Index to Free True Crime Stories to Read Online

Workplace Violence in 1901: SOMERVILLE. MASS. July 5, 1901. With a maniacal shriek, John Murphy turned from pig-sticking to man killing in the North Packing and Provision Company’s slaughter-house today, and, driving more than a hundred of his fellow-workmen before him, slew five of them almost instantly, fatally wounding three others, and slashed several more to a lesser extent before he was overpowered.

Two Opium Dens Busted in 1901 Raids: “The two visitors were so far on their way to dreamland that they did not pay any attention to the entrance of the officer.”

The Andrea Yates Epidemic of 1901: As sad as this story is, in the course of my research for other vintage crimes I come across many similar accounts of parents murdering their children (known as filicide) due to depression, religious fervor, or other reasons. In most of these cases, poverty drives their depression. With just some light searching done of newspaper archives for 1901, I found 4 different cases.

Small Town, Vigilante Justice in Nebraska in 1907: The rope was tied to the highest beam of the bridge and after the victim made a statement he was thrown by the mob into the air and reached the end of the rope with a terrible sound, snapping his neck and producing instant death. Forty bullets were then shot into his body which was left dangling in the air for the officers to care for. Updated with photographs.

1907 Med Students use Fresh Grave for Anatomy Lab: Detectives are working on several theories today with a view to discovering the fiends who desecrated the grave of little Margaret Kuhlewind, eight years old, in the cemetery at Bernardsville, New Jersey and mutilated the body. A few hours after the burial the grave was opened, the coffin forced out and the body taken out and horribly mutilated. Thrown back into the casket without even smoothing the shroud over the mutilated body, the coffin was lowered into the grave and the dirt hastily piled back.

Female Colorado Farm Hand Marries Girlfriend in 1913: “Well, when Anna and I met we liked each other from the start. We got to going together. Of course, I knew I was a woman and she knew I was a woman but other people didn’t. We got to going to each other’s rooms a good deal. Of course, with us it didn’t make any difference but other people didn’t know and they talked. We knew they were talking a lot and gossiping about us, so we just decided to end the whole thing by getting married. And that’s what we did. We couldn’t very well do anything else. You see, I’d worn men’s clothes around here all the time and I couldn’t come out and say I was a woman. That would cause more talk than ever. So we just got married.”

The Genesis of the Lie-Detector Test 1913: The most unique and scientific “third degree’ ever administered to a criminal in this country is to be given Charles Kopf, arrested in Vallejo, Cal, and charged with having committed a murder In Nebraska fourteen years ago, when he is brought back to this State for trial. Arrangements for the examination are now being made by the Omaha police and scientists connected with the medical school, University of Nebraska.

Photo Gallery of NYC Murder Victims, 1915-1920: The New York City Department of Records has a great collection of photographs related to all things early 20th Century New York City. Among their different categories are photographs related to crime, criminals, criminal identification, and most interesting of all, Murder—as in dead bodies. During the early 20th Century, it was standard procedure for a NYC police photographer to set up a tripod camera over the top of a murdered victim, with the lens pointing down. This had a strange effect rarely seen in homicide photographs and the viewer feels an uneasy connection to the victim’s last moment alive.

Kardashian Murdered in 1916: It is alleged that Tamerian, who is little more than 21 years of age, attacked Kardashian with a pair of scissors in a dispute over the proper way to press trousers. Kardashian died at the Newton Hospital nine days later from a wound in his abdomen.

One of the first college fraternity hazing deaths in America, 1918: Robert Wellons, roommate of Rand, was also forced to dance and sing, and in a fall received slight injuries. Rand dropped from the barrel, fell upon the broken bottle, which pierced the jugular vein and carotid artery, and bled to death in ten minutes.

The Crazy-Ass Blackburn Cult of California in the 1920s: Two of the cult’s followers, a married couple, preserve the dead body of their foster daughter for almost five years. During the first year of preservation, they moved around a lot with the cult and were naturally obliged to take their daughter’s body with them. In order to transport her from one residence to the next, they propped her up in the back seat of their automobile. “The remains were so well preserved that passers-by thought they saw a living girl.”

The Botched Execution of Eva Dugan in Arizona in 1930: Mrs. Eva Dugan, the first woman to be legally executed in Arizona, paid with her life on the gallows shortly before dawn today for the slaying in 1927 of A. P. Mathis, Tucson rancher. The trap was sprung at 5:02 a. m. As the trap clanged and she dropped more than six feet, the noose tightened, severing her head, and the body catapulted to the floor. Dr. L. A. Love, prison physician, pronounced her dead immediately.

The Witch Craft Murder of Clothilde Marchand, 1930: “What came out of that trial is a bizarre tale with the following ingredients: A Ouija board, witchcraft, an Indian faith healer, manipulation and coercion to kill, and a philandering sculptor who claimed it was necessary for him to “make love” with his models out of “professional necessity.”

The Story of a ‘Gangster Queen,’ Cecil Valore, 1931: She accused her husband of the following crimes:

Murder of Dr. Scully [on March 3, 1930]: She said that Valore and a relative went to Scully’s office and that the doctor was slain when he resisted robbery.
Killing in the county jail of Anthony Colletto who was being held on charge of murder for the killing of his wife. The coroner said lie hanged himself although his attorneys insisted it was a murder.
Slaying of a guard at Mansfield. Another man was convicted and died in the electric chair.
Killing of a man in the robbery of the Blue Pig Inn here. The killing was attributed to policemen.
Killing of another man, in a crime the details of which she had forgotten.
Bombing of the homes of two Loraiu county attorneys who failed to get Valore out of trouble after accepting a fee.

Innocent Man Freed After 15 Years in Missouri Prison & Asylum, 1932-1947: The account of a miscarriage of justice in the Frank Werther case, in which an innocent man was kicked around for 15 long years, reads like something out of a fiction magazine.

Father Poisons Family, 1934, Oklahoma: A father who said he “could not bear to see my family starve” was held without bond here tonight on a murder charge after three of his small children had died from poison he allegedly administered. Sebe Christian, Creek County Attorney, said the father, Chester Barrett, 32 years old, signed a full confession after several hours questioning today. A murder charge was filed immediately. The father’s excuse for the act, which not only killed the three little girls, but endangered the lives of his wife and four of his five other children, was that he was ill and had no money.

1935 The False Confession of a “Mercy Killer” Nurse Reveal Harsh Police Tactics: “Apparently proceeding on a premise that there was no question about Miss Sevigny’s guilt, they did not bother to find out whether or not there was any testimony other than that used to build up their own case. — We deplore the fact that the young woman, whom we all believed to be innocent of any criminal action, has been branded by sensation-seeking newspapers and a careless police department as a murderer. — We believe that, the methods to gain her ‘confession’ should be not part of the procedure of a civilized police department in these days and we hope that our long and carefully considered action in thus freeing Miss Sevigny from the stigma attached to her, may, in part, at least, bring about a favorable reaction from the public.

Alcide (Frenchy) Benoit Murders Michigan State Policeman Richards F. Hammond in 1935: County Prosecutor Francis Ready announced the confession of the 24 year-old black-haired gunman shortly after Benoit’s desperate game of hide-and-seek over sleet-covered country areas with officers or three states and the federal government ended In Monroe—a short distance from the spot where he abducted Trooper Hammond.

Prince Yogi of Tulsa, 1935: In jail Tuesday night, Yogi told of having used his hypnotic powers to put two fellow prisoners to sleep. He said he predicted future events by consulting the stars. Then he was inspired by sudden concern.

“Say,” he addressed a jailer, “what do you suppose the judge will do with me tomorrow?”

The jailer considered with some disdain before replying: “Well, it is a cloudy night and I’ll admit you can’t see the stars, but if you see all and know all, why should you wonder?”

Rented Husband Loses Lawsuit for His Share in 1941: In blasé, nonchalant tones, Samuel Brummel, 56-year-old insurance salesman, testified Thursday that his wife rented him out to another woman for a year for S10,000, promising him half of the money. Brummel, a dark, cigar-chewing little man, told the story as trial of his suit to divorce Mrs. Lillian Brummel, 55, and to collect his half of the “fee.”

Oklahoma Executioner Rich Owens Discusses His Long Career in 1948 Article. During his life, he killed a total of 75 men: sixty-six of those were by execution, and the other nine were men he killed under various circumstances.

The Amazing, Multi-State Crime Spree of a 14 year-old boy in 1949: Since then, officers say he has: 1. Stolen a long string of automobiles, motorcycles and even a motor-scooter. 2. Burglarized an ex-police commissioner’s home of $580. 3. Escaped from officers three times. Once was a thrilling getaway from a 50-man posse when he jumped from a car handcuffed.

Leon Turner and the Whitt Brothers, 1950, Missippippi: Leon Turner had suffered the shame of being convicted for molesting a black girl and his drunken rage gave him the courage to get revenge seven days later. Grabbing their guns, the three men headed toward the dilapidated house of the girl’s step-father, Tom Harris.

Army Wife Acquitted for Murder of Horrible Husband in 1955, Japan: On his last night he bragged of his love life. “There isn’t a man around who’s had as many women as I’ve had.” Then he told her how he’d seduced her best friend, as well as the wife of a colonel, a New York TV actress, numerous army nurses, and once, a Japanese airline hostess “on one of the plane’s seats, in front of a general.” — Then he told her, “You haven’t had a beating in a long time,” and started whacking her. He choked her, kicked her, flung her across the room. At breakfast he stabbed her with a fork, and threatened to have her killed.

Grandpa’s Hammer, 1955: A preliminary hearing was scheduled Thursday for Robert J. Wallace, 78, who is charged with beating his blonde, nine-year-old granddaughter to death with a ball-peen hammer because her singing kept him from taking a nap.

Wallace, charged with murder with malice aforethought, was being held in the Texas City jail. The victim, Frances Jean Wallace, died in her home Wednesday from numerous blows on the head with the heavy hammer.

Arizona Student with Poor Grades Gets Revenge in 1964: A bitter argument over his poor marks in English triggered a wild rampage early today by an enraged 16-year-old Tucson High School student which ended in the death of a woman and beatings of two other persons.

The Girls Scout Murders of 1977, Locust Grove, Oklahoma: The story of what happened on the night of June 12, 1977, is what fiction horror movies are made of — if a horror movie ever dared to depict female victims between the ages of 8 and 10.

FBI Hunts Serial-Killer in 40 Year-Old Cold Case: 12 Killed, 45 Rapes, 3 Nicknames for him. Between 1976 and 1986, the violent and elusive individual known as the East Area Rapist, and later as the Original Night Stalker and the Golden State Killer, committed 12 homicides, 45 rapes, and more than 120 residential burglaries in multiple California communities. His victims ranged in age from 13 to 41 and included women home alone, women at home with their children, and husbands and wives.

DNA Evidence in 1984 Murder Leads to Suicide by Criminologist: Two gruesome murders from 1978 and 1984 are seemingly related and lead police to three good suspects who all go on to commit suicide. There are about five or six left turns in this article and at the end, you will have to make a decision about an unlikely suspect on your own.

The Foss Lake Mystery in Oklahoma–Two Cars, 6 People Missing 43 & 44 years Found at Bottom of Lake in Oklahoma:

Feature Story Comes to Life With Video – This story related to the 1924 Philadelphia kidnapping of Corrine Modell in which her granddaughter contacted me. There is a short video with this post.

Stories by Tags

By Decade
1800s | 1900-1919 | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s

Last Updated: April 2, 2017

Posted: Jason Lucky Morrow - Writer/Founder/Editor, February 12th, 2016 under .
Comments: none