Category Archives: Crime & Punishment!

Thievery!

Robbed A Dead Woman

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Steele Scrapbook – January 7, 1886

 

ROBBED A DEAD WOMAN.

Mrs. Anna M. Dunigan’s Corpse Despoiled in the Street at New York.

NEW YORK, Jan. 7.—Anna M. Dunigan, seventy years of age, fell dead this evening on the street within a few doors of her home in this city. Before her body was removed to her apartments her fingers were stripped of three valuable diamond rings, and a bracelet of gold and enamel was torn from her wrist. Mrs. Dunigan occupied rooms at “The Judson” with her son, Charles W. Dunigan, an actor.

When the woman fell several men rushed toward her, apparently to aid her, but as the results showed, to rob her. Her gloves were torn from her hand on the pretence of chafing them and rings were deftly slipped from her fingers and the bracelet from her wrist. Mrs. Dunigan was born in Philadelphia. Her father was a Quaker named Isaac Williams.

 


Stripped From The Fingers Of Alf

Thievery!

Ghosts Did Not Frighten Thieves

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Steele Scrapbook – 1885?

 



GHOSTS DID NOT FRIGHTEN THIEVES

Looted Odd Fellows’ Cemetery and Did Damage Amounting to Thousands of Dollars.

STOLE FENCE FITTINGS

For months the officials of the Odd Fellows’ Cemetery, at Twenty-second and Diamond streets, and the police of the near-by districts have been endeavoring to apprehend a gang of thieves, who have been systematically looting the graveyard of metal ornamentation, and causing damages amounting to thousands of dollars. T. S. Cummings, superintendent of the cemetery, has watched all night many times in hope of catching the vandals at their horrid work, but failure always followed his lonely vigils. Special Lawrence, of the 31st police district, and Special Hancock, of the 28th, also gave a large part of their time to an endeavor to locate the miscreants. Their work was also fruitless, however.

But when the officials were almost in despair an end of the protracted hunt is near at hand. The first arrest was made last night, and is expected to be followed by a number of others before the week is out. Policeman Eastlack, on his beat at Twenty-sixth and Susquehanna avenue late last night, had his attention attracted by the suspicious effort of a young colored man to avoid notice, and the further fact that the belated pedestrian was carrying a heavy bag, which he tried to keep out of sight. When stopped and questioned the young fellow could not give satisfactory answers and became confused. The policeman arrested him.

At the station house the prisoner said he was John F. Barnes, and gave his home as No. 2317 Steward street. In the bag was found a quantity of lead fittings, such as are used in the construction of fences around cemetery lots, to form a connection between the iron rail and the posts at the corners. These lead fittings were the articles always missing when a new piece of vandalism occurred at the cemetery, and a little hard questioning brought from Barnes the admission that he had obtained them there.

Magistrate Fletcher this morning held Barnes in $500 for a further hearing. A number of policemen testified that the prisoner had been seen about the cemetery frequently and chased out of the enclosure a number of times. Other boys and young men had been seen there in his company, but it was never suspected that they could have been the authors of the systematic depredations, as they were so extensive and long continued that it was thought some older and shrewder thieves must have been at the task. When the further hearing takes place the police expect to have one and probably several prisoners, with ample evidence for their detention and conviction.

The looting has been done thoughout the entire summer, and scores of fence were broken down. The quantity of fittings, brass work, and ornaments taken away is estimated to amount to $2,000, and the damage resulting is calculated at several times that sum. For months lot owners have complained of the vandalism which seems to have been done at no regular time, the thieves working at night or day as opportunity afforded.

It is now thought that boys and young men did all the damage. It is considered remarkable that boys, and especially colored youths, should have found courage to visit so uncanny a place as a graveyard at night and use heavy hammers to break up strong iron fences for a small amount of plunder. Where they disposed of their loot has not yet been ascertained. It is expected that these particulars and much beside will be produced at the next hearing.

 

 

This one qualifies for the racism category as well, for propagating the belief that all “colored people” are afraid of ghosts.


Ransacked From The Cemetery Of Alf

Missing!

Dr. Gruel Is Missing

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1892 Morbid Scrapbook

DR. GRUEL IS MISSING.

He Failed to Respond When His Case Came Up in Court.

When the case of Dr. Louis Gruel, of 905 North Fifth street, was called up before Judge Allison yesterday he failed to appear , and a bench warrant was immediately issued for his arrest and placed in the hands of officers to be served. They went at once to his house, and were informed by his wife that he was out of town, and she could not tell when he would return. It is believed that the Doctor has skipped the town, and will not voluntarily come back.

Gruel is charged with conspiracy to ruin the reputation of Mrs. Annita Hilgert, the young Spanish wife of Adolph Hilgert. It is charged that he visited the home of Mrs. Hilgert’s mother-in-law, and entered into a conspiracy with her to effect the young woman’s ruin. She was induced to drink some wine, and the mother-in-law left them alone. The Doctor then, it is alleged, attempted to assault her. She escaped, and ran to a neighbor’s house.

 

Now we know why Mother-In-Laws get such a bad rep!
From the collection of The Comtesse DeSpair
The 1892 Morbid Scrapbook

Imprisoned!

Death of Butte Convict

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Chico Weekly Record, Chico, California – Saturday, December 25, 1897

Death of Butte Convict.

Henry Mullings, a life termer at San Quentin prison, died at that institution on Tuesday, and was buried in the prison graveyard yesterday. An unusual large number of mourners among the prisoners made applications for permission to attend the funeral. A life termer who dies in prison is always given a large funeral by the convicts.

Mullings was twice tried and convicted in the Superior Court of this county for the murder of John Moore, an old miner of Mooretown. The murder occurred in 1887, and was a most brutal one, Moore being chopped to death with an ax. The evidence upon which Mullings was convicted was mostly circumstantial, but left no doubt of his guilt. In fact had it not been for admissions made by Mullings himself, he would not have been arrested.

Mullings was a young man of twenty-four years when he was received at the penitentiary on June 19, 1890. The prisoner declared when he entered the penitentiary that he would lead a model life and at the end of ten years he would plead for liberty. Mullings was a robust young fellow when he entered prison. He was raised in the mountains. Seven years’ confinement behind brick walls sapped the life of the young mountaineer. He knew that he was going to die and prepared for the end.

“Liberty will come with death,” remarked Mullings. “I would rather meet the end now than live on in this place indefinitely. There is no hope for a life-termer to gain freedom, unless he has strong friends. I am glad that death will give me liberty, for then I can cast aside these stripes.”

Mullings’ body will find a resting place in the prison graveyard. In death as well as in life he will be known as Prisoner No. 14.184.

From the collection of The Comtesse DeSpair

 

Capital Punishment!

A Woman Beheaded In Germany

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Steele Scrapbook – January 24, 1886

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A WOMAN BEHEADED IN GERMANY.

BERLIN, Jan. 24.—A woman named Badmewski was beheaded on Friday by the Berlin executioner for having poisoned her husband. She will, however, in all probability be the last criminal dispatched in this manner, as the Emperor is turning his attention to methods of capital punishment. His Majesty has decided against the present barbarous system. As executions are now conducted in Germany the condemned criminal is placed upon a stool, an assistant of the executioner holds the head, while the executioner himself, using a sword ground to a razor-like sharpness, severs the head from the body.

 

Ruthlessly Snatched From The Arms Of Alf

Capital Punishment!

Threatened Lynching

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Steele Scrapbook – September 27, 1885

 



THREATENED LYNCHING

The Brutal Outrage for Which Several Circus Employes [sic] May be Hanged.

LOUISVILLE, Sept. 27.—It is reported here tonight that there is much excitement at Frankfort and Bagdad, Ky., a village near Frankfort, and that there will probably be a lynching before morning of several attaches of Doris’ Circus, who were arrested here and taken to Frankfort to-day, charged with highway robbery.

A.F. Scoffield, A. Miles, J. B. Weber and J. B. Turner, four young men of Bagdad, Ky., boarded the circus train to go to Frankfort to see the show. They paid their fair and soon afterward at the points of several pistols, which were leveled at them, were made to turn over all their valuables, watches, rings, etc. , and a small amount of money. The robbers then made then [sic] jump from the train which was running at a rapid rate. All were injured by the jump. Weber and Scofield had their legs broken and the former will not be able to walk again. Miles had a leg broken and Turne [sic], escaped with painful bruises.

The men arrested are Richard White, William Carroll, Paul McQuade, George Miller, John Boyd and John Martin. It is reported on the street here at 8 o’clock that all six of the men have been hanged, but the rumor has not yet been confirmed. The prisoners were confined in the jail at Frankfort.

 


Stolen At Gunpoint From Alf

Capital Punishment!

Terrible Scene At An Excursion

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Steele Scrapbook – September 30, 1885

 

Terrible Scene at an Excursion.

COLUMBUS, O., Sept. 30.—Patrick Hartnett, the Cincinnati wife murderer, was hung at the Ohio penitentiary this morning. The drop fell at 1:20 o’clock, and he was pronounced dead one-half minute later. The fall resulted in almost decapitation, the head hanging to the body only by a small strip of skin at the back of the neck. It was with great difficulty that the executioners could summon courage to cut the body down. Hartnett killed his wife Jan 31, 1884, in Mount Auburn, a suburb of Cincinnati.

 

Obviously the title should be “Terrible Scene At An Execution” – but I kind of prefer “excursion”.
Stealthily Stolen From Alf

Capital Punishment!

Man And Wife To Hang

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January 29, 1892

 


“The Loathsome Couple” – Edward Gorey

MAN AND WIFE TO HANG.

The Schneiders, of Vienna, Adjudged Guilty and Both to Die For Horrible Crimes.

VIENNA, Jan. 29.—The sensational Schneider murder trial was ended to-day. The defence, if defence it can be called, where the accused go on the stand and by their evidence corroborate the testimony of the prosecution, closed this morning, and the case was given to the jury. The jurors required only seventy minutes to find Schneider guilty of all the murders charged against him, and a verdict of guilty against Frau Schneider for the murder of Vincenzia Trudar. The Judge immediately sentenced both prisoners to death. Both executions will take place on the same day, but Frau Schneider will be executed first.

Some months ago the police became habituated to receiving reports of the mysterious disappearance of young girls who earned their livelihood in the capacity of servants. It came to the knowledge of the authorities, after a long and patient investigation, that a large number of girls had been employed by Franz Schneider and his wife Rosalie, and that after they had been at work for a short time they would disappear and never be heard of again. All the evidence obtainable pointed in the direction of the Schneiders as having knowledge of the fate of the girls, and finally they were placed under arrest on the charge of murdering eight of their servants.

It was shown that the prisoners, on the pretext of employing the girls, had enticed them to their home. Once there, their fate was sealed. The evidence against the accused was overwhleming. Schneider, who broke down completely, confessed his guilt. He described in detail his method of doing away with the unfortunate girls who fell into his power. He would go to the room occupied by the girl last employed by his wife, and despite her prayers and entreaties would criminally assault her.

It was thought by the police that he first chloroformed his victim, but in his confession Schneider said that they were always conscious when he attacked them. Horrible as it may appear, his wife accompanied him and aided him in the accomplishment of this fiendish crime, and afterward she would grasp the hands of the victim while Schneider clutched the poor girl by the throat and choked her to death. The same course was pursued in the cases of all the eight victims.

 

From the collection of The Comtesse DeSpair
The 1892 Morbid Scrapbook

 

Capital Punishment!

Horrible Scene

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Royal Gazette and Newfoundland Advertiser Vital Statistics & Items 1810 – 1845, Volume 1, Mildred Howard Collection (Newfoundland, Canada) – August 16, 1831

HORRIBLE SCENE.

James & Alexander Stewart were brought out for execution in front of Lifford gaol, on Saturday week. Placed under the beam, they drew their caps over their eyes, and with fervent calls for mercy, the drop fell. James died without struggle. The rope by which Alexander was suspended, broke, and he fell to the pavement, a distance of nearly forty feet! He fell with his head on his own coffin, which was broken, and rebounded off it a few feet. He was carried in, supposedly dead while the executioner, with a ladder, put another rope over the block, and raised the drop, pushing the culprit, suspended, to one side. To the astonishment of the crowd, Alexander again appeared and walked out on the drop. It was again slipped, but rested on the shoulder of James, who was again pushed to oneside, and Alexander was launched into eternity, but not suddenly. The board slowly moved down, sliding along James’ body. The know had shifted round under the chin of Alexander. His whole body convulsed, he several times pused himself from the wall with his feet, with great force – his clothes burst open so his naked breast was seen, and blood flowed from the wound he had received on the cheek, in the fall. At length he fell, his body was seen to stretch and he hung motionless alongside his brother. James was 25 years old, Alexander was 22 years. Their mother, sister and wife of Alexander were present.

 

Generously donated by Lisa Daly.

Capital Punishment!

Hang Them

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Chico Weekly Record, Chico, California – Saturday, December 25, 1897

 

HANG THEM.

There are already manifest movements to create a groundwork of sentiment for the interposition of the plea of insanity for the man Huff, charged with the brutal murder of Mrs. Clute in San Francisco last week. In about every case where such a plea is interposes it presupposes guilt. Huff as yet must be presumed innocent. The circumstantial and direct evidence indicate that he is the murderer but the suggestion that he is crankily insane has cropped out, and will be in full flower when the man is put on his trial. That is clearly indicated by the present premonitory suggestions, says the Record-Union.

Assuming that Huff is guilty, and that he is a crank, in certain sense is a monomaniac, he is if guilty, sane enough to be hanged. Here is a man who has lived in and about San Francisco for twenty years, working in hundreds of families, having a very wide circle of acquaintances and trusted on all aides; a man of more than ordinary intelligence, whom no one in all that time had suspected in all that time as being at all dangerous, or anything more than eccentric, his eccentricities manifesting themselves along harmless lines. Now that he is charged with a heinous offense he is suddenly discovered to have been of mental unbalance, according to the hints now creeping into the accounts of the case. If he is insane, but not enough unsettled to warrant his confinement in an asylum, he should, if found guilty, be hanged regardless of the foreshadowed plea. These insane murderers are best hanged, because every last one of them short of maniacs, like the murderer now in custody in Oakland, is subject to the deterrent influences of punishment. Every time a murderer is set free on the ground of mental derangement, the clearance is followed by a fresh outbreak of the so-called insane.

Hang these crank murderers, and those prone to such deeds will be moved to restrain their predelictions for crime. They are susceptible to fear, they know perfectly well the difference between right andwrong, and dread the noose as much, if not more, than the sane.

 

From the collection of The Comtesse DeSpair.