YESTERDAY’S NEWS --A reading from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism...

The Mysterious Murder of Harriet Moss McDaniel

___

In the midst of a campaign for re-election, the prosecutor of Buchanan County Missouri becomes the defendant, on trial for the murder of his wife. He says it was a home invasion by his political enemies, or maybe someone he had sent to jail. The state says it was because of a love affair with his wife’s best friend. Pay attention to that part of the story, because that’s not gonna end well either.

___

Theme Music: Dave Sams

Media Manager: Sean R. Jones

Research: Anna Priestland

___

truecrimehistorian.com/1916McDaniel

PULP NONFICTION -- A reading from the pioneers of true crime.Edmund Pearson’s ‘The Curious Druces’

To ring in the New Year, we return to one of our favorite pioneers of true crime, Edmund Pearson. A librarian by profession, Pearson moonlighted as a true crime writer and his stories are filled with cheeky humor. In this tale, he provides his own sarcastic post-mortem on a bizarre case of extortion in which the descendants of a shop owner lay claim to the estate of the Duke of Portland.

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...

This episode crosses the Atlantic Ocean a couple of times as the little American Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen flees his London practice with a young stenographer at his side and the body of his wife left buried in the cellar of their posh home. This case has has historical significance in that it was the first time the wireless telegraph was used in tracking a fugitive from justice across the sea.

__

Theme music by Dave Sams

Research Assistance by Anna Priestland

A pair of short true crime stories.Theme music by Dave Sams.

YESTERDAY’S NEWS -- Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism....Imagine a high-ranking government attorney being shot down in cold blood, in broad daylight, in front of the White House. It happened in 1859 when New York Congressman Daniel Sickles had received an anonymous note detailing his wife’s affair with the U.S. Attorney of the District of Columbia, who happened to be the son of Francis Scott Key, lyricist of the Star Spangled Banner. He made her write out a confession, then loaded his guns. Yeah. That’s not gonna end well.

___

Music by Dave Sams

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 --The Heinous Crime of William Showers ...

The small farming village of Annville, Pennsylvania, is scandalized by the sudden disappearance of two orphan children who were being cared for by their elderly grandfather. William Showers was by some accounts an alright fellow, but he was lonely and craved the company of a woman who would have nothing to do with the young children. Yeah. It’s gonna get ugly.

___

Music by Dave Sams

www.truecrimehistorian.com/1888showers

SERIAL KILLER CLIPS --Stories of the world's most prolific serial killers told from historic newspaper accounts in the golden age of yellow journalism --

The Many True Crimes of Tillie Klimek and Nellie Koulik --

__

So a man goes to a doctor because he’s not feeling well and the doctor says, Sounds like arsenic poisoning, and suddenly there are four women in jail who discovered that arsenic is more effective in getting rid of a husband than divorce. The ringleader of them all, however, not only poisoned her husband, but, well, just about anybody who crossed her. Including an annoying dog. Before it was through, more than 20 deaths would be attributed to Tillie Klimek. For our 100th episode, we will take a look at one of Chicagos most prolific serial killers and her disciples.

__

Music by Dave Sams

www.truecrimehistorian.com/1922klimek

YESTERDAY'S NEWSThe Crocodile Tears of Calvin Dellinger

____

Early one brisk fall morning in 1888, a group of railroad men spy the drowned body of Mary Catherine Dellinger on the bank of Conestoga Creek in rural Pennsylvania. The evidence is thin and circumstantial, but it all points to her husband, Calvin, who expertly plays the part of the grieving husband, but his history of cruelty to women leads to a different conclusion. There’s a coda to the murder story that takes place thirty years later, when Calvin Dellinger again gets into trouble for playing with dynamite. Literally.

YESTERDAY’S NEWS --Tales of classic scandals, scoundrels and scourges told from historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism --

The Crescent City Quadrangle Scandal --

This episode is a rare love quadrangle that comes to light when a woman is charged with accessory to the murder of her banker husband, committed by her physician lover and the state’s attorney turns out to be her former fiance. It’s a tangled, tangled web, and you know it’s not going to end well.

__

Theme Music by Dave Sams

Incidental Music by Chuck Wiggins

www.truecrimehistorian.com/1910sayler

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 --

What Happened in the Guttenberg Woods

This episode is another story of a honeymoon trip gone awry, but it was likely doomed from the start.

For one thing, Mina Muller and Martin Kettler -- if that’s his real name -- were both already married.

With children. But they still visit the minister and, well, you know it’s not gonna end well.

___

Theme Music by Dave Sams

Incidental music by Richard Wagner, performed by the Unites States Marine Band

___

www.truecrimehistorian.com/1881muller