Vintage Photos, Genealogy & Crime Stories
When George Brown, who said he was a resident of New York state, pleaded guilty before Judge Jones last week to stealing the automobile of controller Paul J. Schmidt, he said he was never in trouble before, and was sentenced to three years in the county jail. The judge promised to be lenient with Brown … Continue reading Hard Truth and Hard Time
After accepting a plea of guilty of murder, second degree, on an indictment charging Luigi DioGuardi with murder, first degree, Justice Robert F. Thompson yesterday sentenced DioGuardi to serve ten to twenty years in Auburn prison. — Democrat and Chronicle (Rochester, New York), March 8, 1923 On the evening of February 28, 1922 a group … Continue reading A Good Accordion Player
If you watched the second episode of The Alienist on TNT recently, you may have wondered about the harrowing experience of John Moore (played by Luke Evans) after knock-out drops were put in his drink. Moore, a newspaper crime illustrator and friend of the alienist, Dr. Lazlo Kreizler, takes a trip alone to the “boy … Continue reading Knock-out Drops
The police have been asked to be on the lookout for George A. Lewis, 27 years old, who escaped from the Gardner Insane Colony, Sunday. He is of slight build and has dark hair. He was dressed in a gray suit. — Fitchburg Sentinel (Fitchburg, Massachusetts), October 19, 1908 His name was recorded by the … Continue reading In and Out of the Colony
Helen and Howard Cassidy had a stormy marriage. The couple separated three times and also had gotten divorced and remarried. By 1926 the marriage was on the rocks again. Helen took their five-year-old daughter and moved out without leaving a forwarding address. Howard moved back to his home state of Colorado with their two sons. … Continue reading The Love Nest
Six inmates, all from the prison hospital, escaped from the Hutchinson reformatory here last night at 8:15 o’clock in one of the most daring and systematic breaks in recent years. Following the carefully laid plans the six took advantage of two prison ladders, one of which was equipped with special hooks, made a dash for … Continue reading Brothers in Arms and Chickens
Leon Kentish alias H. Wilson and Harry Montague alias R.F. Johnson were arrested yesterday by Chief of Police Little, Sergeant Kennedy and Officer Neagle. The men were stopping at the Causer House. They are charged with suspicion of larceny, and common gamblers. They are alleged to be shell workers, and travel under the pretense of … Continue reading Three Little Shells
Two youths, victims of the cocaine habit, were brought before Magistrate Kernochan, in the West Side Court, yesterday morning. One was a mere boy of 16, anxious to have his mother send him away where he couldn’t get the drug. The other was a confirmed user of cocaine, and when sentenced to six months on … Continue reading A Little Coke Please
A number of fur dealers who were robbed during the winter appeared at Central Station today in an effort to identify Mrs. Ethel Goodwin, divorced wife of Abe Attell, the former boxer, and five men who are under arrest on suspicion of having been concerned in thefts of furs worth $3,000,000. — The Evening Public … Continue reading The Prizefighter’s Wife
He came up to the room. He had the clothes on his arm. He said that he beat a woman on L street out of them, and finally said he got them off Mrs. Gibson. He said he got her drunk and that he "croaked" her. I do not understand what croaked means. He never … Continue reading Murder in Sacramento
SPRINGFIELD, Ill., July 13--Paroled from the Pontiac reformatory, Arthur Groves, alias Harry Williams, a negro, has repaid former Governor Yates, his benefactor, by stealing $3,000 worth of diamonds from the former executive’s handsome new residence in Washington Park. The robbery occurred on June 7 last, at a time when the former Governor was in Kentucky … Continue reading The Family Gems
Dorothy Durflinger was 18 and unmarried when her son was born in 1922. She was struggling financially, so she left her boy, who she’d named George Francis Brown, in the care of a married couple, Albert and Margaret Horr, when he was fifteen months old. Dorothy married George Brown in January 1925 and she wanted … Continue reading The Stolen Boy
Captured and Exposed 