tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89067863973743725612024-03-19T00:24:30.788-04:00Murder by GaslightA compendium of information, resources, and discussion on notable nineteenth century American murders.Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.comBlogger777125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-38639570267294695992024-03-16T10:55:00.008-04:002024-03-17T15:51:13.093-04:00 The Bedford Murder.Dr. John W. Hughes. Dr. John W. Hughes was a restless, intemperate man whose life never ran smoothly. When his home life turned sour, he found love with a woman half his age. Then, he lost her through an act of deception, and in a fit of drunken rage, Dr. Hughes killed his one true love.Date: August 9, 1865Location: Bedford, OhioVictim: Tamzen ParsonsCause of Death:&Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-91506606846623444692024-03-09T09:09:00.000-05:002024-03-09T09:09:08.921-05:00John and Maria.Sudden death seemed to be John Hendrickson’s constant companion. When his six-week-old baby died suddenly, it was viewed as a tragedy. When his father-in-law died suddenly in a farm accident, it raised a few eyebrows. But when his healthy teenage wife, Maria, died suddenly with symptoms of poisoning, foul suspicions ran wild.Read the full story here: Sudden Death, Foul Suspicions.Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-32776238224283516262024-03-02T10:00:00.001-05:002024-03-02T12:39:14.142-05:00His House His Castle.Sometime after 11:00, the night of January 15, 1888, Mrs. Emma Belden was awakened by someone ringing the front doorbell. She went to the door and heard the person trying to get inside.“Who’s there,” she called.“Let me in,” a gruff voice responded.“You can’t get in.”The man outside started kicking the door, trying to break in.The Beldens lived in a three-story house at 182 Ainslie Street in Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-66866496071795516032024-02-24T08:46:00.000-05:002024-02-24T08:46:17.321-05:00Alice and Lillie. Alice Hoyle last saw her sister, Lillie, the night of September 1, 1887, in the room they shared in Webster, Massachusetts. Lillie left to use the outhouse, and Alice fell asleep. Lillie never returned. The next morning, Alice went out, thinking Lillie had already left for work. That is the story Alice told the police— as the investigation progressed, she would change it several times.Read Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-4955159185604565632024-02-17T15:02:00.001-05:002024-02-17T15:03:45.440-05:00Katie and Albert.A postmortem examination revealed that Katie Dugan was four months pregnant when her body was found beaten and slashed in an empty field in Wilmington, Delaware, in 1892. A two-year investigation led police to believe that Albert Stout, Katie’s former employer, was her killer and the father of her unborn child. But Stout was a prominent, well-connected businessman, and despite evidence that he Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-86938940890219348642024-02-10T10:18:00.005-05:002024-02-13T09:33:05.419-05:00East Side Story.This week, we have a guest post from Howard and Nina Brown, frequent contributors to Murder by Gaslight, on matters pertaining to the 1891 murder of Carrie Brown. This article chronicles events leading to the release of Ameer Ben Ali, who was convicted of the murder but was released in 1902. Howard and Nina have written a book on the Carrie Brown murder, East Side Story: 1891 Murder Case of Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-29182827717668170602024-02-03T09:37:00.001-05:002024-02-03T09:52:47.100-05:00A Fool and His Folly.Orange Terrell, of Terrell, Texas, had, for a number of years, been “paying his respects” to Sophia Wickson. In the spring of 1886, Sophia had another admirer, Miles Henderson, who was proving to be a successful rival to Tarrell. Around 9:30, the night of June 7, Tarrell went to the house of Austin Thomas, where he knew Sophia was stopping. Expecting trouble, he took his revolver with him.When heRobert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-26682750535587447092024-01-27T09:00:00.000-05:002024-01-27T09:00:06.041-05:00Robert and Kate.In 1876, Robert Southern was the most eligible bachelor in Pickens County, Georgia. Kate Hambrick and Narcissa Cowan were rivals for his affection. Kate was the winner; she and Robert married that autumn. But Kate’s victory was short-lived; Robert was still secretly seeing Narcissa. At a Christmas party that year, he danced with Narissa and paid her more attention than Kate thought proper. Kate Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-71126581604741419522024-01-22T07:46:00.003-05:002024-01-22T07:53:04.340-05:00Wicked Words Interview.Wicked Words Podcast
Interview with author Robert Wilhelm
Listen Now!Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-19158074317811224372024-01-20T08:47:00.002-05:002024-01-20T10:43:23.154-05:00A Suspicious Burglary. On the night of January 2, 1890, a burglary occurred in the home of Dr. Arthur Kniffin in Trenton, New Jersey. While Dr. Kniffin was out of town, someone entered the house and chloroformed his wife Myra and her cousin Emma Purcell. Myra Kniffin died as a result, but Miss Purcell recovered and told of burglars charging through the door and subduing them both. Friends and family accepted this storyRobert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-10186469116588987062024-01-13T09:13:00.010-05:002024-01-14T11:30:59.240-05:00The Willis-Hultz Tragedy.
W. C.
Hultz left his law office in Sullivan, Indiana at around 8:30 on the morning of
December 24, 1893. He did not notice a tramp, with long hair and whiskers,
wearing a long, ragged overcoat, a slouch hat and rubber boots in the doorway
across the street. The tramp walked
toward Hultz, and when he was about six feet away, he drew a double-barreled
shotgun from his coat and fired a Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-25390813151135434172024-01-06T09:08:00.001-05:002024-01-06T09:08:45.190-05:00Poor Pretty Maggie.The body of Maggie Hourigan was found floating face down in a small pool of water outside of Greenwich, New York on October 20, 1889. Dr. S. Walter Scott performed a hasty autopsy and concluded that Maggie had committed suicide by drowning. None of her friends or employers believed that Maggie, who was generally happy and cheerful, had taken her own life. The district attorney ordered a Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-72092858123831928872023-12-30T08:56:00.000-05:002023-12-30T08:56:06.113-05:00Georgianna Lovering.13-year-old Georgianna Lovering disappeared from her home in Northwood, New Hampshire, in October 1872. The prime suspect in her abduction was her 64-year-old great-uncle, Franklin Evans, who had previously made “improper advances” to Georgianna. In police custody, Evans led the Sheriff to Georgianna’s body. He also confessed to murdering a 5-year-old girl in Derry, New Hampshire, and was Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-72673877213177689592023-12-23T15:25:00.001-05:002023-12-23T15:25:55.258-05:00Shot on Christmas Eve.“A dark, mean little bedroom, a woman, half-undressed, dirty and pale, and blear-eyed from long excesses, a male companion, leaning over her with a revolver at her head, two shots, a shriek, an ugly hole under the ear, and the vice and crime of Boston had added another murder to its long score.” - The Boston Herald’s vivid description of the murder of Josephine Brown on Christmas Eve, 1891.Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-65901004870002524672023-12-16T11:44:00.002-05:002023-12-16T11:44:54.948-05:00The Home of the Benders.In the early 1870s the counties of Labette and Montgomery in Kansas experienced an alarming number of missing persons. The Bender family, who ran a grocery store and restaurant from their cabin, were investigated and cleared. But a closer look at the Benders' home revealed systematic mechanisms for murder and theft. The Bloody Benders fled Kansas, leaving behind ten corpses buried on their Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-13090148951937668932023-12-09T11:50:00.001-05:002023-12-17T12:04:31.787-05:00Mad with Jealousy.On September 8, 1892, Frank Garvin, an artist working for the Pittsburgh Commercial Gazette, married Cora Redpath, a trapeze artist who worked for Barnum and other circuses. They met and fell in love four years earlier, in Allegheny, Pennsylvania, when he was 19, and she was 16. Neither family approved of the relationship.The Redpaths were a show business family known for their good looks. Cora, Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-7719678306820873012023-12-02T09:29:00.000-05:002023-12-02T09:29:39.404-05:00Tom and Catherine.
The morning of February 5, 1895, Dr. John E Rader was found murdered in the house of Mrs. Catherine McQuinn in Jackson, Kentucky. Catherine told police they were drinking whiskey with her paramour Tom Smith and when Tom passed out, Dr. Rader assaulted her. She shot him in self-defense. Catherine could have committed the murder; she was a rough, course woman with a bad reputation. But the Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-27928738116620422582023-11-25T11:03:00.000-05:002023-11-25T11:03:41.775-05:00A Fatal Frolic.James L. Daniels returned to Hillman, Alabama, from a trip to Birmingham, the night of December 26, 1890. While he was there, he purchased a hideous mask and thought it would be a good joke to put on the mask and frighten the family of his brother-in-law, Joe Tarpley. He knocked on their door and Tarpley answered. Not knowing it was Daniels, Tarpley told the masked man to go away. Instead, Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-10182608451635606912023-11-18T08:57:00.002-05:002023-11-18T09:03:37.668-05:00A Fan's Obsession.James M. Dougherty was a telegraph lineman in Brooklyn who studied meteorology, electricity, astronomy, and other sciences in his spare time. He dabbled in a little of everything until 1887 when he saw actress Mary Anderson and she became his sole obsession. He followed her wherever she performed and became convinced that a group of evil conspirators was keeping him from his true love. In 1889, Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-59061282131496520292023-11-11T09:05:00.001-05:002023-12-17T12:05:49.334-05:00Love and Lunacy.In 1874, Charley McGill had a steady job as a cabinet maker, living in Columbus, Ohio, with a wife and a child. He was standing on the street with his friend, Elliot Hymrod when two young ladies passed by. Hymrod proposed that they follow the ladies, and McGill agreed. One of the ladies, Mary Kelly, caught McGill’s eye, and he struck up an acquaintance with her that grew into “desperate, Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-80557737143973127052023-11-04T09:25:00.010-04:002023-11-04T11:13:52.481-04:00Special Guests.
As Murder by Gaslight celebrates its fourteenth anniversary, I would like to take a moment to celebrate the contributions of our guest bloggers. Over the years, thirteen authors and bloggers have provided posts relating to nineteenth century American murder. Some document crimes in their locality, or even their own family, others draw on expertise on high-profile cases. They each exhibit theRobert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-34916645665700641852023-10-29T07:45:00.002-04:002023-10-29T07:48:48.032-04:00Jacob S. Harden.Reverend Jacob S. Harden felt he had been roped into an unhappy marriage by Louisa Dorland and her conniving parents. His new wife threatened his promising career and put a damper on his active social life as well. When the young bride passed away mysteriously, Harden acted like a guilty man but professed innocence almost to the end.Read the full story here: The Confession of Jacob Harden.Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-63336758735213369822023-10-21T08:44:00.002-04:002023-12-17T12:06:40.868-05:00Rum and the Knife.On November 14, 1877, the Lynches of South Boston were expecting a visit from Mrs. Lynch’s sister, Bridget Frances Kenneally. Mr. and Mrs. Lynch were sitting in the kitchen at around 6:30 when the door suddenly flew open, and Bridget fell flat on her face across the threshold. They thought she had fainted, so they carried her to the sofa and attempted to revive her but were unsuccessful. Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-52642223239414118152023-10-14T09:38:00.001-04:002023-10-14T09:38:14.346-04:00The Remains of Schilling.In 1874, a feud within Cincinnati’s German community led to the brutal murder and illegal cremation of Herman Schilling. The case would also serve as a stepping stone for Lafcadio Hearn, a young aspiring journalist and illustrator on his way to international literary renown.Read the full story here: The Tanyard Murder.Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8906786397374372561.post-73148968439740709532023-10-07T09:16:00.012-04:002023-10-07T12:51:29.120-04:00A Fiend and a Shotgun.On the morning of April 25, 1896, Alfred “Pete” Egbert, of Rockville, Indiana, went suddenly and inexplicably insane. He murdered his neighbor, Mrs. Haske (or Hasche), with an axe, then took a shotgun and killed two of her children as they ate breakfast in their kitchen. Egbert’s shotgun took two more victims before a large, heavily armed posse surrounded him in the fairgrounds outside of Robert Wilhelmhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11008320767930927490noreply@blogger.com0