Old Blood

In the summer of 1874, little Charley Ross disappeared after taking candy from a stranger. This is the story of America’s first kidnapping and the nationwide manhunt that ended in a deadly shoot-out.

Sources:

“Charlie Ross - Gustave Blair - Nelson Miller” https://charleyross.com/

Duke, Thomas Samuel. Celebrated Criminal Cases of America (San Francisco: The James H Barry Company, 1910). Pp. 536-546.

Fass, Paula S. Kidnapped: Child Abduction in America (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997).

Hagen, Carrie. We is got him: the Kidnapping that Changed America (New York: The Overlook Press, 2011) and “The Story Behind the First Ransom Note in American History.” Smithsonian Magazine. December 9, 2013.https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-story-behind-the-first-ransom-note-in-american-history-180948612/ 

Ross, Christian. The Father’s Story of Charley Ross, the Kidnapped Child (Philadelphia: John E Potter and Company, 1876).

Schechter, Harold. “The Kidnapping of Little Charley Ross, 1874.” The Yale Review. May 14, 2018. https://yalereview.org/article/kidnapping-little-charley-ross-1874

Zierold, Norman. Defy All the Devils: America’s First Kidnapping for Ransom (Open Road Media, 2018).

Music: Credits to David Fesilyan 

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

In 1897, sausage sales plummeted after the wife of the so-called Sausage King suddenly went missing. Chicago police investigated the factory and a mysterious vat filled with reddish-brown slime. Did the wife run away? Was she ground into sausages? Or perhaps something worse?

Sources:

Duke, Thomas Samuel. Celebrated Criminal Cases of America (San Francisco: The James H Barry Company, 1910). 

"Ghost Supply Thrills for Chicago Flat Dwellers." The Sun, August 31, 1913. p. 14

Loerzel, Robert. Alchemy of Bones: Chicago's Luetgert Murder Case of 1897 (Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2003). (And alchemyofbones.com)

“Sausage Vat Murder.” Chicagology. https://chicagology.com/notorious-chicago/sausagevatmurder/.

Schechter, Harold. "The 'Sausage Vat Murder,' 1897: Notes on a Killing." The Yale Review. 18 February, 2019. https://yalereview.org/article/sausage-vat-murder-1897

"The Sausage Vat Murder." Murder By Gaslight. 20 November, 2009. http://www.murderbygaslight.com/2009/11/luise-luetgert-sausage-vat-murder.html

Music: Credits to David Fesilyan 

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

It was nearly midnight in May 1911 when crowds left the theater and gathered at the Brown Palace Hotel barroom. Within minutes, shots rang out and patrons scrambled for cover, but two would not survive. What prompted such a brazen shooting in Denver’s most elegant hotel?

Sources:

Faulkner, Debra. Ladies of the Brown: A Women’s History of Denver’s Most Elegant Hotel (Arcadia Publishing, 2017).

Kreck, Dick. Murder at the Brown Palace: A True Story of Seduction & Betrayal (Golden: Fulcrum Publishing, 2003).

The Rocky Mountain News

The Aspen-Democrat Times

The Avalanche Echo

Canon City Record

Music: Credits to David Fesilyan 

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

In the middle of the American Civil War, a horse trader was found in a south Texas river with his head axed in. Following the discovery, the town sheriff arrested an elderly woman by the name of Chipita Rodriguez. Was justice served?

Sources:

Abernethy, Francis Edward. Legendary Ladies of Texas (Denton: University of North Texas Press, 1994).

Correa, Tom. “Was Josefa ‘Chipita’ Rodriguez a Patsy?” The American Cowboy Chronicles. September 30, 2021. http://www.americancowboychronicles.com/2020/02/josefa-chipita-rodriguez-texas-bandit.html

Davies, Dave. “‘Cult of Glory’ Reveals the Dark History of the Texas Rangers.” NPR. June 8, 2020. https://www.npr.org/2020/06/08/871929844/cult-of-glory-reveals-the-dark-history-of-the-texas-rangers 

Hebert, Rachel Bluntzer. The Forgotten Colony: San Patricio de Hibernia (Burnet: Eakins Press, 1981).

Givens, Murphy. “A black day in San Patricio when Chipita was hanged.” Corpus Christi Caller Times. April 6, 2017. https://www.caller.com/story/news/columnists/murphy-givens/2017/01/17/black-day-san-patricio-when-chipita-hanged/96556038/

Guthrie, Keith. The Legend of Chipita: The Only Woman Hanged in Texas (Austin: Eakin Press, 1990).

Jennings, Rachel. “Celtic Women and White Guilt: Frankie Silver and Chipita Rodriguez in Folk Memory.” MELUS. Vol. 28. No. 1. (Spring, 2003). Pp. 17-37. 

Torres, Alfred. Jr., “The noose plagued Mexican-Americans, too.” My San Antonio. November 25, 2017. https://www.mysanantonio.com/opinion/commentary/article/The-noose-plagued-Mexican-Americans-too-12381761.php 

Underwood, Marylyn. “Rodriguez, Josefa [Chipita].” Texas State Historical Association. https://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/entries/rodriguez-josefa-chipita 

Wills, Matthew. “The Untold History of Lynching in the American West.” JSTOR. March 26, 2019. https://daily.jstor.org/the-untold-history-of-lynching-in-the-american-west/ 

1985 Texas Legislature docs regarding Chipita here: https://thewrongcarlos.net/wp-content/sources/texas-legislature-scr-14-69th-regular-session.pdf 

For more on the lynching of ethnic Mexicans: https://utrgv.libguides.com/SCA/lynching (Research Guide from the University of Texas)

Lynching in Texas: https://www.lynchingintexas.org/ 

Music: Credits to David Fesilyan

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

A killer prowled the streets of London in 1811, 80 years before Jack the Ripper. But in 1811, there were no police to catch the fiend who brutally murdered seven people along Ratcliffe Highway. Would there be a victim eight?

Sources:

“Chapter 1. The Death of a Linen Draper.” Spitalfields Life. December 7, 2021-December 31, 2021. https://spitalfieldslife.com/2021/12/07/the-ratcliffe-highway-murders/ 

Fairburn, John. Fairburn’s Account of the Dreadful Murder of Mr. Marr and Family. (London: John Fairburn,  1811.) 

James, P.D. and Critchley, T.A. The Maul and the Pear Tree: The Ratcliff Highway Murders 1811 (New York: The Mysterious Press, 1971).

Jeffries, Bob. “The Ratcliffe Highway Murders December 1811.” Thames Police Museum. http://www.thamespolicemuseum.org.uk/h_ratcliffehighwaymurders_1.html

Ramsland, Katherine. “The Ratcliffe Highway Murders.” Crime Library. https://www.crimelibrary.org/serial_killers/history/ratcliffe_murders/index.html 

“Ratcliffe Highway.” St. George-in-the-East Church. http://www.stgitehistory.org.uk/ratcliffhighway.html 

Staveley-Wadham, Rose. “Horror and Hysteria: The 1811 Ratcliffe Highway Murders.” The British Newspaper Archive. April 22, 2021. https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2021/04/22/the-1811-ratcliff-highway-murders/

The Times, December 1811-February 1812

Music: Credits to David Fesilyan and Luke Holizna

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

The Gouffe Affair had attracted international interest by 1890, with the world wondering if Gabrielle’s defense could be true. Could someone really be hypnotized and compelled to commit murder? 

Sources:

Bogousslavsky, Julien and Walusinksi, Olivier. "The forgotten Gilles de la Tourette: Practioner, expert, and victim of criminal hypnotism." Le bâillement. http://baillement.com/recherche/gdt/gdt_hysteria.pdf 

Bogousslavsky, Julien, Walusinksi, Olivier, and Veyrunes, Denis. "Criminal hypnotism at the Belle Epoque: The path traced by Jean-Martin Charcot and Georges Gilles de la Tourette." Le bâillement. July 15, 2009. http://baillement.com/recherche/gdt/criminal_hypnotism.html

Levingston, Steven. Little Demon in the City of Light: A True Story of Murder and Mesmerism in Belle Epoque Paris (Doubleday: New York, 2014).

Lochouarn, Denis. "XV- L'Affaire Gouffé." Doctor Juris. https://web.archive.org/web/20150722220540/https://sites.google.com/site/doctojuris/Home/pages-professionnelles/etudie/huissiers-de-justice/ici/xv---laffaire-gouff

Poisson, Philippe. Le meurtre  de l'huissier Gouffé. Le blog de Philippe Poisson. September 12, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20150717025115/http://philippepoisson-hotmail.com.over-blog.com/article-35987097.html

Starr, Douglas. "Murder in 19th Century France and the Birth of Forensic Science." Gizmodo. October 14, 2010. https://gizmodo.com/murder-in-19th-century-france-and-the-birth-of-forensic-5662454

Stolze, Dolly. "The Mystery of the Corpse in the Burlap Sack." Sapiens. March 25, 2016. https://www.sapiens.org/biology/alexandre-lacassagne-forensic-anthropology/

Music: Credits to David Fesilyan and Luke Holizna

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

Mysteries collide in 1889 France, as a bailiff goes missing and a bloody trunk is discovered in the countryside. Can Paris’s best detectives solve the case?

Sources:

Bogousslavsky, Julien and Walusinksi, Olivier. "The forgotten Gilles de la Tourette: Practioner, expert, and victim of criminal hypnotism." Le bâillement. http://baillement.com/recherche/gdt/gdt_hysteria.pdf 

Bogousslavsky, Julien, Walusinksi, Olivier, and Veyrunes, Denis. "Criminal hypnotism at the Belle Epoque: The path traced by Jean-Martin Charcot and Georges Gilles de la Tourette." Le bâillement. July 15, 2009. http://baillement.com/recherche/gdt/criminal_hypnotism.html

Levingston, Steven. Little Demon in the City of Light: A True Story of Murder and Mesmerism in Belle Epoque Paris (Doubleday: New York, 2014).

Lochouarn, Denis. "XV- L'Affaire Gouffé." Doctor Juris. https://web.archive.org/web/20150722220540/https://sites.google.com/site/doctojuris/Home/pages-professionnelles/etudie/huissiers-de-justice/ici/xv---laffaire-gouff

Poisson, Philippe. Le meurtre  de l'huissier Gouffé. Le blog de Philippe Poisson. September 12, 2009. https://web.archive.org/web/20150717025115/http://philippepoisson-hotmail.com.over-blog.com/article-35987097.html

Starr, Douglas. "Murder in 19th Century France and the Birth of Forensic Science." Gizmodo. October 14, 2010. https://gizmodo.com/murder-in-19th-century-france-and-the-birth-of-forensic-5662454

Stolze, Dolly. "The Mystery of the Corpse in the Burlap Sack." Sapiens. March 25, 2016. https://www.sapiens.org/biology/alexandre-lacassagne-forensic-anthropology/

Music: Credits to David Fesilyan and Luke Holizna

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

In 1892, 17-year-old Freda Ward was walking to the river landing when she was attacked with a razor blade and had her throat slit. The ensuing legal battles brought national attention to Memphis, Tennessee, and challenged her society’s views on gender and love.

Sources:

Abate, Michelle Ann. Tomboys: A Literary and Cultural History. (Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 2008).

Astor, Vincent. “Alice & Freda: In 1892, Memphis girls’ young love ends tragically, creates national headlines.” Focus LGBT. February, 2018. https://focuslgbt.com/blog/alice-freda-1892-memphis-girls-young-love-ends-tragically-creates-national-headlines/

Coe, Alexis. Alice + Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis. (Minneapolis: Zest Books, 2014).

“A Very Unnatural Crime.” The Toast. September 6, 2013. https://the-toast.net/2013/09/06/crime-history-alice-mitchell/

 “Girl Slays Girl: An Excerpt From ‘Alice + Freda Forever’.” Jezebel. October 7, 2014. https://jezebel.com/girl-slays-girl-an-excerpt-from-alice-freda-forever-1643363496

“How My Book Infected My Nightmares.” VICE. October 28, 2014. https://www.vice.com/en/article/znw8dj/alice-in-the-asylum-1027

Cortez, Ali. “A Love Gone South in ‘Alice + Freda Forever’.” Deep South Mag. October 3, 2014. https://deepsouthmag.com/2014/10/03/a-love-gone-south-in-alice-freda-forever/

Duggan, Lisa. Sapphic Slashers: Sex, Violence, and American Modernity (Durham: Duke University Press, 2000).

Fowler, Russell. “Evil on the Bench: The Rise and Fall of Judge Julius J. DuBose.” Tennessee Bar Association. February 1, 2020. https://www.tba.org/?pg=Articles&blAction=showEntry&blogEntry=52583

“Jenny Higbee and the Memphis Higbee School.” Historic Memphis. http://www.historic-memphis.com/biographies/higbee/higbee.html

Lindquist, Lisa J. “Images of Alice: Gender, Deviancy, and a Love Murder in Memphis.” Journal of the History of Sexuality. Vol. 6. No. 1. (July, 1995) pp. 30-61.

Newspapers: The Bolivar Bulletin, The San Francisco Call, The New York Times

Music: Credits to David Fesilyan 

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

In March of 1860, sailors found a bloody ghost ship floating in New York’s East River. The discovery sparked a manhunt for a serial killer who had robbed and killed his way around the globe. This episode is the story of the last pirate and the original gangster, Albert Hicks.

Sources:

Asbury, Herbert. The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld. (New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1927).

Cohen, Rich. The Last Pirate of New York: A Ghost Ship, A Killer, and the Birth of a Gangster Nation. (New York: Spiegel & Grau, 2019).

“The Original Gangster Style Guy.” The New York Times. June 10, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/10/fashion/the-original-gangster-style-guy.html

“A Walking Tour of New York, Circa 1860, Accompanied by the Cities’ Last Pirate.” Vulture. June 11, 2019. https://www.vulture.com/2019/06/touring-the-new-york-of-albert-hicks-new-yorks-last-pirate.html

“Meet the 19th-Century Pirate Who Taught New York’s Tough Guys How to Flex.” Vanity Fair. June 4, 2019. https://www.vanityfair.com/style/2019/06/meet-the-19th-century-pirate-who-taught-new-yorks-tough-guys-how-to-flex

Hicks, Albert W. The Life, Trial, Confession and Execution of Albert W. Hicks, the Pirate and Murderer… (New York: Robert M. De Witt, 1860).

Articles from the New York Times, March to July 1860

Music: Credits to David Fesilyan and Luke Holizna

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

In 1937, Peking police discovered a British schoolgirl at the bottom of an ancient wall with her heart torn from her chest. The investigation unraveled multiple theories that increased tension between locals and the many foreigners living in China at the dawn of World War II.

Sources:

Cook, Isham. “Midnight in Peking and true crime fiction.” Isham Cook. 11 January, 2020. https://ishamcook.com/2020/01/11/midnight-in-peking-and-true-crime-fiction/

Daugelait, Tautvile. “Author Graeme Shepard Disputes Paul French’s Famed Peking Murder Book.” The Beijinger. 12 November, 2018. https://www.thebeijinger.com/blog/2018/11/08/its-great-story-he-wrong-graeme-shepard-opposes-infamous-peking-murder-conclusions

French, Paul. Midnight in Peking: How the Murder of a Young Englishwoman Haunted the Last Days of Old China. (New York: Penguin Books, 2011).

Jenne, Jeremiah. “Who Killed Pamela Werner?” The World of Chinese. 7 April, 2019. https://www.theworldofchinese.com/2019/04/who-killed-pamela-werner/

Sheppard, Graeme. A Death in Peking: Who Killed Pamela Werner. (Earnshaw Books, 2018).

“A Death in Peking: Who Really Killed Pamela Werner.” Blog. https://www.pamelawernermurderpeking.com/blog

“Who Really Killed Pamela Werner? Re-examining Old Beijing’s Most Infamous Murder.” The China Project. 1 November, 2018. https://thechinaproject.com/2018/11/01/who-really-killed-pamela-werner-a-death-in-peking/

Spence, Jonathan D. “Who Killed Pamela Werner in Peking?” ChinaFile. 21 March, 2013. https://www.chinafile.com/library/nyrb-china-archive/who-killed-pamela-peking 

Perlez, Jane. “A Mystery Endures in Beijing’s Old Legation Quarter.” The New York Times. 2 May, 2014. https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/04/travel/a-mystery-endures-in-beijings-old-legation-quarter.html

Music: Fesilyanstudios.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com