Centenaries - whole and half

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1912 December 17 - In Missouri, Henry Lee Moore murders his maternal grandmother, Mary Wilson, and his mother, Georgia, with an ax. Moore has long been suspected of being a serial killer but was never convicted of any but these two murders. He was sentenced to a life term in prison but was released in 1949. In 1956, the governor of the state actually granted him a pardon and then track of him was lost.

[sdreid]

200 years ago - 1812 December 18 - As he walks home to his English farm, Benjamin Robins is shot in the back and robbed. He lived for ten days before succumbing from his wound. William Howe was convicted of the killing and hanged in March of 1813. The perpetrator was suspected of another murder but denied it while admitting to additional robberies.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1962 December 31 - Patricia Bissette, 23, is found dead in her residence. She had been sexually assaulted and strangled with her own nylon stockings. Patricia is listed as another possible victim of the officially unidentified Boston Strangler.

50 years ago - 1962 December 31 - Serge Boseggia vanishes from his Italian villa. His disappearance remained a mystery for two dozen years but then his remains were found buried on the grounds of his property. He'd been slain with an ax that was with his body. In 1987, his wife, Lina, and adult sons, Dario and Damiano, were sent to prison for the crime.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1913 January 1 - James Jennings, a boxer also known as "Kid Carter", shoots and kills Bill MacPherson in a Boston pub. The slaying was the climax of an unexplained altercation. Jennings was convicted of the killing and then began to boast of three other murders including that of his girlfriend Mildred Donovan. The killer was sent to a state hospital for life.

[sdreid]

150 years ago - 1863 January 3 - In Wigan, England, the cremated remains of sixty-year-old John Barton are found in the firebox of a boiler that it is his job to attend. Bloodstains in his cabin indicated that he was robbed and killed there then brought to the fire to be incinerated. Thomas Grime was convicted of the slaying and hanged in 1866.

[Mayerling]

Not a murder and not 100 years old - but a riddle.

Today is the 65th anniversary of the death of Captain Thomas Mantell in his P - 51 Mustang, when he blacked out and crashed the plane from 25, 000 feet while chasing an object described as a round shape moving rapidly through the sky. Mantell and another plane chased the white shape which rose higher in the sky. While the other plane broke off the chase Mantell continued, but he did not have an oxygen mask and blacked out. His plane crashed near a farm in Franklin, Kentucky (ironically Mantell was born in a hospital in the same town). His death was officially the first one that ever was connected by the public with UFOs. A marker honoring Mantell (who was a decorated war hero is at the site in Franklin. What exactly he was chasing (the planet Venus, a spy balloon, possibly an alien spacecraft) remains unsettled to this day.

[sdreid]

Yes Jeff, that's one of the top legends in UFO lore. I have it on my top 12 list but I totally forgot about the anniversary.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1963 January 13 - Sylvanus Olympio, the President of Togo, is assassinated outside of his residence. A man named Etienne Bodjolle later became president of the country himself and made the claim that he'd personally fired the shot that killed Olympio.

[sdreid]

150 years ago - 1863 January 18 - In New Mexico Territory, Mangas Coloradas, an Apache chief, dies while in the custody of U.S. soldiers. The official version was that he was "shot while trying to escape" but other claims were that he either died during torture or was executed on orders of Brigadier General Joseph West. Regardless of the events, his body was subsequently mutilated by some of the soldiers then his head was sent to New York for scientific study and is today unaccounted for.

[Bridewell]

50 years ago today British Labour Party leader, Hugh Gaitskell died after a sudden deterioration in an existing heart condition.

[Mayerling]

A Mysterious death

50 years ago today British Labour Party leader, Hugh Gaitskell died after a sudden deterioration in an existing heart condition.

I have heard that this was not a natural death - that Gaitskill may have been killed possibly by KGB agents who wanted another Labor Party Leader. Do you have any comments Bridewell?

Jeff

[Bridewell]

I have heard that this was not a natural death - that Gaitskill may have been killed possibly by KGB agents who wanted another Labor Party Leader. Do you have any comments Bridewell?

Jeff

Hi Jeff,

Who knows? Personally, having been only 9 years old at the time, I'm in no position to judge.

[Cogidubnus]

Why Colin

I do believe that makes you a year younger than I am...There's no justice...you got to retire and yet I've nearly six years to go

All the best

Dave

[Bridewell]

Why Colin

I do believe that makes you a year younger than I am...There's no justice...you got to retire and yet I've nearly six years to go

All the best

Dave

Hi Dave,

If you've got nearly six years to go, I think you must be a year younger than me, because I'll 60 in April.

[Cogidubnus]

OK, yes I'm slightly younger, being sixty in September, but you retired when, and after how many years service?

Cheers

Dave