True Crime Historian

Killed By The Dapper Bootlegger Episode 226 is dedicated to True Crime Historian listener Kaylie Jansen who recommended this sad story of two sisters, gunned down and left by the roadside after a Christmas holiday with their elderly parents. It takes some clever police work and legal maneuvering to find justice in this case. Ad-Free Edition Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker....

The Cincinnati Kitchen Sink Tragedy Episode 417 takes place at the turn of the last century Cincinnati, when a man allegedly finds his wife’s brutally murdered body in the kitchen sink and his four-year-old son sound asleep in his bed. Burglars did it, the man says, but his son will tell a different story. Culled from the historic pages of the Cincinnati Enquirer and other newspapers of the era. A...

An End To The Graham-Tewksbury Feud Episode 439 looks into one of the great family and land feuds of the Old West, the classic squabble between the sheep herders and cattle ranchers. Oddly, the best descriptions of the central event comes from a preliminary hearing for one of the accused. By the time the incident got to an actual trial, the newspapers seemed to have lost interest. Good story thoug...

Murders Of Honor Episode 197 gives us not one but TWO murders arising from the defense of a young lady's reputation. The Pennsylvania trials garnered national attention, and the great orator Indiana Senator Daniel Vorhees served as counsel for the defense in the second trial, deliver a remarkable 90-minute closing speech. The highlights are excerpted near the end of this tale, adapted from a trial...

The Ghastly Kidnapping And Murder Of Marion Parker Episode 415 relates one of the most difficult crimes we’ve yet to tell, a terrible kidnapping and brutal murder of 12-year-old girl by a smiling, charming monster. No other word for William Edward Hickman. The details of the crime were so disturbing that the newspapers could not report on them, but even the broad outline as presented will give you...

Homer Bird’s Gold Fever Episode 438 takes place during the great Alaskan gold rush when a group of adventurous businessmen from New Orleans leave their families and risk all in a quest to gain riches beyond imagination. Yeah, that’s not gonna end well, but the most interesting part of this drama is the influence of two women in the defendant’s life. One, a literal gold-digger, the other, the faith...

The Scourge Of Sugar Creek Episode 164 asks the rhetorical question: Will the real Will Harris please stay in jail? It seems "Will Harris" was the go-to nom-de-plume for a number of Southern scoundrels around the turn of the 20th century. Sometimes the press is confused and sometimes the police are confused, shedding doubt on whether or not they have the real desperado, an imposter, or just anothe...

The Shooting Showgirls Lillian Graham And Ethel Conrad Episode 414 tells the story of a pair of young vaudeville actresses who come up with a scheme to dupe an older former lover of a great sum of money. But when he calls their bluff, they choke and shoot the old fellow in the leg. Three times. It’s hard to find a hero in this tale. They’re all kinda skeezy. Ad-Free Edition Become a supporter of t...

The Scoundrel Frank Badgley Episode 437 is dedicated to the True Crime Historian patron Kim Parkhurst, who discovered several scoundrels, including the subject of this story, on the Indiana branch of her family tree. Her people seem to be as shady as my own. Ad-Free Edition Supporters Club https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--2909311/support You can pay more if you want to, but r...

The Awful Fate of Mary Ann Rheinhardt ___ This episode explores the heinous crime of the scoundrel Edward Reinhardt of Manhattan and Staten Island who got tangled up with two women, got them both in trouble, and apparently, had to pick a favorite. Yeah, that’s not gonna end well. And when they find the barrel buried on the shore of Silver Lake, all sorts of scandal comes tumbling out. Ad-Free Edit...

The Trials Of Otis Clark, Etc. Episode 136 comes by the way of a request from Herrin, Illinois, where TCH listener Chris Banes wants to know more about some hometown dark history, about the time a local mining company imported fifty guys from Chicago to bust a strike--25 to ship the coal that had been dug, and 25 to stand armed guard with rifles and machine guns to make sure the work got done. Ad-...

Trial Of The Big Beef Sextet Episode 424 is not your typical heartwarming holiday story, but takes place on Thanksgiving day, 1927, when a pack of Folsom prisoners enact a long-laid plan to make a big break from the big house. Needless to say, it doesn't end particularly well for any of them when two guards and ten prisoners meet their deaths as a result. Ad-Free Edition Become a supporter of this...

Bosson’s Bitter Whiskey And Bananas Episode 436 comes from a request by True Crime Historian patron Marlene Resch, who wanted to hear a story from her home Lane County, Oregon. So I dug up this sordid tale of a man who stands trial for the murder of his wife, with allegations of insurance fraud and lust for his young sister-in-law, who turns out to not have the best reputation herself. Culled from...

The Murders Of Phoebe Hogg And Phoebe Hogg Episode 244 tells of a murder in Victorian London so vicious and violent and ghastly that some people believe to this day that the perpetrator was the infamous Jack the Ripper--or Jill the Ripper, as it were, for this brutal murder of a mother and her babe fell squarely upon Mary Eleanor Wheeler Percy, who will pay dearly for her crime. Ad-Free Edition Be...

The Montgomery Grocer Murder Mystery Episode 433 follows the investigation of a robbery gone south down South, and while the family battles over the will, police arrest many different suspects, but it takes three years before they get a confession from an unexpected place. Culled from the historic pages of the Montgomery Advertiser, the Montgomery Times, and other newspapers of the era. Ad-Free Ed...

The Tragic Leggit Ordeal Episode 425 tells of the end of the road for Walter Ligget, who made his fame as a journalist who supported unions, exposed the criminal element, crusaded against graft and corruption, and dared to speak truth to power, so the powerful (whoever they may be) try and try again to get their revenge. Ad-Free Edition Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/...

The Tribulation Of Meda Dudgeon Hodell Episode 229 is a rich tale from the swamp lands of Michigan, an ever-changing story that includes a fake suicide, a pair of murders, confessions out the wazoo, as well as charges of police corruption and coersion--even a couple of ghost stories--all centered on a simple 20-year-old country girl, the bride of a much older man. Yeah, it's that kinda country. Ad...

Mystery Of The Pyjama Girl Episode 432 comes from a request from a listener Down Under, the story of a mysterious body found smoldering in a country culvert. It takes ten years to identify the body and name a suspect, but one interested physician claims they misidentified the victim and pinned the crime on the wrong man. Weigh the evidence yourself, and let me know your verdict. Ad-Free Edition Be...

Kid McCoy Down For The Count Episode 427 documents a dramatic fall from grace when a beloved American prizefighter and silent film star falls for a married woman, who seemed destined to be his ninth or tenth wife. His marital history is as complicated and murky as her business dealings, and their affair takes a tragic turn late one hot august night. Culled from the historic pages of the Los Angele...

Life And Confession of Stephen Dee Richards Episode 223 takes us to the prairies of Nebraska to explore the state's first serial killer, Stephen Dee Richards. His confession and the reporting of his murder come from a sensational trial pamphlet published shortly after his death, the 19th century version of a true crime podcast. Ad -Free Edition Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.sprea...

The Reily Mattock Murder Episode 198 is centered on one of my favorite murder tropes, the so-called “eternal triangle,” between the cranky old farmer, his fading wife, and the handsome young farmhand. Yeah, that’s not going to end well, but they might have gotten away with it if they had just put the body across the tracks. It’s all in the details. Culled from the historic pages of the Hamilton Jo...

Jealous Husband Murders Rival, Wounds Wife Episode 232 is really just your average love triangle gone awry, but there are mysteries to be solved here, and the real reason I like this story is that the bad girl in this case is not the instigator, but a survivor, the victim of a jealous husband, a strong Southern woman with flair and flaws of her own. Ad free edition Become a supporter of this podca...

Case File For The Scoundrel Lingo Episode 428 describes two violent murders in the rural areas around Merchantville, New Jersey, in the 1890s. A rough farm-hand is the first suspect in the first case, but suspicion suddenly turns to the victim’s uncle/husband and attention to a trial full of courtroom theatrics. Then a nearly identical murder a year later adds a new wrinkle to the case. But that’s...

A Deadly Package At Seat Pleasant Episode 430 tells of another holiday celebration ending in tragedy, when a mysterious package makes its way to the home of a young recently secretly married expectant mother. Suspicion falls at once to the family of her secret husband, and the husband himself. Ad-free edition Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian...

The Trial Of The Mother Of Dolls Episode 240 is one of those cases where you just know that somebody's off their rocker, but it's hard to figure out exactly who. Things get weird when a husband charges his wife with murdering their twin babies. That he never saw. So what was he pushing around in the stroller the last couple of months? Ad-free edition Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www...