weapon and were able to trace it back to Mr. Beattie. The killer stuck to his story up to the near end when he handed the prison chaplain written confession.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1911 November 26 - All six members of the Norbert Randall family are hacked to death while sleeping in their Louisiana home. This is another in the unsolved series that were called the Mulatto Axe Murders. A woman survived a later attack and said that the killer was a black man.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1911 November 28 - In Britain, Lord George Sanger, 85, is killed on his farm by an hatchet wielding employee named Herbert Cooper. After the murder, Cooper decapitated himself by laying his neck on a rail and letting a locomotive run over it.

[Mayerling]

100 years ago - 1911 November 28 - In Britain, Lord George Sanger, 85, is killed on his farm by an hatchet wielding employee named Herbert Cooper. After the murder, Cooper decapitated himself by laying his neck on a rail and letting a locomotive run over it.

Hi Stan,

I should have commented about this about a week ago, but forgot to. Sanger, by the way, was not a murdered nobleman like the Earl of Mayo (Viceroy of India, assassinated in 1872), or the Earl of Leitrim (Irish ultra-conservative landlord killed in 1878), but a well known Circus owner in the British Isles. There is a book about murder cases (actually two books) by on E. Spencer Shew that mentions that Sanger's demise may not have been quite as violent as this. He may have tried to step into a figut that Cooper was having with someone else, and Cooper may have fatally injured him with a candle stick (not an axe). I do not know if this is true or not. Sanger's autopsy was handled by Bernard Spilsbury.

Jeff

[sdreid]

200 years ago - 1811 December 7 - In East London, a servant girl leaves a hosier's establishment for some late night shopping. Upon her return, she discovers that all present have been beaten to death with a hammer. The dead are Timothy Marr, his wife Celia, their baby and an apprentice at the business named James Gowan. This was the first of what became known as the Ratcliffe Highway Murders. Eventually, a man name John Williams was arrested but mysteriously turned up dead in his jail cell before trial. This left the case officially unsolved and some believe that Williams was the subject of a frame-up.

50 years ago - 1961 December 7 - Dr. Joseph DiFede is beaten to death with a hammer in New York. His wife, Jean, and her boyfriend, Armando Cossentino, were convicted of the crime. Both wound up with life terms after Cossentino's death sentence was commuted.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1961 December 17 - The sold out big-top of the Gran Circus Norte-Americano is set on fire in Niteroi, Brazil. An official death toll was 323 although some estimates place it at over 500. Adilson Marcelino Alves, a supposed disgruntled employee, was convicted of the arson and sent to prison.

[Mayerling]

200 years ago - 1811 December 7 - In East London, a servant girl leaves a hosier's establishment for some late night shopping. Upon her return, she discovers that all present have been beaten to death with a hammer. The dead are Timothy Marr, his wife Celia, their baby and an apprentice at the business named James Gowan. This was the first of what became known as the Ratcliffe Highway Murders. Eventually, a man name John Williams was arrested but mysteriously turned up dead in his jail cell before trial. This left the case officially unsolved and some believe that Williams was the subject of a frame-up.

And it would become the subject of one of the first pieces of literature based on studies of true crime, On Murder as a Fine Art by Thoms De Quincy. De Quincy did get the year of the crime wrong (he said it was 1812).

Jeff

[sdreid]

Very true Jeff.

[sdreid]

200 years ago - 1811 December 19 - London is again the scene of another group of Ratcliffe Highway Murders but this time there are survivors in the residence. John Williamson, a publican, his wife, Elizabeth, and, their servant, Bridget Harrington are all slain. The Williamson's granddaughter, Catherine Stillwell slept through the carnage and remained undiscovered by the killer. John Turner, a lodger who was aroused by the calamity, peeked out of his room to see a shadowy figure bending over one one the dead and fled out a back window to summon help. He returned with backup but the murderer was no longer present. A man named John Williams was eventually arrested for the slayings but was found hanging dead in his cell before trial thus leaving the case officially unsolved. Some have made the assertion that Williams was framed and that his hanging was not a suicide.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1911 December 28 - Charles Murrow is shot once in the heart and once in the head and dies in his Chicago home. Rena Morrow, his wife, had shot at him on a previous occasion and missed. She was charged with his murder but was acquitted.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1911 December 28 - Charles Morrow is shot once in the heart and once in the head and dies in his Chicago home. Rena Morrow, his wife, had shot at him on a previous occasion and missed. She was charged with his murder but was acquitted.

I corrected my quote from Charles Murrow to Morrow which is correct - sorry.

[Mayerling]

As we enter 2012...

Coming attractions include:

1) the trial of the Seddons
2) the Marconi Wireless Scandal in England
3) the first of the three KNOWN George Joseph Smith murders
4) the murder by a hit squad of four young thugs of gambler Herman Rosenthal in Manhattan in June 1912.
5) the attempted assassination of former President (and current Bull Moose Pesidential Candidate) Col. Theodore Roosevelt.

Happy New Year to all.

Jeff

[sdreid]

Yes, I have over 70 so far for 2012. Happy New Year Jeff!