True Crime Historian

Episode 140. Ad-Free Safe House Edition “The Bigamist And Her Murderous Husband: The Sweetwater Double Homicide” is the sordid tale of a love octangle (or something like that) when the suspiciously widowed husband of a girl married five times without a divorce gets fed up from the legal harassment from his wife’s elderly suitor. Culled from the historic pages of the Abilene Reporter and other news...

Episode 193 exposes two tales, one of lust and passion, one of lust for power. Ad-Free Safe House Edition "She Shot To Kill" is composed of two stories from the 1893 Omaha Daily Bee that tells of a deadly love triangle. There's a great contrast between the first day's coverage and the second. "The Woman In The Wall" comes from the vintage pages of True Detective Magazine (vol. 56, no. 4), the stor...

Life, Crimes and Confession of Bridget Durgan Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 141 conveys the confession of an Irish immigrant, young but hardened by life, who after getting fired from her housekeeping job, resolves to murder her mistress. Once she gets the idea in her head, she can’t let it go. Adapted from a sensational pamphlet published in 1867, the first act is purported to be a confession...

The Brutal Murder Of Mayme Sherman A True Crime Short Story by Richard O Jones Ad-Free Safe House Edition One of the factors behind my interest in historical true crime is that my hometown of Hamilton, Ohio, seems to have a particularly rich history of crime--murder in particular, but not just murder. I’ve done several local programs about the safecrackers, bandits, and other notorious characters....

Episode 195 shows Jolly Old England is not always so jolly as we take a look at three different cases with a body count of at least four wives and one mistress. "Nineteen Dandelions" by Edmund Pearson tells the story of a distinguished poisoner. "The Ugly Romeo" by Frank Cipriani tells of a serial bathtub murderer. "The Bungalow Murder" is the story of a married man who loved his girlfriend to pie...

The  Drummond Affair Ad-Free Safe House Edition Book a bunk at The Safe House and have access to the largest repository of True Crime Historian episodes available on the WWWs. Episode 283 is adapted from the classic pages of True Detective (Vol. 4; No. 6, UK edition) with an international tale of mystery. When the bodies of a titled British couple and their young daughter turn up dead in a camping...

The Murder Of The Groom Ad-Free Safe House Edition Join the Safe House for complete access to over 400 classic episodes of True Crime Historian, the largest collection available on the WWWs. Episode 142 tells the story of a St. Louis family with a tendency to resort to gun violence to solve their financial woes, imaginary or otherwise. The first crime was over a loan of $2,000 that probably never...

The Saga of the Scoundrel Thomas McGehan A true crime short story by Richard O Jones Ad-Free Safe House Edition - Episode 28 takes place on Christmas Eve 1870, when three men attack a local politician with boulders and slungshots, and at least a dozen men scramble for the door while five shots pepper the faro room at the American Saloon in Hamilton, Ohio, the hometown of True Crime Historian Richa...

Who Killed Lettie Whitehall? Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 282 is dedicated to True Crime Historian patron Vivia Boe, who requested an episode from her hometown, Bothell, Washington. In scouring the archives, I found this tragic story that takes place in the vicinity. It’s usually hard to get a full episode from an unsolved case as there’s usually no resolution and a good story needs an endin...

Hollywood’s First Sex Scandal Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 143 digs back into the early days of the motion picture industry, before Hollywood became synonymous with greed and lust and power. It only took a murder charge to bring down one of the biggest stars of the day, and even though it seems like poor Fatty got a bum rap on the deal, it’s probably the only reason Arbuckle’s work is not he...

The Murder Of Harry Dewey Garbe Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 145 takes us into the life story of 18-year-old bad girl Gussie Humann and an ill-conceived plan to get back at an old flame, which results in her becoming the youngest person to be indicted for first degree murder in Queens County, New York. It's a winding, twisty road that begins with a death bed accusation and includes a number...

The Escapades Of Velma West  Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 144 takes us into the scandalous world of a restless young flapper and her secret life. Before it’s over, we’ll have a brutal murder, a scandalous revelation, a sensational confession, a daring prison break, and drama galore. Hang on, everybody... This one’s a roller coaster. More Femmes Fatale Become a supporter of this podcast: http...

The Deadly Trout Creek Land Squabble Ad-Free Safe House Edition Episode 281 is dedicated to listener and patron Kimberlee Anderson, who shares a hometown with the defendants in this case. Although first reports said that Mrs. Alice Harris was a widow, it turns out she was a divorcee whose ex-husband was of THE Harris family of Harrisville, Utah. This story seems like it could’ve been a classic Joh...

Episode 218 journeys across three continents as we hear the stories of wiley police officers outwitting some very clever criminals. Ad-Free Safe House Edition "Strange Murder Of An Aged Romeo" by Peter Levins heads down Argentina way as a family feud gets settled in a grisly way.   "A Black Cat Doomed" by Fred Menagh, travel to England and France as Scotland Yard attempts to track down gangsters t...

Episode 147 Ad-Free Safe House Edition Spider Attic Ghost Killer : The truly bizarre tale of a man who stalked an elderly couple by living in their attic, sneaking down to forage meals from their fridge. The Texas Candybar Murder : The justice of the peace called it suicide, but others question how the young mother-to-be came to shoot herself in the back of the head. The Nurse and Her Nagging Aunt...

 Episode 280 is a reading of "The Black Negligee Murder" By Frederic Holmes Adapted from True Detective, v.43 no.1 Ad-Free Safe House Edition There’s a lot going on in this story. The seams show in the author’s reporting as he occasionally allows glimpses into his process, but at the same time, he makes it seem like he’s telling story from the point of view of the bad guy for most of the first two...

Episode 252 tells two stories of when the wheels of justice had a blow-out and people were convicted of crimes they didn't commit. Ad -Free Safe House Edition "Uncle Amos Dreams a Dream," by Edmund Pearson, the story of two brothers accused of murder after the discovery of two clipped toenails. "Twenty-Three Years Skidoo: What Was Justice In This Case," by Peter Levins, about how a deathbed confes...

The Kidnapping Of Brooke L. Hart  Ad Free Safe House Edition Mob rule threatens the city of San Jose, California in Episode 279 when the scion of a beloved wealthy family, the owners of the town’s biggest department store, is kidnapped by a pair of opportunistic thugs. When the young man’s body is recovered from the waters of the San Francisco Bay, the crowd gathers around the Santa Clara County j...

The Tri-State Head and Hands Murder Plot The cast of characters in Episode 147 includes a previously convicted murderer who works as a driver and a “sort of secretary” for an eccentric former opera singer, three thugs that he met in prison, and a fire captain who often bragged of his success in the stock market after his retirement, amassing a fortune of more than $2 million (in today’s money). Th...

Episode 233. "The Case Of The Smoking Corpse" By Peter Levins. When a young man stumbles upon a pair of corpses in a park, police not only solve a murder, but break up a caper to rid all of the banks in Indianapolis of their cash. And it all starts with a clue from a horseshoe. "A Clue At The Kitchen Window: A Strangulation in Apartment 16" By Quincy Carlton. A young man discovers a young girl he...

The Approximately 55 Wives of Johann Hoch Episode 148 tells the unlikely story of a German immigrant who managed to wed dozens of women, mostly widows that he met through personal ads in German newspapers in several American cities. Soon as he could get his hands on their money, he’d run. Sometimes, his cons wouldn’t work, and he’d resort to murder. Theme Music by Dave Sams “In the Hall of the Mou...

Episode 278 Celibate Farmer Ruins The Romance So what happens when a bachelor farmer is determined that his 52-year-old sister stay a spinster and she falls in love with the farm hand? Nothing good, you can bet on that, especially when the bachelor farmer discovers the suitor slinking around his house. I found this story interesting not only for the unusual disposal of the body, but also for the c...

Episode 163: Magazine #13 "The Man Who Owned Manhattan" is the story of a determined private detective who sets out to solve one of the classic con game and match wits with "the man with an educated laugh." "Love And Money: Two Motives," a tale from the 1870s about a blackmail scheme that goes way over the top. "Mister Bravo's Burgandy" by Edmund Pearson is the scandalous tale of a widow, her doct...

Episode 162 concerns a large blond man claiming to be a good Samaritan who brings a badly-beaten man into a hospital. It sparks an intricate game of cat-and-mouse that crosses several states and one international border. Bonus Stories For Patreon Subscribers: " No Judge Or Jury, " by Peter Levins, considers the case of a missing family. When the Haven family moves West for the mother's health, the...

From The Archives Of The Pinkertons Episode 61 begins with a daring train robbery and tells the story of how one of America's famed detectives, the esteemed William Pinkerton, solves a series of seemingly unrelated robberies while tracking the lone bandit down. The exciting tale is told by Cleveland Moffat, a New York journalist who wrote mystery stories on the side, and in 1905 syndicated a serie...