The murder of Solomon P. Sharp by Jereboam Beauchamp is known as The Kentucky Tragedy. It’s a complicated story of seduction, politics, love and execution. 

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• Southern Literary Messenger. Encyclopedia of Virginia. Accessed May 30, 2023. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/southern-literary-messenger/

Episode Music

I Am A Man Who Will Fight For Your Honor by Chris Zabriske and No. 7 Alone with My Thought by Esther Abrami. Licensed under Creative Commons; Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use

The story of Joe Ball has been a part of Texas lore since the 1930s. He’s known to have killed two people but investigators believed he may have killed up to 20. Were nearly a dozen victims fed to Joe’s pet alligators?

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Episode Sources

• Joe Ball: The Butcher of Elmendorf. Accessed May 1, 2023. https://web.archive.org/web/20070916033830/http://www.crimelibrary.com/serial_killers/history/joe_ball/index.html

Episode Music

Lost Cowboy by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons; Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use

In 1944, George Stinney Jr. was wrongfully convicted of murder and executed by the state of South Carolina. The 14 year old was the youngest person to be executed in 20th century America.

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• Court Acknowledges Wrongful Execution of 14-Year Old George Stinney, Accessed March 30, 2023. https://eji.org/news/george-stinney-exonerated/

Dark Times by Kevin MacLeod. Licensed under Creative Commons; Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use

A sensational tale of obsession, murder and a secret lover were front page news in the summer of 1922. At the center of it all was Walburga Oesterreich, more commonly known as Dolly. Detectives worked for over a decade to solve the mystery of the murder of her husband, Fred. A scorned lover revealed the answers and Dolly's secrets shocked the country.  

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Episode Sources

The Story Of Dolly Oesterreich – The Woman Who Kept Her Secret Lover In The Attic For Years. Accessed Dec 12, 2022 https://allthatsinteresting.com/dolly-oesterreich

The Murderous Lover Who Lived In A Silver Lake Attic. A True Story. Accessed Dec 29,2022. https://laist.com/news/la-history/hidden-history-of-la-the-murderous-lover-who-lived-in-a-silver-lake-attic

The Legend of Milwaukee’s Most Infamous Love Triangle. Accessed December 30, 2022. https://www.milwaukeemag.com/the-legend-of-milwaukees-most-infamous-love-triangle/

Music

It's the Talk of the Town. Public Domain. 78rpm Collection (1920s 1930s Popular Music) Part JH11

Easter marked the 60th anniversary of the disappearance of 22 year old Hannah Jane Rowell. Her estranged husband believed Jane abandoned the family to leave Baton Rouge, Louisiana and try to make it in Hollywood. Her distraught and protective brother vowed there was foul play. 

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Episode Sources

• Jane Clement Missing Since 1963. The Hammond Star, Bayou Justice. Accessed February 25, 2020. https://www.hammondstar.com/news/jane-clement-missing-since-1963/article_317d206e-c244-53a3-a061-6b13a44b0413.html

Episode Music

Not Alone by Lee Rosevere. Licensed under Creative Commons; Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use

In 1920 Lena Clarke made history when she became the first woman to be named postmaster of West Palm Beach, Florida. Within a year, she gained notoriety as “the murdering postmistress when she stood trial for killing her lover to cover up an embezzlement scheme.

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Episode Sources

Florida history: The story of West Palm Beach’s murderous postmistress. The Palm Beach Post. Accessed January 30, 2023. https://www.palmbeachpost.com/story/news/2022/01/09/lena-clarke-mysterious-murderous-postmistress-west-palm-beach/9084494002/

Going Postal, 1920s Style – The Strange Case of Lena Clarke. Palm Beach Past. Accessed January 29, 2023. https://palmbeachpast.org/2021/07/going-postal-1920s-style-the-strange-case-of-lena-clarke/

The Murdering Postal Woman, Lena Clarke, 1921. Historical Crime Detective. Accessed February 2, 2023. https://www.historicalcrimedetective.com/the-murdering-postal-woman-lena-clarke-1921/

Lena Marietta Thankful Clarke. Find A Grave. Accessed February 3, 2023. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/23950611/lena-marietta_thankful-clarke

Theft of $32,000 Solved by Lena Clarke but Murder of Miltimore is still a mystery. The Orlando Sentinel. Accessed February 3, 2023. https://www.newspapers.com/image/313585521/?terms=lena%20clarke&match=1

The Life of Lena Clarke In Her Own Pen. The Miami Herald. Accessed February 3, 2023. https://www.newspapers.com/image/616088404/?terms=lena%20clarke&match=1

Lena Clarke Murder Trial. The MIami Herald. Accessed February 3, 2023. https://www.newspapers.com/image/616088368/?terms=lena%20clarke&match=1

Postmistress Called Insane Freed of Murder. The New York Daily News. Accessed February 3, 2023. https://www.newspapers.com/image/410910479/?terms=lena%20clarke&match=1

Episode Music

There are lesser known stories of enslaved men and women who fought for their freedom in court. Elizabeth Key was at the center of one of the most important colonial court cases involving slavery. Henrietta Wood made history when she sued the man who kidnapped and enslaved her.

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Episode Sources

Elizabeth Key. Women in History. Accessed January 10,2023

Elizabeth Key. Library of Virginia. Accessed January 13, 2023

The Case of Elizabeth Key, 1655/1656 Northumberland County Record Books, 1652-1658, fols. 66-67, 85; 1658-1660, fol. 28; Northumberland County Order Book, 1652-1665, fols. 40, 46, 49. University of Chicago

Taunya Lovell Banks, "Dangerous Woman: Elizabeth Key's Freedom Suit - Subjecthood and Racialized Identity in Seventeenth Century Colonial Virginia", 41 Akron Law Review 799 (2008), Digital Commons Law, University of Maryland. 

Sweet Taste of Liberty Open Source Notebook. Caleb McDaniel. Accessed January 14, 2023

In 1870, Henrietta Wood Sued for Reparations—and Won. Smithsonian Magazine. Accessed February 1, 2023

Episode Music

In the 1930s Harry Powers used several aliases to correspond with lonely women he promised to marry. In 1931 five bodies were discovered on his Quiet Dell, West Virginia farm that was dubbed The Murder Farm. 

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Episode Sources

Harry F. Powers. Murderpedia. Accessed January 4, 2023. https://murderpedia.org/male.P/p/powers-harry.htm

Hanging the Bluebeard of Quiet Dell. Appalachian History. Accessed January 7, 2023.

https://www.appalachianhistory.net/2014/03/grisly-anniversary-hanging-bluebeard-quiet-dell.html

The Bluebeard of Quiet Dell, Clarksburg Serial Killer. West Virginia Gazette. Accessed January 7, 2023

https://web.archive.org/web/20120324101310/http://www.wvgazette.com/mediafiles/document/2009/03/17/Bluebeard_I090317193022.pdf

Harry Powers' Murder Farm. Morbid Tourism. Accessed February 1, 2023.

https://www.morbidtourism.com/locations/id/606a1c2bc892bc9da3b0864a

Episode Music

On a cold December day in 1909, eight year old Alma Kellner walked five blocks from her parents home in Louisville, Kentucky to St. John’s Church. She promised her mother she would return home after mass but Alma never returned. The circumstances surrounding her disappearance remain shrouded in mystery

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Episode Sources

Alma Katherine Kellner. Find A Grave. Accessed January 4, 2023. https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/95108249/alma-katherine-kellner

Reward of $500 Offered. Lexington Herald-Leader. December 10, 1909. Accessed Newspapers.com December 20, 2022

Triumphed. New York Daily News. July 28, 1935. Accessed Newspapers.com December 20, 2022

Killer Priest— Crimes, Trial And Execution Of Hans Schmidt, Mark Gado ( 2006). Accessed January 10, 2023. https://archive.org/details/KillerPriest--CrimesTrialAndExecutionOfHansSchmidtMarkGado2006

Episode Music

In November 2012, the Alabama Board of Pardons and Paroles pardoned three black men who had been wrongly convicted of assaulting two white women in 1931. They were the last of nine young men associated with the case to have their convictions officially cleared from the record. Their arrest and the trials that followed served as a catalyst for the Civil Rights Movement.

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Episode Sources

Scottsboro Trials. Accessed December 14, 2022. 

“Scottsboro Boys” Trials (1931-1937). Famous Trials by Douglas O. Linder. Accessed December 10, 2022. 

Without Fear or Favor: Judge James Edwin Horton and the Trial of the “Scottsboro Boys” By Douglas O. Linder. Accessed December 10, 2022 

The Saga Of The Scottsboro Boys. Accessed January 2, 2023. 

The Scottsboro Trials: A Legal Lynching. Accessed January 2, 2023. 

The Scottsboro Boys: Injustice in Alabama. Accessed December 15, 2022. 

Episode Music

No 7 Alone with My Thoughts by Esther Abrami. Licensed under a Creative Commons License

Theme Song “Dark & Troubled” by Pantherburn. Special thanks to Phillip St Ours for permission for use