Old Blood

Show Notes for  'Til Death: Poison and Badmashes in 1911 Agra This episode follows Augusta Fullam and Dr. Henry Clark, whose affair leads to a murder plot in colonial India. As their plans unfold, poisoned meals, hired attackers, and incriminating letters expose the lovers and draw their families into tragedy. Sources:  Arnold, David. Toxic Histories: Poison and Pollution in Modern India (Cam...

 The internet will tell you that Catherine Hayes was a monster who slept with her son and convinced him to murder her husband, John Hayes, but the internet is wrong. This is the true story of the life and death of Catherine Hayes. Sources :  “A Narrative of the barbarous and unheard of murder of John Hayes…” 1726. “Broadside: A true copy of the paper, which Mrs. Catherine Hayes deliver'd to a...

When Ruth Cruger went missing in 1917 and the New York Police Department failed to search for her adequately, the girl's family hired Grace Humiston, AKA “Mrs. Sherlock Holmes,” to find her. Mrs. Sherlock not only found Ruth, but uncovered a conspiracy that rocked New York City–and America–to its core. Episode 86- The Gotham Gobbler: Mrs. Sherlock and the Murder of Ruth Cruger is now live on...

In 1923, five-year-old Arthur Martinez’s body was discovered in an abandoned Pasadena factory. As detectives dig deeper, two teenage boys become central to a story that is tragic, disturbing, and impossible to ignore.  Sources :  In the Matter of the Application of PAUL DAEDLER, a Minor, for Writ of Habeas Corpus. Supreme Court of California, Aug 13, 1924 Mares-Tamayo, Michaela Jeanette Lopez. “Ch...

After poet Nora May French committed suicide in the artist’s colony of Carmel-by-the-Sea, a “cavalcade of death” followed. But how responsible was Nora for the bizarre deaths of her Bohemian friends, and was her death truly a suicide? Sources :  Denouden, Jeremy. “‘Great Nature, Refuge of the Weary Heart:’ A Regional and Literary Exploration of the Early Grove Plays of the Bohemian Club.” Master’s...

Salem, Massachusetts, is famous for its witch trials, but did you know that it also hosted a murder mystery so twisted that it inspired literary legends like Edgar Allen Poe and Nathaniel Hawthorne? The mystery began with an old ship captain murdered in his bed and ended with the deaths of three more prominent citizens. Was the motive love, greed, or something more sinister? Sources :  Brooks, Reb...

The Ku Klux Klan controlled the state of Indiana in 1924. They believed themselves invincible and were moving to expand their organization when they encountered resistance from Irish Catholic Notre Dame students. Notre Dame students halted the Klan’s advances in South Bend, Indiana, but it was Madge Oberholtzer who killed the Klan for good. Sources :  “A Clash Over Catholicism.” University of Notr...

Historian Alyse takes the Borden murders very seriously. Join her as she investigates primary sources from 1892 and concludes the Lizzie Borden mystery once and for all. ​ Shoutout to the bird who decided to be a special guest on this episode. ​ Sources : For this episode, I read only primary sources. These include witness statements, preliminary hearing and inquest documents, and trial transcript...

In 1906, the mutilated body of young sales clerk James Logan was discovered on Southern California’s grandest resort hotel, The Raymond. When an African American tailor was accused of the crime, the city’s allegiances split. Half of the city of Pasadena wanted the man condemned to death, but the other half fought to save him, believing he had been framed. Sources : Biery, Bryan. “The Princes: Pasa...

A sexy death mystery unfolded in 1931 New York City, when a socialite washed up on the shores of Long Island. Was her death an accident, a suicide, or foul play at the hands of the many prominent men she knew? Sources : Allhoff, Fred. “The Starr Faithfull Enigma.” Liberty. June 12, 1939. Pp. 20-23. “Five Starr Faithfull.” TIME. June 29, 1931. https://time.com/archive/6747467/the-press-five-starr-f...

The first ‘Murder by Mail’ was sent to Mrs. Josephine Barnaby in 1891 in the form of an arsenic-laced whiskey bottle. When she and a friend drank the whiskey, both fell violently ill. The resulting murder trial would tear families apart for decades to come. Sources : Conrad, Barnaby. A Revolting Transaction (New York: Arbor House, 1983). Day, Martin C. Death in the Mail (Providence: The Journal Pr...

A fatal 1869 shooting at the New York Tribune led to a contentious debate about love, divorce, and women’s rights in America.  Sources : Cazauran, A. R. The Trial of Daniel McFarland for the Shooting of Albert D. Richardson (New York: W. E. Hilton, 1870). Cooper, George. Lost Love: A True Story of Passion, Murder, and Justice in Old New York (Pantheon Books: New York, 1994).  Ganz, Melissa J. “Wic...

Texas authorities arrested George Hassell on Christmas Day of 1926 after his wife and her eight children went missing. George cried, “I did it,” then confessed to the murder of another family ten years prior in California. This is his story. Sources : Churchill, Marlowe J. “Hassell offered detailed confession.” The Eastern New Mexico News. 3 September, 2019. https://www.easternnewmexiconews.com/st...

A deadly shooting at London’s extravagant Savoy Hotel in 1923 prompted a murder trial that pitted East against West. Was the tragedy the result of a pharaoh’s curse or merely the consequence of a lover’s quarrel? Sources : Bland, Lucy.  “Mme Fahmy’s Vindication: Orientalism, miscegenation fears, and female fantasy,” in Modern Women on Trial: Sexual Transgression in the Age of the Flapper (Manchest...

Six nurses threatened to storm out of the Swope mansion in Missouri at the height of a 1909 typhoid epidemic, claiming that “people are being murdered in this house.” Was the Swope family dying of typhoid, or was it something more nefarious? Sources : Carus, W. Seth. Bioterrorism and Bicrimes: The Illicit Use of Biological Agents since 1900 (Amsterdam: Fredonia Books, 2002). Deel, Karla. Storied &...

Chicago crime reporters descended upon Ruth and Carl Wanderer’s Chicago home after the war hero’s wife was shot dead in a holdup at their front door. Who was the Ragged Stranger who assaulted them? And why did he have Carl Wanderer’s service weapon? Sources : Bigge, Lauren. “‘Shell Shock Treatments During World War I: A First Step Towards Modern Military Psychiatry.” National Museum of Health and...

A boy’s shortcut through a Kentucky fruit farm in 1896 uncovered the headless body of a woman, later identified as Pearl Bryan. How did she get there? Who killed her? And where is her head?  Sources : Gold, Rachel Benson. “Lessons from Before Roe: Will Past Be Prologue?”Vol. 6. Issue 1. Guttmacher Institute. https://www.guttmacher.org/gpr/2003/03/lessons-roe-will-past-be-prologue The Mysterious Mu...

The 1906 assault of a white woman in Chattanooga led to a murder and the U.S. Supreme Court’s first and only intervention in a state criminal trial. Sources : Curriden, Mark and Phillips, Leroy Jr. Contempt of Court: The Turn-of-the-Century Lynching that Launched a Hundred Years of Federalism (Faber & Faber, 1999). Hindley, Meredith. “Chattanooga versus the Supreme Court: The Strange Case of E...

In Part II of the murder that sparked a revolution, the Chamber of Peers investigates Duke Praslin for his wife’s brutal slaying. Sources : “ASSASSINAT DE MADAME LA DUCHESSE DE PRASLIN.” L’Ami de la religion, vol. 134. Paris. 1847. Eubule-Evans, A. “Letter to the Editor.” The Spectator, No. 3,396. 29 July, 1893. P. 16Greville, William Henry. Henry Greville’s Diary ( London: Smith, Elder & Co.,...

In 1847, servants of Paris’s Hotel Sebastiani rushed to help Duchess Praslin after hearing her screams. This is part one of the murder that sparked a revolution.  Sources : “ASSASSINAT DE MADAME LA DUCHESSE DE PRASLIN.” L’Ami de la religion, vol. 134. Paris. 1847. Eubule-Evans, A. “Letter to the Editor.” The Spectator, No. 3,396. 29 July, 1893. P. 16 Greville, William Henry. Henry Greville’s Diary...

In 1929, a Kansas City housewife shot and killed her husband after a game of bridge. Twelve male jurors would decide her fate as newspapers across the country printed “post-mortems” of the fatal hand that led to his death. You have a limited offer you can use now, that gets you up to 48% off your first subscription or 20% off one-time purchases with code OBLOOD20 at checkout. You can claim it at:...

Countess Caterina Sforza was raised in the Renaissance court of Milan and survived the assassination of her father and husbands. She then proceeded to confront Cesare Borgia and his father, Pope Alexander VI. Who would win: the papacy or a woman?  Get 45% off the Magic Mind bundle with my link: https://www.magicmind.com/OLDBLOODJAN  #magicmind #mentalwealth #mentalperformance Sources : Allison, Ch...

On January 11, 1902, 15-year-old Nora Fuller responded to a nanny wanted advertisement in the San Francisco Examiner. She called her family an hour later, saying that she was hired and at the man’s home. When Nora never returned home, her brother visited the address to find it was a vacant lot.  Sources : Dowd, Katie. “A want ad leads to an empty house–and a shocking murder that rocked San Francis...

A man murdered a woman in rural Pennsylvania after claiming she had cursed him with black magic. How did this region become known as the Hex Belt? And how could such a tragedy occur as recently as 1934? Sources : “A Look Back in History: Practice of witchcraft among PA Dutch rarely accurately portrayed to public.” Reading Eagle. 22 August, 2021. https://www.readingeagle.com/2018/08/01/a-look-back-...

Edith Thompson faces the death penalty for her lover’s crime. How many deaths will there be before this affair ends?  Sources : Blackburn, Jack. “Edith Thompson: posthumous pardon over husband’s murder a step closer.” The Times. 7 March, 2023. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/law/article/edith-thompson-posthumous-pardon-over-husband-s-murder-a-step-closer-s729dpg0q Lusher, Adam. “Laid to rest at last:...