Mass Lynching in the Crescent City A new book by Tom Smith, The Crescent City Lynchings, explores the infamous 1890 murder of New Orleans police chief David Hennessy and the subsequent lynching of 11 Italians and Italian-Americans accused in the case. The author's website has details. Tom Smith has contributed to several true crime series, including Great American Trials and Great World Trials.
The Lasting Impact of a Staten Island Murder "One hundred years ago tonight, my great-grandfather, Dr. Charles Wilmot Townsend, was murdered on New York's Staten Island. " So begins a fascinating article by Scott Herhold for the San Jose Mercury-News. The most remarkable fact about this case is that the killer was bent on avenging his wife's death in childbirth, and he waited a year to the minute to wreak revenge. A century later, the wounds still haven't healed.
Canadian True Crime Troubles The Canadian Journalist blog offers interesting content in the theme with much to discuss today, i.e. Pickton and the woes of true crime author Derek Finkle.
Did Jeffrey Dahmer kill Adam Walsh? Here's the piece by Arthur Jay Harris that got everyone abuzz, and here's an interesting article about the news outlets that originally refused to run the story. The Miami Herald finally got on the story.
Stanford White Murder Exhibit at Kent State I {heart} Kent State, the university where they take their true crime seriously. Right now, Kent State is offering a special exhibit on the murder of architect Stanford White, an infamous death that took place in 1906. Says the curator: "The focus of the crime collection here is not just on true crime literature, but how true crime incidents have influenced and made their way into the arts and literature...I'm always amazed at how many examples of this there are. Dickens was influenced by true crime incidents — all sorts of famous writers. Lots of films are based on true crime incidents. It's something that captures the popular imagination pretty steadily." The story of Stanford White was best told in The Architect of Desire: Beauty and Danger in the Stanford White Family.
Unsolved from '70 A double murder in Missouri 37 years ago (!!!!) is getting another look. Say it with me: "Thank God for DNA."
Police Writers The website http://www.police-writers.com/ lists dozens and dozens of officers who have picked up the pen. Their favorite genre -- guess! You'll recognize many names -- Basinski, Fuhrman, Hodel, Varnado, and some fellow named Wambaugh.
New Jersey Monster Who killed Lorraine Kelly and Mary Pryor? The two New Jersey teens were butchered by a monster years ago. Some folks have inquired about the case here. I'm advised that Robert Zarinsky is thought responsible. This article delves into Zarinsky's deviltry.
Book Recommendations One of my faithful correspondents highly recommends a couple of titles for us. He writes -- "The Postcard Killer: The True Story of J. Frank Hickey" by Vance McLaughlin, PhD. It's about a sex murderer at the turn of the century. The writer did some good research into New England (which is where the murders occurred) in that time period. He did most of his research through newspapers, but the book is well-written and a good read. The second book is "The Beautiful Cigar Girl: Mary Rogers, Edgar Allan Poe, and The Invention of Murder" by Daniel Stashower. It is set in 1842 New York and tells how Poe came to write the short story, "The Mystery of Marie Roget." Since I'm a big fan of Poe, I really enjoyed this book."
The Postcard Killer does sound particularly interesting!! The book's description alone (very well written) intrigues me:
In 1912 John Frank Hickey, "The Postcard Killer," was one of the first known and captured serial killers. This fascinating story tells how a solitary milquetoast of a man wandered the American east coast for decades, harboring a terrifying assortment of personal demons. Many of the behavior patterns that have long since come to be trademarks of the sociopathic killer are revealed in Hickey's long, demented life of crime. Unfortunately, the police and investigators in the early 20th Century had few if any tools to battle with a solitary individual's compulsion to murder young newsboys who wandered the urban streets alone.
From his first murder at eighteen until his capture and conviction nearly three decades later, Hickey traveled and worked at anonymous clerical or engineering jobs while he committed murders of breathtaking brazenness, sometimes attacking in open view. Hickey was well into middle age when his need for public attention drove him to taunt his victims' families and mock the police. He began a long series of correspondence about his crimes in the form of postcards. He enjoyed knowing that they could be read by anybody while they were en route. The postcards eventually formed the net that snared him.
That's going on my Wish List!
I also was a friend of Lorraine Kelly & Mary Ann Pryor as well as Lorraine's brother John. I have thought very often about them and and always wondered what ever became of the case. It's hard to imagine that if Zarnisky was the monster that killed them that there is no way to prove it.
Karen
Posted by: Karen Cruz | June 22, 2009 at 09:42 PM