The Murders Of William Lindstrom, Cameo Soutar, And Maybe One Other Guy


Episode 201 tells the story of a woman's allegedly murderous career in Chicago and Indiana. Three times a murder or otherwise suspicious death took place near Mrs. Cassler, and she even spent some time condemned to the gallows, but fate twisted in her favor every time. She did spend more than two years in jail, but overall, it seems like she got pretty lucky indeed.

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The Scoundrel John Arthur Pender

In episode 259, a woman and her toddler son are brutally murdered in their remote Oregon cabin. Suspicion falls on a neighbor who had been given their mail, found unopened at the crime scene. With intense courtroom testimony and a handful of plot twists, this one will keep you guessing. Did he, or didn’t he?

Culled from the historic pages of the Oregon Daily Journal, the Oregonian, and other newspapers of the era. 

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First Lady Of The Electric Chair

Episode 212 tells the story of the first walk of a woman to the electric chair. One cold winter night, a Brooklyn woman apparantly attacks her husband with an axe as he walks through the door, leaving him for dead in the entry way. Besides this gruesome sight, neighbors are about to discover a whole house full of horrors.

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The Trial of Susan B. Anthony Featuring

Featuring Emily Simer Braun as Susan B. Anthony 

Episode 173 explores the prosecution of one of the most hideous crimes in American history, trying to sway an election by voting. By a woman! Just kidding. The real crime here is the way the judge handed down the decision. Listen, and tell me if you agree.

Theme Music by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music. “Sound Off” by John Philip Sousa, performed by the United States Marine Corps Band


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Betty Martin And Mildred Bolton Take Aim

Episode 178  takes us to Chicago in the 1930s when two women stand trial for very similar crimes, murdering their husbands, the second one inspired by the first. Both women are a little crazy, maybe a lot crazy, but their demeanor during their trials and the very different outcomes makes an interesting study to compare and contrast. One of them is pretty, the other pudgy. Which one do you think gets acquitted?

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Elderly Carpenter Murdered With Hammer

Episode 199 tells what happens when a grandmother with a grumpy but somewhat older husband befriends a younger man when he's released from prison and begins paying him $250 a month for his, um, affections. Yeah, that's not going to end well. That's a grand, sordid conspriracy. Just like we like 'em.


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The Philadelphia Arsenic Ring

Episode 181 takes us down a dark road of spiritualism and witchcraft, of an elaborate web that led to an estimated 200 deaths by various means, including arsenic poisoning. And two executions. And twelve lifesentences.

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The Murder Of Mary Phagan

Episode 183 tells of one of the most infamous cases of an innocent man wrongly accused. When a teenage factory girl is found dead in the basement of an Atlanta pencil manufacturer, blame falls on the mild-mannered Jewish superintendent of the plant, and the jury takes the word of a drunken janitor. It’ll take 70 years for the truth to come out.

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The Willow Love Triangle Murder Plot

Episode 184 takes us into Pennsylvania Dutch territory, where two local farmers are found murdered in the woods a month apart. Although not related, the second murder sparks intense local interest, especially when the farmer’s wife is discovered in a salacious love affair.

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The Inept Executioner of Wise County

Episode 254 has a different format than usual. I was perusing an old True Detective Magazine and found a story written from the point of view of the hangman of Wise County, Virginia, telling the stories of the five men whose heads he put in nooses. It was an interesting story, but something wasn’t quite right about it. So I did some research on the individual cases, and have woven some news stories of the day in with the executioner’s tale, an exercise in point of view as it were. It’s interesting to note that the ghostwriter of the True Detective story was James Taylor Adams, the beloved folklorist of Wise County.

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