Case of most interest besides JtR poll

[sdreid]

Nudes, Phantom and Torso might have a bigger "following", for lack of a better word, if they'd settle on a single name.

[sdreid]

The 80th anniversary of the Julia Wallace murder is in 2 weeks (JA 20) so fair warning.

[Mayerling]

The 80th anniversary of the Julia Wallace murder is in 2 weeks (JA 20) so fair warning.

Hi Stan,

Actually you mentioned one (as did I) on the centennial thread. The murder of Leon Beron on Clapham Junction on Jan. 1, 1911. Was it done by only one person, presumably Stinie Morrison, or was it more than one - and was it connected to the search for the Houndsditch Bandits who killed the three constables (and wounded two others) which led to the siege of Sidney Street?

We can also mention the interesting case of John Alexander Dickman (whose centennial was last year. Did he kill Mr. Nisbet on that train? Was it proved that he did? And was it his third murder (his second possibly being that of Mrs. Luard at Sevenoaks in 1908)?

Jeff

[sdreid]

Hi Jeff:

I wanted to include Luard in the poll but ran out of space. It is more interesting to me than Borden but I felt I needed to list that crime due to notoriety. Since it's tied for third place among the named cases then I guess I made the right choice.

[Mayerling]

Hi Jeff:

I wanted to include Luard in the poll but ran out of space. It is more interesting to me than Borden but I felt I needed to list that crime due to notoriety. Since it's tied for third place among the named cases then I guess I made the right choice.

Hi Stan,

Luard is a great case, but the real mystery of the killer of Caroline Luard is also duplicated by the issue of who started the poison pen campaign against General Luard that led to his suicide.

Three other cases.


Mary Money (1905) killed brutally (thrown out of a moving London suburban train), and never solved (although later some suggested her odd brother might have been involved, as he later killed one of his two "wives" and his children before committing suicide. It is frequently confused with the also unsolved murder of Elizabeth Camp (1897) also on a London suburban railway train.

In 2014 it will be the centennial of another unsolved case - the murder of little Willie Starchfield. His father John Starchfield (something of a hero for subdoing a mad killer earlier, and getting wounded in the incident) was tried and acquitted for the killing. My friend Jonathan Goodman thought Starchfield was guilty, but the estranged wife of Starchfield was nearly arrested after his acquittal by the same detective, determined to close the case. I think the police did not really know.

1907 - the Camden Town killing of Phyllis Dimmock. Subject of a series of paintings by Walter Sickert (which may have hidden references to the killing of Mary Kelly in 1888). Robin Wood, a skilled illustrator and caracaturist was arrested, but acquitted due to the brilliant trial work of his attorney Edward Marshall Hall. It might have been Wood, or some other man who cut Phyllis's throat in her bedroom.

Jeff

[sdreid]

It's not unsolved but the sesquicentennial for the first train murder is also in 2014.

[sdreid]

That's the earliest one I've heard about anyway.

[sdreid]

Depending on what you count, we are now in the centenary for Axeman and at or near the semi centenary for Thames Nudes and Zodiac. I expect some new books.

[sdreid]

In the semi for Thames Nude if you count Figg.

[sdreid]

The new book that's mostly about the New Orleans case is supposed to be out next month if I remember correctly.

[sdreid]

Gatton and Texarkana Phantom are, to my knowledge, the cases on the list that are truly lacking in the book department.

[Andrew Gable]

The Cleveland Torso Killer is most interesting to me, probably due to the fact that he ranged into Pennsylvania (and on the Local Murder Mysteries thread, I didn't mention his possible killings in Pa., the McKees Rocks torsos and the New Castle Murder Swamp killings).

Has the idea that Torso was responsible for the Black Dahlia been phased out? It always seemed a rather unnecessary theory to me, and one that didn't make a whole lot of sense.

[sdreid]

I don't know that it's been phased out Andrew but it seems that we hear much less about it now.

[sdreid]

Torso was covered on Unsolved Mysteries twice; the second time with the Dahlia tie-in.

Dahlia was also covered on America's Most Wanted in 2006 and I think it was the oldest case they ever reviewed.

[glyn]

Gatton and Texarkana Phantom are, to my knowledge, the cases on the list that are truly lacking in the book department.

"The Gatton Mystery" is the only book Ive managed to locate on the Gatton murders.Ive seen 2 books mentioned ,but never been able to find them.Both published in Australia,o ne was privately printed I think."The Gatton Mystery" which I just mentioned,is quite informative but unfortunately,not very well written.Ive ammassed a considerable of number of Press cuttings "pdf" but no answer .Intriguing case,but little known.