On November 1, 1903, Eli Feasel disappeared from his farm south west of Bostwick, Nebraska, about 15 miles east of Red Cloud. His housekeeper, Nannie Hutchinson, said he went to visit his son in Kansas City. Feasel’s brother, Thomas, grew suspicious when inquiries found no trace of Eli. Investigation led to the arrest of the […]

Bert Martin, Horse thief, 1900/01 In October 1900, ranch hand Bert Martin went on trial for stealing horses in Springview, Nebraska, the county seat of Keya Paha County. During his trial, he was supported by his wife and step-child, as well as his widowed-mother. On October 13, he was found guilty and sentenced to serve […]

On the evening of May 13, 1906, a violent confrontation occurred between the African American members of Troop B, Tenth United States Cavalry Regiment stationed at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, and the townspeople of nearby Crawford, Nebraska. A year before, Crawford City Marshal Arthur Moss and Sergeant John Reid of Troop B had come close to […]

During the late evening hours of October 4, 1919, a shepherd tending a flock east of Seligman, Arizona, discovered the smoldering, badly burned body of a man behind a small hill located one hundred feet from the transcontinental road known at the time as the National Old Trails Road. The following day, he reported the […]

  John Cooper 1912 During the winter of 1910, Walter Wimbish and John Cooper were working a gold mine claim near Pedro Creek, Alaska, when Wimbish suddenly disappeared in November. This did not raise any immediate alarms since miners during this era often moved about the frontier filing and exploring new claims. But after six […]

In 1912, forty-two-year-old Private James Stine was sentenced to life in prison for the first degree murder of Corporal David Austin who he shot and killed on the parade grounds of Fort George Wright in Spokane, Washington. Stine said he killed Austin because of his harsh methods of disciplining soldiers of the all black 25th […]

Carrie Sang Sing On August 1, 1911, seventeen-year-old Carrie Sang Sing was arrested near Nome, Alaska, for slashing an unnamed person with a knife. Since Alaska was a territory at the time, her case fell to federal court where she was tried, convicted, and sentenced to two years in prison—with the option of only serving […]

In August 1919, Mark Maxwell worked for the railway division of the US Postal Service when he embezzled $9,000 from registered banking deposits bound for the Federal Reserve. Stationed in Mansfield, Washington, Maxwell tried to evade capture by traveling across the country to New York City. Distancing himself from the crime didn’t help and the […]

Paul Clein On March 1, 1909, thirty-six-year-old German immigrant, Paul Clein, and Polish immigrant John Saudawski, also in his late thirties, were seen together eating supper at a German bakery in Spokane, Washington. Three weeks later, Saudawski’s partially burned body was found on the Fort George Wright military reservation[1] on the outskirts of Spokane. When […]

Frank Shaffer In 1918, while US forces were fighting in Europe, Frank Shaffer, 42, was arrested for mailing the anti-war book, The Final Mystery, through the United States postal service. For this, he was charged with violating the Espionage Act of 1917. He was first sentenced to two and one-half years in federal prison but […]