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

In 1929, the son of oil magnate Edward Doheny was found dead beside his secretary in an apparent murder-suicide. The news exploded onto the papers for three days before the district attorney canceled the inquest and closed the case. When detectives decided there had been foul play, they were silenced, leaving everyone to wonder what truly went on that night at the Greystone Mansion in Beverly Hills.

Sources:

Columbia, David Patrick. “The Continuing Mystery of The Greystone Mansion Murders.” New York Social Diary. April 12, 2022. https://www.newyorksocialdiary.com/the-continuing-mystery-of-the-greystone-mansion-murders/

Davis, Margaret Leslie. The Dark Side of Fortune: Triumph and Scandal in the Life of Oil Tycoon Edward L. Doheny (Berkeley, University of California Press: 1998).

“If These Walls Could Talk…” Los Angeles Public Library. July 30, 2013. https://www.lapl.org/collections-resources/blogs/lapl/if-these-walls-could-talk

Lockwood, Charles and Persic, Peter V. “Greystone Historical Report.” August 30, 1984. https://dbase1.lapl.org/webpics/calindex/documents/11/519277.pdf

Marshall, Norman S. “Californians and the Military: The Forgotten Bagman of Teapot Dome: Edward ‘Ned’ Doheny Lawrence Jr.” Cal Guard Military Museums. https://www.militarymuseum.org/Doheny.html

Meares, Hadley. “We Shall Never Know: Murder, Money and the Enduring Mystery of Greystone Mansion.” KCET. July 25, 2014. https://www.kcet.org/history-society/we-shall-never-know-murder-money-and-the-enduring-mystery-of-greystone-mansion

Rasmussen, Cecilia. “D.A. Fitts Was Good Match For Scandalous 30s.” Los Angeles Times. September 19, 1999. https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1999-sep-19-me-12084-story.html

Rayner, Richard. A Bright and Guilty Place: Murder, Corruption and L.A.’s Scandalous Coming of Age (New York: Anchor Books, 2010).

Skene, Gordon. “1930s Los Angeles – Buron Fitts: L.A.’s Little Corruption Problem And Clifford Clinton’s War On City Hall.” Past Daily. August 23, 2017. https://pastdaily.com/2017/08/23/1930s-los-angeles-clifford-clinton/

Starr, Kevin. Material Dreams: Southern California Through the 1920s (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990). 

Stein, Jean. West of Eden: An American Place (New York: Random House, 2016).

White, Leslie T. Me, Detective. (New York: Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1936.) Ch. 18. 

Welton, Benjamin. “Vintage Noir: The Tragedy at Greystone.” Crime Magazine. May 16, 2013. http://www.crimemagazine.com/vintage-noir-tragedy-greystone

Van Landingham, Andrea. Hollywood Horrors: Murders, Scandals, and Cover-ups From Tinseltown (Guilford: Lyons Press, 2022).

Music: Credits to David Fesilyan and Luke Holizna

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

The Blitz in Liverpool, England, unearthed a long-buried cylinder. When a child discovered a corpse inside, it ignited a century-old mystery.

Sources:

“The Blitz.” The History Place: World War II in Europe. 1998. http://www.historyplace.com/worldwar2/timeline/about-blitz.htm

“The Body in the Cylinder: How a Discovery During World War Two Revealed an Unsolved Victorian Era Mystery.” Creative History: Little Known Stories from the Past. January 10, 2021. https://creativehistorystories.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-body-in-cylinder-how-discovery.html

“Knock, Knock, Ginger: The History of the Ding-Dong-Ditch Prank.” Professional Moron. April 18, 2022. https://professionalmoron.com/2022/04/18/history-of-knock-knock-ginger/

“Liverpool and the Blitz.” National Museums of Liverpool. https://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/museum-of-liverpool/blitz/liverpool-and-blitz#section--you-may-also-like

“Liverpool May Blitz 1941.” Old Mersey Times. http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/blitz1941.html

The London Gazette for the Year 1885. Vol II. (London: Harrison and Sons, 1885). P. 4250. https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_London_Gazette/vyVKAQAAMAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=thomas+cregeen+williams&pg=PA4250&printsec=frontcover

Pye, Ken. Liverpool Murders and Misdemeanours. (United Kingdom: Amberley Publishing, 2020.)  https://www.google.com/books/edition/Liverpool_Murders_and_Misdemeanours/i-bRDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

Seyd, Richard. Record of failures and liquidations in the financial, international, wholesale and manufacturing branches of commerce… (London: Seyd and Co., 1885). P. 445. https://www.google.com/books/edition/Record_of_failures_and_liquidations_in_t/_ZQNAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=thomas%20cregeen%20williams

“Skeleton in Cylinder.” Old Mersey Times. 2016. http://www.old-merseytimes.co.uk/skeletoncylinder.html

Slemen, Thomas. Strange But True: Mysterious and Bizarre People. (United States, Barnes & Noble, 1999.) https://www.google.com/books/edition/Strange_But_True/uOXjAX0vzU0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&bsq=cregeen

Whittington-Egan, Richard. Liverpool Colonnade. (London: Philip, Son & Nephew). 1955. https://archive.org/details/liverpoolcolonna0000rich/page/n7/mode/2up?q=thomas+cregeen+williams

...For a complete list see oldbloodpodcast.com

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

A daughter of the New York elite is accused of orchestrating her husband’s murder after he was shot through a second-story window at the historic Cherry Hill estate. The resulting trial culminated in the state’s last public hanging in 1827.

Sources:

Please visit oldbloodpodcast.com for a complete list of our sources.

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

The 30-year-old barrister Charles Bravo died after an excruciating three-day battle with poison. The case was doused in clues, a fact that detectives hoped would aid in their quest for justice, but only hindered it. The list of suspects grew, and investigators struggled to cross names off their lists for good. The problem was that there were far too many people with reasons to poison the man. 

It's a classic whodunnit.

Who killed Charles Bravo? 

Sources:

“A Mysterious Death in Balham: Charles Bravo and the Housemaid.” London Overlooked: Stories from the Old Smoke. https://london-overlooked.com/charles-bravo/

Bridges, Yseult. How Charles Bravo Died (London: The Reprint Society, 1957).

Ruddick, James. Death at the Priory: Love, Sex, and Murder in Victorian England (New York: Grove Press, 2001). 

Trevedi, Chriag. “Victorian Whodunnit Solved.” BBC News Online. 13 January, 2003. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2650651.stm

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

The 1931 Massie Affair ended in a lynching that shocked the world and a murder trial that threatened the Hawaiian Islands. 

This is Part II of  "What Hast Thou Done." For Part I, listen to Episode 33.

Sources:

Black, Cobey. Hawaii Scandal (Waipahu: Island Heritage, 2002).

Creel, H. G. Hawaii: An International Crime (Girard: Appeal to Reason, 1915).

Hannon, Michael. “The Massie Case Territory of Hawaii v. Ahakuelo, et. al. (1931) Territory of Hawaii v. Grace Fortescue, et. al (1932).” University of Minnesota Law Library. http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow/trialpdfs/MASSIE_CASE.pdf

“A Sailor Confesses to Old Hawaii Killing.” Life Magazine. October 7, 1966. P. 39 

Leong, Lavonne. “The Crime That Changed the Islands.” Honolulu Magazine. March 8, 2010. https://www.honolulumagazine.com/the-crime-that-changed-the-islands/ 

Linder, Douglas O. “The Massie Trials: An Account.” UMKC School of Law. https://www.famous-trials.com/massie/308-commentary

“Massie Case - 1932” The Clarence Darrow Digital Collection. University of Minnesota Law Library. http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow2/trialsid=5.html#top

“THE NAVY AND THE Massie-Kahahawai Case: THE POT CALLS THE KETTLE BLACK! (Honolulu: Honolulu Record Publishing Co. Ltd.)

Stannard, David E., Honor Killing: How the Infamous ‘Massie Affair’ Transformed Hawai'i (New York: Penguin, 2006). And “The Massie Case: Injustice and Courage.” The Honolulu Advertiser. October 14, 2001. http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Oct/14/op/op03a.html

“American Experience: The Island Murder.” PBS. 2005. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/island-murder/

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

In 1931, a prominent Navy wife stationed near Pearl Harbor accused five locals of assaulting her after leaving a Waikiki club. This is the story of the Massie Affair, in which decades of racial tension surfaced in a sensational murder trial and threatened the Hawaiian Islands with martial law.

Sources:

Black, Cobey. Hawaii Scandal (Waipahu: Island Heritage, 2002).

Creel, H. G. Hawaii: An International Crime (Girard: Appeal to Reason, 1915).

Hannon, Michael. “The Massie Case Territory of Hawaii v. Ahakuelo, et. al. (1931) Territory of Hawaii v. Grace Fortescue, et. al (1932).” University of Minnesota Law Library. http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow/trialpdfs/MASSIE_CASE.pdf

“A Sailor Confesses to Old Hawaii Killing.” Life Magazine. October 7, 1966. P. 39 

Leong, Lavonne. “The Crime That Changed the Islands.” Honolulu Magazine. March 8, 2010. https://www.honolulumagazine.com/the-crime-that-changed-the-islands/ 

Linder, Douglas O. “The Massie Trials: An Account.” UMKC School of Law. https://www.famous-trials.com/massie/308-commentary

“Massie Case - 1932” The Clarence Darrow Digital Collection. University of Minnesota Law Library. http://moses.law.umn.edu/darrow2/trialsid=5.html#top

“THE NAVY AND THE Massie-Kahahawai Case: THE POT CALLS THE KETTLE BLACK! (Honolulu: Honolulu Record Publishing Co. Ltd.)

Stannard, David E., Honor Killing: How the Infamous ‘Massie Affair’ Transformed Hawai'i (New York: Penguin, 2006). And “The Massie Case: Injustice and Courage.” The Honolulu Advertiser. October 14, 2001. http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2001/Oct/14/op/op03a.html

“American Experience: The Island Murder.” PBS. 2005. https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/island-murder/

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

Reports of an American woman slain in Italy's scenic Lake Como circulated across the globe in the summer of 1910. The murdered woman was Mary Scott: socialite, actress, and woman with a past so scandalous that the press blamed her for her own murder. This episode is about the life and death of Mary Scott.

Sources:

Adams,  J. Barfield. "The Crime of Porter Charlton [II Delitto di Porter Charlton].

(Il Manicomio, April, 1916.) Valtorta, Dr. Dario." Journal of Clinical Neurology and Psychiatry. October, 1917. p. 600-602. https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/889FAF3371DD3716AD9C2CA50F748C1D/S0368315X00180211a.pdf/the-crime-of-porter-charlton-il-delitto-di-porter-charlton-il-manicomio-april-1916-valtorta-dr-dario-the-crime-of-porter-charlton-il-delitto-di-porter-charlton-il-manicomio-april-1916-valtorta-dr-dari.pdf

"Charlton V. Kelly." United States Supreme Court. 229 U.S. 447.  CHARLTON  v.  KELLY. Argued: April 18, 1913. Decided: June 10, 1913. Wikisource. https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Charlton_v._Kelly

Colnaghi, Beniamino. "Moltrasio, 1910: un baule sospetto 'pescato' nel lago di Como" Storia e storie di donne e uomini. February 22, 2015. http://colnaghistoriaestorie.blogspot.com/2015/02/moltrasio-1910-un-baule-sospettopescato.html

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

"Extradition of Porter Charlton, an American citizen, from the United States to Italy." PAPERS RELATING TO THE FOREIGN RELATIONS OF THE UNITED STATES, WITH THE ANNUAL MESSAGE OF THE PRESIDENT TRANSMITTED TO CONGRESS DECEMBER 6, 1910. https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1910/ch69  

Harding, John W. "The Sealed Trunk: How a Sex Scandal Shaped an American Icon." The Designated Virgin. 2019. http://thedesignatedvirgin.com/the-sealed-trunk/

"Griffith's Secret Scandal." John W. Harding Author. August 2, 2017. https://www.johnwharding.com/griffiths-secret-scandal-part-3/

"Il delitto di Moltrasio (1910)" Bibliotopia. February 16, 2010. https://bibliotopia.forumfree.it/?t=46239137

"Lake Como's Moltrasio Trunk Murder." The Como Companion. November 7, 2019. https://comocompanion.com/2019/11/07/lake-comos-moltrasio-trunk-murder/

"Mary Scott Crittenden Castle Charlton." Find a Grave. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/228163753/mary-crittenden-charlton

Newspapers (1897-1901, 1905, 1909, 1910-1913, 1915):

• The Chico Record
• The Colusa Daily Sun
• The Enterprise (Riverside)
• The Humboldt Press
• The Minneapolis Press
• The Los Angeles Herald
• The Press Democrat
• The Morning Press
• The New York Times
• The New York Tribune
• The New York World
• The Sacramento Daily Union
• The San Diego Union & Daily Bee
• The San Francisco Call
• The San Jose Herald
• The San Jose Mercury News
• The Stockton Independent

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

When women discovered newfound freedom on the streets of turn-of-the-century America, they also observed new dangers. When society failed to protect them from those perils, women demanded the right to defend themselves with increasingly violent and un-ladylike methods that sent men into a panic. This episode is about the "Hatpin Panic" and the murders of Elizabeth Mize and William Keller.

Sources:

Abbott, Karen. “‘The Hatpin Peril’ Terrorized Men Who Couldn’t Handle the 20th-Century Woman.” Smithsonian Magazine. April 24, 2014. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/hatpin-peril-terrorized-men-who-couldnt-handle-20th-century-woman-180951219/

Adler, Jeffrey S. “‘I loved Joe, but I had to shoot him’: Homicide by Women in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago.” The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Vol. 92. 2003. https://homicide.northwestern.edu/docs_fk/homicide/LawJournal/JCLC12.pdf

Bowman, Cynthia Grant and Altman, Ben. “Wife Murder in Chicago: 1910-1930.” The Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology. Vol. 92. 2003. https://homicide.northwestern.edu/docs_fk/homicide/jclc739-790.pdf

Burnett, Zaron III. “Daggers in Their Hair: The Gilded Age Women Who Fought off Gropers With Deadly Sharp Hatpins.” Mel Magazine. 2022. https://melmagazine.com/en-us/story/hatpin-panic-1900s

“Case Number: 1553.” Homicide in Chicago, 1870-1930. Northwestern University School of Law. https://homicide.northwestern.edu/database/1541/

Croyle, Jonathan. “1911: To Make City Safer, Syracuse Considers Taking on a Public Menace: ‘Bristling Hat Pins’.” Syracuse.com. 2021. https://www.syracuse.com/living/2021/01/1911-to-make-city-safer-syracuse-considers-taking-on-a-public-menace-bristling-hat-pins.html

Freedman, Estelle. Redefining Rape: Sexual Violence in the Era of Suffrage and Segregation. (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 2013).

Jones, Mother. The Autobiography of Mother Jones. (Chicago: Charles H. Kerr Publishing Company, 1974).

Rose, Shari. “Hatpin Panic: How Hat Pins Upended Gender Politics in the 20th Century.” Blurred Bylines. March 4, 2019. https://blurredbylines.com/blog/hatpin-panic-mashers-stabbings-hat-pins/

Segrave, Kerry. 

Beware the Masher: Sexual Harassment in American Public Places, 1880-1930   (Jefferson: MacFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2014).

The Hatpin Menace: American Women Armed and Fashionable, 1887-1920 (Jefferson: MacFarland & Company, Inc. Publishers, 2016).

Temby, Anna. “‘With daggers in her bonnet’: The Australian Hatpin Panic of 1912. 3rd edition.” Australian Women’s History Network. July 20, 2017. http://www.auswhn.org.au/blog/hatpin-panic/

Newspapers: See oldbloodpodcast.com for a complete list.

Music: Dellasera by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com