Centenaries - whole and half

[sdreid]

1000 years ago - 1012 April 19 - In Greenwich, Archbishop Elphege of Canterbury is murdered by invading Danes who were holding him in an unsuccessful attempt to collect a ransom. The future saint was first pelted with animal bones then finished off with an ax.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1962 April 21 - In England, Molly Young dies from antimony poisoning that had been given her by Graham Young, her 14-year-old stepson. The killer was sent to a secure hospital due to his mental condition. After serving nine years, Mr. Young was released as "cured" and picked up where he left off once he secured employment. This time, he began dosing coworkers with the "poisoner's poison", thallium. He was sent to prison after two more murders and died there mysteriously in 1990.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1962 April 23 - Joachim Kroll, the so-called "Ruhr Cannibal", rapes, murders and mutilates Petra Giese, 13, in what was then West Germany. Kroll was finally arrested in 1976 when a toilet he used was found to be clogged with the internal organs of a child. He eventually confessed to 14 murders over a 22 year period, received multiple life terms and died incarcerated in 1991.

50 years ago - 1962 April 23 - In Louisiana, while sleeping in his bed Louis Lemoine receives a shotgun blast to the head. His former wife, Addie Mae Lemoine then drags him out and buries him under their wash-house. The pair were divorced but had continued to live together. Addie Mae claimed that her partner was away visiting relatives but this was disproven resulting in the discovery of the body and a life sentence.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1912 April 30 - Peter Musso is shot three times as he sleeps by his wife, Antonia, who then sets fire to the bed. She was put on trial for murder but a Chicago jury found her not guilty due to her self defense claim.

[Mayerling]

50 years ago - 1962 February 12 - In the Sahara, French troops find the remains of aviator Bill Lancaster. He had vanished in 1933 while trying to set the speed record for the flight from England to South Africa. The year before the attempt, he'd been tried for the murder of Haden Clarke, a friend of his wife, in Florida. Lancaster was acquitted in those proceedings and the case remains officially unsolved.

Hi Stan,

My computer has been broken since late January. So I have not been on any website.

Regarding this case, there is some evidence that Lancaster went on this final flight to try to get final closure (and I am not sure I mean it was suicide or not). His relationship with his wife collapsed as she still felt he was the killer of her friend. He may (subconciously or not) have sabotaged his own flight by not being adequately prepared. The Frence troops found his diary near his body, and he wrote until almost the end. His leg had been broken, and he did not think he'd be found in time. He wrote of his love for his wife (her nickname was "Chubbie") and that he could not think of living without her. There was a book about the Lancaster case years ago. I think the title was EPITAPH FOR AN AIRMAN.

Jeff

[sdreid]

Thanks Jeff - glad you are well.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1912 May 8 - Anthony Genna is murdered in New Orleans. His slaying is thought to possibly be the result of an extortion racket. The killing is sometimes bought up as an example of an early Italian grocer murder when discussing the New Orleans Axeman Case from later in the decade.

[Mayerling]

100 years ago - 1912 May 8 - Anthony Genna is murdered in New Orleans. His slaying is thought to possibly be the result of an extortion racket. The killing is sometimes bought up as an example of an early Italian grocer murder when discussing the New Orleans Axeman Case from later in the decade.

Hi Stan,

Do you know if Genna was a relative of the "Terrible" Gennas who were rivals of Capone's mob in Chicago a decade later?

Jeff

[sdreid]

No I don't Jeff but I think one of them was also named Anthony.

[sdreid]

200 years ago - 1812 May 10 - Russell Colvin vanishes after having issues with his brothers-in-law Jesse and Stephen Boorn. In 1819, some bones are found and the brothers are convicted in a Vermont court then sentenced to hang for murder. Fortunately, shortly before their date with the gallows, Colvin was found alive and the men were released. It had also been determined that the bones were from an animal.

Thanks to Jeff for this one.

[sdreid]

200 years ago - 1812 May 11 - Prime Minister Spencer Perceval is murdered with a pistol shot in the lobby of the British House of Commons. The assassin was John Bellingham who had perceived grievances with the British government. He was quickly tried and hanged but some objected to the execution because Bellingham appeared to be seriously mentally ill.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1962 May 15 - The bodies of Bill McCarthy and James Miraglia are found in a car trunk on the Southwest side of Chicago. The two small-time hoods were beaten and had their throats cut. McCarthy had also been tortured by having his head crushed in a vise to point that an eye had popped out. This action was apparently to force him to give up the location of Miraglia. Mobsters Anthony Spilotro and James Aldersario were on a list of suspects but no-one was ever convicted.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1912 May 16 - Anthony and Johanna Sciambra are slain in New Orleans. The murders of this married couple are sometimes listed as examples of an early New Orleans Axeman attack except the problem is that these killings were by gun not ax.

[sdreid]

200 years ago - 1812 May 18 - John Bellingham is hanged for the assassination of British Prime Minister Spencer Perceval.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1912 May 20 - The Reverend Clarence V.T. Richeson is executed in a Massachusetts electric chair for the slaying of his pregnant mistress, Avis Linnell. While awaiting his condemnation, he had administered some self punishment by emasculating himself with the lid of a tin can.

50 years ago - 1962 May 20 - In her Ohio apartment, Myrtle Fray is beaten and strangled as she is getting ready for bed. There was never a conviction for the murder but Richard Eberling, the man who killed her sister, is the prime suspect.