Centenaries - whole and half

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1960 January 11 - Viola Lucas is stabbed to death in the Michigan home of her son, Henry Lee Lucas. The altercation between the two began when she hit him with a broom handle. He was paroled in 1970 to resume his murderous career. After his final arrest in 1983, Mr. Lucas began to confess to slayings that eventually numbered into the thousands, only to later recant all but this one. In reality, Henry Lucas may have killed as few as three.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1910 January 17 - Jason Ruppert dies after having a meal in Chicago with Louise Vermilyea. She is believed to have killed about 10 people starting in 1893. Mrs. Vermilyea's early murders were to gain from inheritance and/or life insurance settlements but her later slayings seemed to be just for "sport". When police got on to her game she took herself out with a dose of her own arsenic.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1910 February 1 - Cora Crippen vanishes. Her husband, Dr. Hawley Crippen was later hanged for her murder.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1910 February 1 - Cora Crippen vanishes. Her husband, Dr. Hawley Crippen was later hanged for her murder.

The doctor had tried to flee the U.K. to America but was captured due to radio dispatch.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1960 February 9 - Brewing heir Adolph Coors III is kidnapped after leaving his Colorado home and killed. Joseph Corbett Jr. went to prison for the crime.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1960 February 12 - Dennis Whitney begins his murder spree in California with the slaying of gas station attendant Jimmy Ryan. His rampage will end in Florida three weeks later with a total of seven dead. He was given a death sentence but it was later commuted to a life term.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1960 March 2 - English policeman, Leslie Meehan pulls over Jim Smith on suspicion of theft. Figuring the game is up, Smith punches it, dragging Meehan down the road. The driver shakes the officer off in front of an oncoming car that runs over and kills him. Smith was convicted of murder and sentenced to hang. The charge was reduced on appeal then later reinstated, however with the death sentence commuted to incarceration.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1960 March 4 - Dennis Whitney abducts Florida housewife Virginia Selby from a shopping center parking lot and drives her to a secluded location. She strikes him in the head with a hammer in an attempt to escape but he shoots and kills her. She is the seventh and final murder victim, in eight attempts, in Whitney's cross country, three week killing spree. He was sentence to death but that was later commuted to life in prison.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1960 March 14 - In Illinois' Starved Rock State Park, Chester Weger beats three affluent Chicago women to death. His aim was to rob them and he is still residing in prison.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1960 March 16 - A trio boys exploring Illinois's Starved Rock State Park discover the bodies of three women hidden in a cave. Chester Weger, a dishwasher at a local lodge, was arrested for the murders and is still in prison. The victims were the wives of three prominent Chicago businessmen. Weger had confessed but now has retracted his admission.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1960 March 17 - Frank Stewart dies in a Las Vegas hospital. He was one of the suspected victims of William Dale Archerd who was convicted of three other murders and sentenced to death in 1968. That was later reduced to life in prison. Archerd's murder weapon was an insulin overdose.

[sdreid]

100 years ago - 1910 March 18 - While traveling through England on a train, John Nisbet is shot and killed by John Alexander Dickman. The motive for the murder was robbery. Dickman was hanged later this year. Some think he may also be responsible for the unsolved murder of Caroline Luard in 1908.

[sdreid]

50 years ago - 1960 March 19 - Sharon Kinne guns down her husband James in their Missouri home. She would be seventy-years-old now and, if she's living, she is still wanted for this murder. Later this year, she killed the wife of a romantic interest but was acquitted for that slaying. In 1964, she shot and killed a man in Mexico. Ballistic tests showed that the gun used to murder him was the same weapon that was used to kill the woman in Missouri. Kinne was sentenced to prison for the last slaying but escaped in 1969 and has not been recaptured. She is wanted for this in Mexico as well as for the killing of her husband here in the U.S.

[ianincleveland]

100 years ago - 1910 March 18 - While traveling through England on a train, John Nisbet is shot and killed by John Alexander Dickman. The motive for the murder was robbery. Dickman was hanged later this year. Some think he may also be responsible for the unsolved murder of Caroline Luard in 1908.

Its rumoured that Dickman was framed for this one as some influential people including then Home Secretary Winston Churchill believed he had murdered Caroline Luard in 1908.Dickman was convicted on somewhat circumstantial evidence,

Interesting article on the Nisbet murder can be found here

http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/CRIMEnisbet.htm

[sdreid]

Thanks Ian. That's another view.