YESTERDAY’S NEWS --

Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism...

The Doctor’s Wife And The Dumpy Little Chicken Man

Episode 186 explores another eternal triangle resulting in murder. This time, it’s the youngish wife of an elderly doctor who plots with a neighboring poultry salesman to put a deadly end to her marriage. Obviously, it doesn’t end well for them or they wouldn’t be on this show.

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Hosted by Wondery. @wonderymedia

Member of the BombPod Media Network. @bombpod

Transform your commute.  Ride with Audible. @audible

Sophistication. It’s all part of The Intercontinental Life.

ZipRecruiter. The smartest way to hire.

You spend a third of your life in your sheets. Are you making the most of that time? Try Brooklinen, get $20 off and free shipping with the promo code “TRUECRIME”. @brooklinen

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Theme music performed by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.

Media management by Sean R. Jones

Production assistance by Emily Simer Braun

YESTERDAY’S NEWS --

Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism...

The Golden Gate Park Tunnel Tragedy

Episode 185 takes us to the West Coast, just after prohibition, when a girl turns up dead, strangled, and “violated” as they say, in Golden Gate Park, just after being unceremoniously ejected from a rich man’s hotel apartment after refusing his advances. The man has an alibi. See if you buy it.

***Hosted by Wondery. @wonderymediaMember of the BombPod Media Network. @bombpodTransform your commute.  Ride with Audible. @audibleSophistication. It’s all part of The Intercontinental Life.ZipRecruiter. The smartest way to hire. You spend a third of your life in your sheets. Are you making the most of that time? Try Brooklinen, get $20 off and free shipping with the promo code “TRUECRIME”. @brooklinen***

Theme music performed by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.

Media management by Sean R. Jones

Production assistance by Emily Simer Braun

YESTERDAY’S NEWS --

Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism...

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. Though 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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Transform your commute.  Ride with Audible.

Sophistication. It’s all part of The Intercontinental Life.

You can eat like a gourmet and cook like a chef in your own kitchen with Blue Apron, a better way to cook.

Hosted by Wondery.

Member of the BombPod Media Network.

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Theme music performed by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.

Media management by Sean R. Jones

Production assistance by Emily Simer Braun

YESTERDAY’S NEWS --

Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism...

The Murder of Mary Phagan

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

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Transform your commute.  Ride with Audible.

Sophistication. It’s all part of The Intercontinental Life.

***

Theme Music by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.

Incidental music by Nico Vettese

Media management by Sean R. Jones

Production assistance by Emily Simer Braun

YESTERDAY’S NEWS --

Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism...

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 12 life sentences as a consequence. In a sidebar that I am posting as a separate episode, “The South Philly Witch Doctor,” you can hear a first-person account of the mystic practices behind this stunning conspiracy.

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Theme Music by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.

Media management by Sean R. Jones

Production assistance by Emily Simer Braun

Sidebar to "Mystic Murder for Money: The Philadelphia Arsenic Ring." A first-person account of how Morris Bolber and the gift of "the evil eye" established a faith healing practice that led to one of the largest murder-for-hire schemes ever uncovered.

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Cello Sonata no. 1 in D Major, Op. 18 by Anton Rubenstein, courtesy musopen.org.

AN EYE FOR AN EYE --

A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme: Inflicting the Death Penalty...

How Mary Rogers Murdered Her Husband

Episode 179 tells the story of a sordid little plot to commit murder in 1902, set in motion by a young married woman of questionable reputation. One boyfriend helps her in her plot. Another testifies against her. And when she receives her sentence, she cries for her girlfriend.

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Theme Music by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.

Media management by Sean R. Jones

Production assistance by Emily Simer Braun

PULP NONFICTION --

A celebration of the pioneers of true crime...

The Cruel Murder of the Deering Family

Episode 177 is adapted from an 1866 trial pamphlet published in Philadelphia. One of the earliest expressions of true crime in print, trial pamphlets were often embellished from newspaper accounts of the case and, like this one, a bloody mass murder on a farmer’s family just after the Civil War, were released within days of the final disposition.

To see a collection of etchings from the trial pamphlet: www.truecrimehistorian.com/1866probst.

Text and images Courtesy of Cornell University Law Library, Trial Pamphlets Collection and The Library Company of Philadelphia.

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Theme Music by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.

Media management by Sean R. Jones

Production assistance by Emily Simer Braun

YESTERDAY’S NEWS --

Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism...

The Michigan Petting Party Murders

Episode 176 tells of a most horrible and a most quickly resolved murder. When four teenagers are found dead on a country road, public indignation runs high, and under the pressure of the gathering mob, justice moves swiftly. The bodies are found on a Tuesday, and by Friday, the case is resolved.

A “blind pig” was a low-class underground form of drinking establishment where the proprietor could not legally sell a drink, but could charge admission to an animal oddity or curiosity, and provide a complimentary cocktail. In some regions, they were called “blind tigers”. This bizarre practice, with cookies instead of imaginary animals, is alive and well in Washington, D.C., today in the cannabis trade.

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Theme Music by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.

Media management by Sean R. Jones

Production assistance by Emily Simer Braun

YESTERDAY’S NEWS --

Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism...

Amos Lunsford Meets His Match

Episode 175 comes by way of a request from a listener in North Carolina, who wanted to know more about this incident, a fight over a horse at a church revival camp that got out of hand. There might have been whiskey involved. Go figure.

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Theme Music by Dave Sams and Rachel Schott, engineered by David Hisch at Third Street Music.

Media management by Sean R. Jones

Production assistance by Emily Simer Braun