True Crime Historian

The True Crime of Irene Schroeder  Jump To AD-FREE Safe House Edition Episode 32 takes place during the early days of the Great Depression, when one patrolman is killed and another seriously wounded while trying to prevent a trio of bandits who had robbed a department store in Western Pennsylvania from making a getaway. The surviving officer said it was not one of the two men who killed his partne...

The Botched Execution of George H. Painter Jump To AD FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 27 starts shortly after midnight, the night of  May 17, 1891, when George H. Painter awoke the people living in his Chicago house shortly after midnight, shouting that his common law wife Alice Martin had been murdered. Painter himself went to fetch the police, who promptly arrested him for the murder. The trial...

 On September 19, 1910, a prowler broke into the home of Clarence Hiller in the Chicago neighborhood Morgan Park. When he awoke Hiller’s 13-year-old daughter, pandemonium erupted and before it was over, Hiller lay dead at the bottom of the stairs. In breaking into the house, Thomas Jennings left his left palm print in a freshly-painted porch rail. Those prints would be the first ever admitted into...

The Scoundrel Tom Horn Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 454 takes us back to the end of the Old West era, where a cattleman’s agent is arrested for the murder of a sheep farmer’s son. Yes, that was a real conflict back then. Tom Horn, the hired gun, had a long history of adventure, deeds good and foul, but the murder of a fourteen-year-old boy was a bullet too far for the colorful To...

Pittsburgh’s Feely Murder Mystery Jump To AD-FREE Safe House Edition You’ll need your thinking cap for Episode 129, about as cold a case as you can get. It’s about eighty years old, but even police officials at the time could not agree on what happened in the back room of that tiny home, whether it was a murder or a murder/suicide. I’m not going to say we can solve it from a few newspaper clipping...

The Ordeal Of Hattie LeBlanc Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 413 is the sordid little tale of a French Canadian girl who gets wrapped up in an ugly situation involving her employers, a womanizing laundry owner and his suffering wife. It only gets uglier when the husband ends up dead, the maid arrested, but it seems to be the wife who stands trial. Hear More Episodes About FEMMES FAT...

The Mulholland Drive Sack Murder Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edtion Episode 411 details the events following the discovery alongside the famed Mulholland Drive of a body sewn up in a makeshift canvas bag fashioned from an old awning. All fingers point to her friend, a physician with a shady past, whose defense is simply the old standby: “What? Who? Me?” Become a supporter of this podcast: https...

The President’s Close Call Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 452 explores the aftermath of a presidential mishap when Teddy Roosevelt's carriage collides with an electric trolley racing to make up for lost time. A Secret Service guard dies immediately and the trolley driver is charged with his murder. Was this a simple accident? A case of incompetence? Or was the motorman made a scape...

The Interstate Strangulation Of Verna Russell Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 409 is the story of a spoiled young man who wouldn’t take no for an answer and let his rage get the better of him. The best evidence against him will come from the very source he turned to in order to hide his deed. Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-historian--...

The City Of New Orleans Vs. The Mafia Jump to AD FREE SAFE HOUSE EDITION Episode 408 explores the lead-in and aftermath of one of the most deadly vigilante actions in American history. When the commissioner of police is assassinated on his way home, a committee of 50 citizens call an indignation meeting, and you know how those are likely to go. Just a couple of notes: One, the descriptions of the...

The Accusations Against Florence Elizabeth Maybrick Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 407 is dedicated to my new friend from the United Kingdom, Joan Smith, who asked me to dig up more stories from across the great pond. This one involves an American woman who marries a Brit old enough to be her father, and is then charged with his poisoning. The bulk of this episode is adapted from a...

The Work Of The Mormon Butcher Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 451 begins in the summer of 1902, when a woman’s mutilated body is pulled from the Morris Canal, and the trail leads to a blood-soaked missionary’s flat in Manhattan. The suspect: William Hooper Young, grandson of Mormon patriarch Brigham Young, whose notebook bore the chilling phrase “Blood Atonement.” This is a rich ep...

Audrey Jacob Stands Trial Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 406 comes from a special request from one of my many listeners Down Under, this one the tragic story of a spurned young woman who settles the score on the dance floor. And we’re not talking about a tango competition, but her trial is a dramatic one and the resolution is indeed surprising. Hear More Stories From DOWN UNDER. Be...

The Horrible Horner-Simpson Affair Jump To AD-FREE Safe House Edition Episode 404 is jam-packed with crazy when a fun-loving dentist is charged with the double-barrel shotgun murder of his father-in-law. The family dynamic seems to go off the rails in the lead-in to the trial, and there are a couple of interesting subplots to keep things going, including a long-lost relative and the sad story of t...

Eugene Burt Flees From Justice Jump To AD-FREE Safe House Edition Episode 403 explores the story of a man who leaves his family battered and murdered in a cistern under their Austin home, and heads out of town on the midnight train. He thinks he can disappear in a big city, but Chicago has another story. Hear More Stories About The Death Of INNOCENTS Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www...

The Lynching Of Lloyd Warner Jump To The AD-FREE Safe House Edition Plus transcripts and deep-dive research for Safe House residents Episode 449 tells the story of civil unrest sparked by reports of a young white woman being sexually assaulted by a young black male, a story all too common in American history, and like many of the others, it appears likely that the unruly mob lynched and incinerate...

A Fake Hold-Up Murder Plot Jump To AD-FREE Safe House Edition Episode 402 tells the story of a discontented wife and her young paramour, who set in motion a plan to stage a robbery to get money for a quick Reno divorce. The victim, her husband. Yeah, that didn’t work out so well. There are some intense personalities in this story and a lot of theatrics, including a murder victim testifying from be...

Clara Smith Hamon Takes The Stand Jump To The AD-FREE Safe House Edition Episode 401 tells the salacious story of a leading politician who shows up at a private hospital with a gunshot wound. He tells the doctor it was self-inflicted, but that turns out to be a cover story. Why the big lie? You guessed it: There’s a woman in the case, and what she has to say will blow your mind. Hear More Stories...

Josie Kensler’s Delicate Condition Jump To Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 400 employs a trope we’ve seen before: the cranky old farmer whose wife takes up with the farm hand and well, it just doesn’t end well for anybody. But this one, taking place near the turn to the twentieth century in rural Idaho, has its own particular set of twists, turns, and complications, and conflicting testimony be...

The Axe Murder Of Alice Mallett Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 450 begins with a scream in the night as the beautiful Miss Alice Mallett, her body brutally defiled, found in a bloody pool. The town of Jackson, Michigan, reels, a mob thirsting for vengeance. The twisted trail of an axe points to the fiendish George Straub, an ex-con with a dark past. But wait! Did he act alone? Or did another s...

The Life And Death Of Jennie E. Cramer Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 397 tells the story of a young girl in late 1800’s New England who falls in with a fast crowd with fatal results. Three people were tried for her murder, but it’s up to you to decide whether she was the victim of her own shame, or if the victim of an unjust patriarchal society. Hear About More UNSOLVED Cases Beco...

The Astounding Disappearance Of Benjamin Collings On Long Island Sound Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 396 relates the puzzling story of a family apparently attacked on their cabin cruiser on an inky summer night. The husband is missing and the wife and five-year-old daughter have an amazing tale to tell. But can her story hold water as well as the 26-foot cruiser? Hear More UNSOLVE...

The Fiendish Slaughter Of An Innocent Child Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 394 relates the tragic tale of an eight-year old girl who fell into the clutches of a degenerate murderer. The hero of this story is a Louisville, Kentucky, detective who not only pieces together the crime, but embarks on a cross-country chase for the alleged murderer, who proves to be slippery even behind b...

Brothers Face Gas Chamber Together Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 392 explores the case of two brothers charged with the murder of a Colorado farmer and his “chore boy.” The chief witness against them is the farmer’s wife, who made a miraculous getaway and recovery. Hear More Stories About CAPITAL CRIMES Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crim...

The Barber And The Gambler’s Wife Stand Trial Jump To The Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 393 takes us back to the Gilded Age and the salacious story of a professional gambler who is fatally attacked as he leaves his house to go to the hotel where he operates. Blame falls on his barber, who confesses to the crime and implicates the gambler’s wife, accusing her of not only having an interracial...