Kissed Her Lover in Court

New York, 1895

The scene was affecting in the court room Thursday afternoon when the jury returned a verdict of not guilty in the case of John Alt, a farmer of Bayside, who had been on trial for his life for three days for the killing of Warren Frost, a colored farmhand, near Obermeyer's hotel, Creedmoor, on July 29 last. Alt seemed dazed for a moment. In an instant his eyes filled with tears and he was embraced by Miss Della Wench, his sweetheart, who attended court faithfully and sat by her lover's side during his long suspense. Justice Bartlett immediately discharged Alt from custody. Henry A. Monfort, who defended Alt, occupied nearly two hours in addressing the jury. The defense admitted the killing and contended that the shooting was justifiable.

—The Long Island Farmer, Jamaica, NY, Jan. 25, 1895, p. 12.

Man Gets Hour Off From His Work and Slays Rival for Love of Wife

1920

A growing coldness on the part of his wife roused the detective instinct in Achie C. Vance, watchman at a factory in a Chicago suburb. He decided another man was the explanation. Watching the back porch of his home thru a knothole in his barn of evenings when he was supposed to be at work, he found that Mrs. Vance regularly costumed herself in her best and went strolling. He shadowed her and saw that she generally met O. L. Vannier.

A few nights ago Vance laid off work for an hour and killed Vannier.

Tells of Shadowing.

He told the story in a cell at the Harvey jail. His wife occupies a cell close by.

"Saturday night I followed her as usual. As usual, I saw her meet Vannier. He is 30; I am 48.

"I had arranged with another watchman at the plant, Warren Dopkins, to sub more me until I had attended to my personal affairs.

"That night I hid behind trees and heard every word they said. I heard her say to him: 'Gee, I sure do love you.' And he told her the same. Then I went up and asked them what they meant.

Other Man Runs.

"Vannier started to run. You see, I had warned him to keep away from my wife. I drew my revolver and shot once in the air. I only intended to arrest him. I shot two more times. He dropped. I thought I was shooting in the air. But he had a bullet thru his body.

"Of course, I helped him all I could. I put him and my wife in a taxicab and took them to Dr. T. A. Noble. Then I reported back to my job and telephoned the police chief, James E. Tomlinson, he could get me when he wished."

Vannier died without regaining consciousness.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Note: The article as printed has Vance's name as "Achie," and we might hazard a guess that it could be Archie instead. I only saw one other article on this incident and that article used initials, "A. C. Vance." That other article says, "The shooting took place on the prairies near One Hundred and Fifty-fifth boulevard and Vine street at 12:20 in the morning." — Van Wert Daily Bulletin, Van Wert, Ohio, Aug. 2, 1920, p. 1, for that detail.

Wife Kills Man Beating Husband

1920

ST. LOUIS, Missouri. — Frank Smrcka, 43, was shot and instantly killed by Mrs. Ida Shea, 24, while engaged in a fight with Mrs. Shea's husband, George D. Shea.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Wife Throws Acid on Mate's Face to Scar Him and Hold His Love

1920

NEW YORK, N. Y. — A frail little woman in her twenties sat in police headquarters and sobbed out a confession, say the police, that she had poured carbolic acid over her husband's face as he slept. She did this, she said, to disfigure him for life so she would not lose him to a "prettier woman."

When she learned that she had killed the man she would have saved for herself she fled, leaving her 8-year-old girl in a room adjoining the father's bedchamber. For weeks the woman was a fugitive from justice.

Mrs. Alexandra Sokolowsky, widow of Frank Sokolowsky, widely known organizer in the American Federation of Labor, who was murdered in New Haven on the morning of June 26, related this remarkable story.

Tries to Disguise Self.

She was arrested, wearing large tortoise shell rim spectacles to disguise herself and clad in a waist of flaming scarlet and a dark serge walking skirt.

Included in her alleged confession was a list of many dates on which the husband deserted her to seek the company of other women. It was the constant fear that she was losing her grip on the labor leader's love that led her to brood over her troubles and decide on a way to keep him to herself.

The woman's story follows:

"My husband was a big, handsome man. I killed him on June 26. He had been away since June 24 and I knew that he had been with another woman. He was so good-looking and such a great lover of women that I thought surely he would leave me.

Found Love Letter.

"He had come home a little after midnight and when I accused him of being out with another woman and told him that I had found a love letter in his pocket, he told me that I must leave him alone and that he was going out again.

"I often had been thinking of disfiguring him so that I could keep him. But I never had thought of killing him, for I could not have lived without him. When I got that last love letter that was addressed to him I was determined to do what I had planned.

"He fell into a doze and I took a pint bottle of carbolic acid and flung it on his face. I swear I didn't mean to kill him."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Aug. 7, 1920, p. 2.

Bandits Slay Mine Boss; Get $11,000

1916

FIVE HUNDRED WORKERS HUNT OUTLAW PAIR.

Pay Roll Carrier's Car Is Halted and Official Shot Without Warning — Driver Unhurt.

MARTINS FERRY, Ohio — Police and specially employed detectives are still out searching for the two masked bandits who shot and killed Lee Rankin, superintendent of the Youghiogheny & Ohio Coal Company, and escaped with $11,000 which Rankin was carrying to the mine to pay the employes.

Rankin was on his way back from the bank at Martins Ferry in a taxicab driven by Paul Pickens. At a lonely spot in the road two masked and armed men emerged from the bushes and without giving the two men in the taxicab a chance for their lives, began to shoot. Pickens threw up his hands and was spared.

The robbers quickly seized the money from a suitcase and disappeared. Rankin was hurried to a hospital by Pickens, but died without regaining consciousness. In Rankin's pockets was found $1,000 that the bandits overlooked.

Rankin was popular with the miners, most of whom are foreigners, and a posse of 500 men was formed as soon as the news of the robbery reached the mines. Armed with rifles and revolvers, these men hastened out to scour the country, declaring they would kill the murderers on sight.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 5.

Small Lads Confess Murder

1916

Brothers, Aged 11 and 12, Rob and Shoot a Teacher.

BOISE, Idaho. — Lynn and Harold Lovelace, brothers 11 and 12 years old, have confessed to authorities at Twin Falls, Idaho, that they murdered F. Thomas Hamill, a teacher from Carson, Nev., whose body was found at his ranch recently. The lads, first taken into custody as runaways, were found in possession of Hamill's horse and wagon, pocketbook, provisions and eight guns and a revolver. Both have admitted the killing, which occurred when Hamill surprised them robbing his cabin.

He ordered them away, but they retreated into the house and covered him with his own guns. He parleyed and asked for food, and after they came out Lynn stood guard over him while Harold entered the cabin to get him some bread. Hamill grabbed the younger boy, and Harold then shot him in the head.

The boys then left in the wagon and drove 120 miles over a trackless country in six days, camping out at night. They were headed for Lebanon, Oregon, where they say a grandfather lives. The elder boy is moody and shows no regret, but the younger cries now and then and says he is sorry.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 5.

Jesse Pomeroy Ends 40th Year in Prison

1916

Notorious Prisoner Longer in "Solitary" Than Any Other "Lifer" in Country.

BOSTON, Massachusetts — Jesse Pomeroy, serving a life sentence for murder, has just completed his fortieth year in solitary confinement at the state prison in Charlestown. Pomeroy is said to have served in solitary longer than any other prisoner in this country, and, unless the commitment order is changed, he will have to be kept in that manner until he dies.

He began his sentence at the age of 16, after having been convicted of diabolical attacks on several small children. In recent years numerous efforts have been made to secure for him the privileges of a "trusty," but all of these have been unavailing.

Numerous attempts at escape have been made by the notorious prisoner, and these, together with his known predilection for taking human life, have influenced the authorities in strictly adhering to the conditions of the original sentence which prescribed solitary imprisonment.

While "solitary imprisonment" is the name given to the punishment Pomeroy is undergoing, it does not mean that he never leaves his cell. He goes out in the yard every day in charge of a guard and spends an hour there. But that is while the other prisoners are at work in the shops. During the forty years that he has been confined Pomeroy has seldom seen the face of a human being other than those of his keepers and of his aged mother, who died several years ago.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 5.

One Bullet In 100 Hits Man In War

1916

IT TAKES 3,500 TO KILL ONE COMBATANT.

Massed Formations Excepted, of Course — Shell Fire Not So Deadly as Shrapnel.

It has been estimated that only one bullet in every hundred that is fired hits a man and of those men hit only one in thirty-five succumbs. In other words, it takes 3,500 bullets to kill a single soldier.

In view of the awful slaughter that has taken place during the present war these figures sound rather startling, yet they are well within the mark.

Of course such calculations as these refer to averages only. An enemy advancing in close formation, as the Germans have been doing recently before Verdun, may be mowed down wholesale by rifle and machine gun fire, and in such cases the average of fatal casualties, compared with the number of rounds expended, will be considerably higher.

Shell fire is, as a general rule, even less destructive than rifle or machine gun fire, says a writer in the Boston Post. A modern high explosive shell makes no end of a row when it bursts, kills possibly a couple of men if it explodes inside of a trench, frightens a lot more, and — that is about all. The ruined walls of Rheims cathedral will testify for many years to come that the shell that shattered one statue seldom hurt its next door neighbor.

Shrapnel Fire Is Deadly.

Shrapnel is more dangerous, provided the fuse is timed just right and the gunner who fires it knows his business. A shrapnel shell contains a number of small round bullets, each about the size of a marble. What execution a shell of this sort can do, given a favorable opportunity, was shown at the "battle of the landing" in Gallipoli, April, 1915.

An attack was about to be launched against the British left and a fold in the ground hid the attacking Turks from the British forces. They were, however, observed by the Queen Elizabeth far out at sea and a projectile from one of her big guns was dropped right plump in the midst of them.

It was a shrapnel shell weighing 1,500 pounds and holding 1,000 bullets. The attack was smashed and 250 Turks were killed. This works out at one man per fifty-two bullets, and it probably represents the maximum efficiency of shrapnel fire during the present or any other war. For, you see, the conditions from the gunner's point of view were exceptional and ideal.

When There Were Few Fatalities.

On the other hand, there are many remarkable instances of shell fire — even concentrated and prolonged shell fire — accomplishing little or nothing in the direction of destroying life. During one of the tremendous preparatory bombardments, for example, that ushered in the early stages of the battle of Verdun, the Germans fired between 20,000 and 30,000 shells of all calibers against the French lines in the short space of five hours. Yet the fatal casualties amounted to fewer than 100 out of about 18,000 engaged.

One reason for this is, of course, that modern armies, when acting on the defensive, dig themselves in so deeply and so cunningly that they are practically immune from other than very high angle fire.

Yet the power of the modern shell is tremendous. If the charge of one of the larger caliber ones — say a German "Jack Johnson" — were burned away quickly it would send some millions of cubic feet of gas into the air. But instead it is detonated in a thousandth part of a second, and these millions of cubic feet of gas, with their steel casings, crush everything in their immediate vicinity to the finest powder. Yet men even a comparatively few yards away, especially if they are lying down or under some sort of cover, however slight, usually escape with their lives at all events, and more frequently than otherwise they are not even injured.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 9.

Ask Woman Lawyer Act As Prosecutor

1916

BARNES MURDER CASE STIRS SUFFRAGISTS.

Truth and Justice Are Sought When Woman Is Tried for Killing Husband.

When State's Attorney Hoyne returns to Chicago he will find a petition from representative women in Chicago requesting that he appoint a special woman prosecutor to try Mrs. Iva Williams Barnes for the killing of her husband.

This proposition, which Mr. Hoyne and his secretary, Edward Fleming, are said to have considered even before the women took up the question of the petition, might break the chain of "not guilty" verdicts that since 1907 has freed nearly twenty Chicago women accused of murder.

The late State's Attorney Wayman said it was impossible to convict a woman of murder in Cook County. Mr. Hoyne has secured but one conviction of a woman, and that was contested. There is a feeling that a subtle sympathy extends to a woman who is being prosecuted by a man. There is also a belief that with a woman prosecutor there would be more nearly an even attempt at justice.

So keenly is the situation felt, the delegates to the National Suffrage convention at Atlantic City, N. J., discussed the question in their recent session. Mrs. Catherine Waugh McCulloch, president of the Woman's Bar Association of Chicago, said there would be no difficulty in appointing a woman to prosecute Mrs. Barnes. Mrs. McCulloch is regarded highly in the legal profession.

She Would Seek Truth.

"It would be a woman prosecutor's duty to investigate the case thoroly and make every effort to establish the truth. I am anxious to know more of the facts in the case. If I got real interested, I might volunteer my services, tho I don't do criminal work," Mrs. McCulloch is quoted as saying.

"As president of the Woman's Bar Association, I should like to see a woman prosecutor, as well as a woman in the office of the city attorney and the corporation counsel. I have no doubt that if a woman is appointed in this case she will do the work conscientiously and efficiently.

"I should like also to see the jury made up half of women and the other half men. Every fundamental law says we shall be tried by a jury of our peers. A woman who is being tried by a jury of men is not being tried by her peers. If the woman on trial is cute and handsome and of the adventuress type the jurymen are apt to be unusually lenient." While there is a possibility that a woman may be chosen to prosecute Mrs. Barnes, it should be stated that several women lawyers have volunteered to defend the confessed slayer When she is brought to trial.

"Human Gadfly" Blamed.

A human gadfly, gossiping and meddling, is blamed as the agent that inoculated Barnes with the poison of jealousy that ended with his death.

The gadfly is a woman. Her name is being withheld. She was a neighbor of the Barnes' household at 356 East Fifty-eighth street. She is bring sought as a witness by the police and agents of the coroner.

Mrs. Barnes occupies a cell in the county jail. Her moods change from bursts of the most violent anger toward these whom she blames for her predicament and of love for the memory of the man she admits she slew. The removal of her husband's body to Warners, N. Y., for burial she resented deeply. She pleaded for the right to bury the body, where she may rest beside it.

In the meantime Ellis A. Barnes, brother of the victim, employed Attorney Joseph Burres and the Turner Detective Agency to assist the prosecution of Mrs. Barnes for the murder of her husband. Detectives were sent to Mishawaka, Ind., Mrs. Barnes' former home. Inquiry will be made into her former marriage, upon which subject she has been silent until now.

A fortune, estimated from $20,000 to $40,000, left by James R. Barnes, will provide the defense fund for his slayer. Under the law the widow, Mrs. Iva Williams Barnes is entitled to at least one-third of the estate.

Wife Confesses Her Act.

A confession was wrung from Mrs. Barnes in the Hyde Park police station, where she was held before being taken to the county jail. She had been subjected to a severe cross-examination from 9 o'clock Tuesday to 2:30 o'clock the next morning, and she had but four hours' sleep.

"Yes, I shot him," she finally admitted.

Her narrative, given as she wept hysterically, sets forth the claim that her husband, who was suing her for divorce and whom she loved deeply, had scoffed at a reconciliation, had berated, cursed and then attempted to choke her.

In desperation and in fear of physical injury, she said, she drew a revolver concealed in a pocket of her coat and opened fire. They were walking in a public park. After the first shot, she told the police, she remembers only that she intended to carry the revolver away, but instead threw it near the prostrate form of her dead husband.

Attorney Guenther, for Mrs. Barnes, made a statement in which he pictured her as a hard-working, long-suffering and much-abused wife. She went to meet her husband on the night of his death, Mr. Guenther said, in the full expectation that it meant a reconciliation. She was happy, he said, because she loved her husband.

"He was twice her age," continued the attorney. "She followed his commands as a child minds a parent, never questioning but what he was always right. Barnes leaves a fortune of about $40,000. Every dollar he owned his wife helped earn for him. When they were married he didn't have a shoe-string.

"Barnes had an income of $7,500 before his death. He received $383 a month. Yet he made his wife live in a $37 flat, do all her own housework, her washing, mending, ironing, scrubbing, darning.

"He wanted to get rid of her. After her trouble with a bartender, Barnes refused to listen to the true story of her innocence and filed suit for divorce."

Tells of Parrot Episode.

Mrs. Barnes told of the "parrot" episode that had wrecked her life. After the man Shellheimer (the bartender) had caught the parrot for her, a few weeks ago, she said, she started home, for she expected her husband any moment. Shellheimer asked permission to go up into her apartment to wash his hands. Her reply, she said, was "You certainly may not," and not "you may." But he went anyhow.

It was only a short time before her husband came up the front stairs and passed on into the kitchen. The bartender was there in his shirt sleeves. He ran to the front door and escaped. Mrs. Barnes said the bartender attempted to attack her. Her husband disbelieved her story, and ceased to live with her. He told a friend that the bartender came from his wife's bedroom in his shirt sleeves.

"My husband blackened my eyes with his blows and pushed me down the stairs after the man," she said. "I grabbed his hat, and he kept calling me to give him his hat, not to break it, and in my agony even then I thought, 'See, he cares more for his hat than for me!' as he didn't seem to notice how badly I was bruised and broken. I have the scar on my shoulder yet where he struck me. The wound was three inches long.

"Then, when he started choking me, my head was thrown on one side and one of my hands was free. I reached down and pulled off my slipper and struck him with the heel on the head and made a large open wound.

"Jim was a coward, altho I loved him, and I am not going to tell of other abuses I had. I am trying to forget them now."

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 4.

Kills Wife, Shoots Self

1916

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama — In a fit of jealous rage Ben Cowley shot and killed his wife, a widely known beauty, and then attempted to kill himself. He is in a hospital with a bullet wound in his head, and is not expected to live.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 3.

Three Slain In Duel With Guns Over Girl

1920

Doctor Objects to Man's Attentions to Sister-in-law

CHARLESTON, S. C., Jan. 1. — One of the worst tragedies in Eastern South Carolina in recent years occurred at St. Stephens, Berkley County. Three are dead: Royal Cotten, aged 20, son of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph W. Cotten, 90 Columbus street, this city; John E. Bell, a young farmer of Berkley County; D. J. H. Pratt, a physician of St. Stephens. Miss Lydia Bell, sister of Mr. Bell and sister-in-law of Dr. Pratt, was wounded in the arm.

Dr. Pratt is alleged to have started the shooting, killing young Cotten while the latter was visiting Miss Bell. A few moments later he shot and killed his brother-in-law, Mr. Bell, who returned the fire, killing Dr. Pratt. Young Cotten, shot in the heart, fell dead almost at the feet of Miss Bell.

It seems that the young Charlestonian was a frequent visitor at the Bell home, where Dr. Pratt also lived. It is said that Dr. Pratt objected to Cotten paying attention to his sister-in-law.

Harry Potter Leaves Picnic, Attempts Suicide

Pennsylvania, 1935

Harry Potter, Well-Known Karthaus Man, Said To Have Shot Self Twice

Suffering from what was reported to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound below the heart, Harry Potter, aged about 28, son of the late Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Potter of Karthaus, is a patient today in the Philipsburg State Hospital in a serious condition. Reports from that institution early this afternoon stated his condition was "very grave."

The tragic affair, which has been a distinct shock to the little community where the Potter family has held the esteem and respect of their fellow townsmen for many years, occurred at the home of George Potter, older brother of the victim, where the latter was staying, sometime early last evening.

According to reports received here, Harry Potter attended the Frenchville picnic during the afternoon and in company with some friends went to his home at Karthaus late in the afternoon. His brother and family was away when Harry arrived home and the first knowledge of the tragedy was when a neighbor boy, Abner Rolley, heard two shots. He rushed into the Potter home and found Harry unconscious with a bullet wound below the heart, apparently self-inflicted by a .38-calibre revolver which was nearby. The Rolley boy also found the Potter dog shot to death and from the mute evidence found in the house it was assumed the young man shot his dog before turning the gun on himself.

What may have prompted the young man to make an attempt on his own life is a mystery to the people of the community in which he lived and where he was known so well. He is single and has never been known to have any serious home worries. Also, reports from Karthaus today stated the young man had never shown a despondent disposition and his friends are at a loss to understand his untimely act.

—The Clearfield Progress, Clearfield, PA, Aug. 23, 1935, p. 1.

Bets on Race; Nevah Again!

1915

Virginia Gentleman Is Bittah Because Mistah Millah Wins His $1,000

PHILADELPHIA. Pa., Dec. 16. — A peanut grower from Virginia placed a cool thousand dollars on a race horse in a well-appointed apartment and lost. He is now touring the central section of the city with a detective in an endeavor to find the apartment and two men who escaped with the money he lost.

"Nevah again will I visit youah city, suh," said the indignant plantation owner, T. M. Edwards of Rushmere, Va. Edwards says a chance acquaintance introduced him to a man named Miller.

"Mistah Millah was represented to me as being the gentleman who won back Judge Grinell's fortune by playing the hosses," said Edwards. "I was prevailed upon to go to New York to get $1,000, and returned here today. I put up the money and lost. So did my friend.

"Mr. Millah won all. My friend was very bittah against Mistah Millah and vowed he would shoot him and get my money back. Then he disappeared."


Pleas for Woman's Life Win

OTTAWA, Ont., Dec. 16. — The women of Alberta have won their fight to save the life of Mrs. Annie Hawkes of Macleod, sentenced to hang for the killing of her husband's affinity. Announcement was made that executive clemency has been extended and the sentence commuted to 10 years' imprisonment.

Hundreds of petitions protesting against the death sentence imposed upon Mrs. Hawkes were received here. The plea was made that Mrs. Hawkes while hysterical killed the woman who had been brought into her home.

Tallest Man Reported Ill

1915

Captain Bates, Aged 70, Is Nearly 8 Feet in Height

SEVILLE, Ohio, Dec. 16. — The tallest man in Ohio is ill at his home near Seville. He is Capt. M. V. Bates and is 7 feet 11½ inches tall. Bates' wife, who is caring for him, is slightly over five feet.

Being ill is a new experience for Capt. Bates. Until a few weeks ago he worked daily on his 150-acre farm here.

Capt. Bates quit the circus sideshows in 1880 and settled on his farm. He is now seventy years old.



Bullet Kills Rat; Also Man

Glances Off Rodent's Body, Hitting Spectator in Stomach

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn., Dec. 16. — The bullet which killed a rat in the restaurant at 239 Cedar avenue, claimed its human victim when Daniel Golden died at the City Hospital.

Tuesday night Thomas Christo, employed in the restaurant, took a shot at a big gray rat. The bullet killed the rat, glanced and struck Golden in the stomach.

Coon Hunter Kills Big Eagle

1915

Bird Shot Measures Seven Feet From Wing Tip to Tip

ST. LOUIS, Mo., Dec. 16. — An eagle, measuring seven feet from tip to tip of its wings, was shot by Eugene Gertges, when the latter was coon hunting in the vicinity of Friedens' Church, six miles west of St. Charles. The eagle was perched in a tree and the hunter mistook it for a hawk.



Man Operated On 131 Times

Patient at St. Louis Hospital Is Cheerful at All Times

ST. LOUIS, Mo., Dec. 16. — Harry Smyth, 42 years old, is one of the most cheerful patients at the city hospital here, despite the fact that 131 surgical operations have been performed on him. Tuberculosis of the bones have made these operations necessary. Since childhood Smyth has passed most of his time in hospitals.

To occupy his time Smyth took up sewing and crocheting and he is now an expert with the needle. He is always good-natured.

Sharks Bite? Oh, They're Afraid, Hawaiians Claim

1915

Fisherman Swims for Hours Near "Man-Eaters"

HONOLULU, Hawaii, Dec. 16. — South sea fishermen have branded the shark story as a myth, made up by authors of adventure stories.

They say there is no such thing as a man-eating shark.

There is "Dudie" Miller, for instance. Every one in the South Pacific knows "Dudie" Miller of Honolulu.

Recently he dangled naked in the tide, hanging in a life preserver in 100 fathoms of water, spearing fish. A 11-foot shark began circling him, attracted by dead fish the man carried in a sack strapped to his waist.

Hobnobs With Shark

"I want to show you something," said Miller, summoning two canoemen.

They watched the "man-eater" sweep around the fisherman poised in his life belt.

"Dudie" merely laughed. The canoemen lifted him from the water and deposited him again 100 yards away. And there the fisherman and the shark hobnobbed all afternoon.

Kahia Moe, maker of hula drums, is another of these myth shatterers.

Rides on Shark's Back

Kahia Moe, a native Hawaiian, stretches shark-skin across his far-famed dance drums. And to make them properly resonant, as well as to consecrate them fittingly, the shark, "must be slain in mortal combat," he maintains.

And so Kahai Moe kills his shark in the water, with a knife, slitting the pallid belly with a dexterous slash. He has dispatched hundreds in this kind of "mortal combat." And he speaks of them as "cowards."

David Mahu is an expert killer. When the water is low he leaps into the Pakule and rides sharks, straddling them with his naked limbs.

"Shark attack living men?" chuckles David Mahu. "It is a joke! They are even afraid to bite a dead horse until they're almost gone with hunger!"

Texas Bets Money on Slaying Trial

1920

Wagers Pretty Wife Will Be Freed By Jury

Most Beautiful Woman in State Will Soon Face Court for Shooting Husband

EL PASO, Texas, February — Two to one bets are being made in Texas that beautiful Mrs. Ida Ott of El Paso, who shot her husband in Dallas Dec. 23, 1919, will never be convicted.

There are two reasons for the bets and the odds. One is: Mrs. Ott is one of the most beautiful young women in the State. In fact, she is only 22 years old and has been pronounced by art critics as one of the most beautiful women in the country. The other reason is: Mrs. Ott has employed a firm of Dallas attorneys knows as "the sob squad" to defend her. This firm, it is asserted, makes a specialty of defending pretty women and their record of acquittals is almost without equal in the State.

Mrs. Ott shot her husband, Andrew Ott, an automobile salesman, late Tuesday afternoon, on the 23rd day of last December. The shooting took place in the presence of hundreds of Dallas Christmas shoppers. She shot her husband following a heated argument. After he fell, Mrs. Ott, bystanders say, bent over the prostrate form and fired four more bullets into his body. Then she collapsed over her husband's corpse and exclaimed: "Oh, Honey, have I killed you?"

Mrs. Ott's trial was set for last Monday, but no witnesses appeared and the case was indefinitely postponed. The pretty defendant is pleading self-defense, It was after witnesses failed to appear that Texas sports began betting two to one the woman would not be convicted.

The Otts were married in El Paso Feb. 15, 1915, by County Judge Adrian Pool. Mrs. Ott was born in Alhambra, Ill., and her husband was born in Des Moines, Iowa.

Mr. Ott had sued his wife for a divorce in Dallas. In his petition he alleged she had tried to kill him twice before, once in Albuquerque, N. M., and once in San Antonio, Texas. On Oct. 15, 1919, he said he gave her $4,000 on condition that she stay away from him and leave him alone. A court had enjoined Mrs. Ott from molesting her husband, according to Dallas reports.

The question now is, can a jury be obtained that will convict Mrs. Ott?

Would you convict her?

Note: She was found guilty and given a two year sentence. There was an appeal, a second trial, etc. A few details are here and here.

As Straight Men See Him

1909

The Dead-Beat is Probably the Most Despised Creature That Walks the Earth

No man is wholly free from sin, but so many lesser evils are tolerated that a man should hesitate long before becoming a dead-beat.

Criminals are despised and abhorred, but to the dead-beat all that is coming, as well as the contempt of his fellow men. There is something at once so mean and so little in taking advantage of the confidence which comes with friendship that the hand of every man is turned against a dead-beat as soon as his reputation is well established.

The dead-beat may fondly imagine he is living easy and making money without work, and, of course, he takes no account of the confidence he violates and the hardships he inflicts on others. But, that aside, he really has a harder time than the man who is honest and fair. He is compelled to move a good deal, and peace of mind he knows not. Like other types of crooks, he doesn't prosper, and his finish is more unpleasant than the beginning. — Atchison Globe.


1900

Deadly Blunderbusses of Guatemala

Down in Guatemala the favorite weapon of the native bandits and desperadoes is a sawed-off muzzle-loading shotgun of the blunderbuss pattern, and when they run short of buckshot they sally out to the railroad and steal a few dozen seals, which are simply disks of soft lead about the size of quarters. Pounded into rough balls, they make projectiles by the side of which a Dumdum is an angel of mercy, and when one of their blunderbusses goes off it generally kills everything in sight except the man directly behind it.

Poisoning as a Profession

1916

Use of Deadly Gases Recalls Politics of the Dark Age Statemen and Diplomats

It is interesting today, when the opposing armies are "removing" their opponents en bloc by the use of poisonous vapors, to recall the horror evoked by the deeds of poisoners in the past. The names of the Borgias and the Medici are to this day held up to the detestation of mankind. Yet these and their like only poisoned individuals; the fighting forces today are compelled to endeavor to poison entire armies!

Their wholesale methods will doubtless go to enrich the annals of historical poisoning. For poison has played a great part in history. The employment of poison by the ancients is graphically and terribly illustrated in the deaths of Socrates, Demosthenes, Hannibal and Cleopatra, while in the reign of Artaxerxes II. (Memnon), B.C. 405-350, Phrysa poisoned the Queen Statira by cutting food with a knife poisoned on one side.

In the early part of the Christian era numberless professional poisoners arose, and for a long time exercised their trade with impunity. "Poisoning," says a well known authority, "was so much in use as a political engine that Agrippina (A.D. 26) refused to eat of some apples offered her at table by her father-in-law, Tiberius." It is a curious fact that Agrippina, while refusing to partake of these apples from her fear of being poisoned, was herself guilty of the poisoning of Claudius; but poetic justice was meted out to her in the death (by poison) of her son, Britannicus.

It was at this time, too, that the infamous Locusta flourished. She is said to have supplied, with suitable directions, the poison by which Agrippina got rid of Claudius; and she was also the principal agent in the preparation of the poison that was administered to Britannicus by order of his brother Nero.

"It was the custom of the Romans to drink hot water," says Mr. Wynter Blythe, "a draught nauseous enough to us, but, from fashion or habit, considered by them a luxury. And as no two men's tastes are alike, great skill was shown by the slaves in bringing the water to exactly that degree of heat which their respective masters found agreeable.

"A slave brings water to Britannicus; it is too hot; Britannicus refuses it. The slave adds cold water, and it is this cold water that is supposed to have been poisoned. In any case, Britannicus died, and extraordinary lividity spread over the corpse, which they attempted to conceal by painting the face."

There has come down to us a curious document, said to have been drawn out by Charles de Mauvais, King of Navarre, which shows how arsenic was much favored as a political weapon by crowned heads in the fourteenth century. It is a commission of murder given to a certain Wouderton.

"Go thou to Paris. Thou canst do great service if thou wilt. Do what I tell thee. I will reward thee well. Thou shall do thus: There is a thing which is called sublime arsenic. If a man eat a bit the size of a pea he will never survive. Thou wilt find it in Pampeluna, Bordeaux, Bayonne, and in all good towns through which thou will pass, at the apothecaries' shops.

"Take it and powder it; and when thou shalt be in the house of the king, and of Valois, his brother, the Dukes of Berry, Burgundy and Bourbon, draw near and betake this to the kitchen, to the larder, to the cellar, and in other places where thy point can be best gained. Put the powder in the soups, meats or wines, provided that thou canst do it secretly. Otherwise do it not."

Wouderton, failing to accomplish his task, was detected and executed in 1384.

No better example of this dread in which poisoners were held can be quoted than the fact that at so late a period as the reign of Henry VII extraordinary precautions were thought necessary for preserving the life of the infant heir. It was ordained that no person, of whatsoever rank, except the regular attendants in the nursery, were to approach the cradle, except with an order from the king's hand. Moreover, everything intended for the royal infant was boiled, to prevent all risk of poison as far as possible.

One of the more recent instances of political poisoning is that of the Sultan Abdul-Aziz, who died May 30, 1876. By reason of his advanced ideas he was forced to abdicate the throne, and four days later the unhappy sultan was found dead, it is almost certain by foul play. — From London Answers.

Peg Leg Foils Texan's Attempt at Suicide

1920

Wooden Prop Sticks in River Bank and Stops His Plunge

Is Sued for Fish Slain in His Mad Scramble to Swim Out

SHIRO, Texas, Feb. 26. — John Relmer's peg leg not only prevented him from ending his life here, but landed him in jail on a charge of wanton destruction of private property. Relmer is 40 years old, and has been wearing a wooden leg of the peg variety for twenty-one years. Lately his physical disability has prevented him from earning a comfortable living on the farms or in this little town. He had had a hard winter of it and to add to his misfortunes he took the "flu."

Finally he decided he would end it all.

Relmer decided it would be easier to go via the water route. He knew of such a pleasant place where the blue waters were deep and the banks mossy and shady. It was in the field of J. G. Anderson, a prosperous farmer and fish breeder.

But here's the strange part of the story. When Relmer made up his mind, he at once hobbled over to the place he had selected to end it all. He wrote a little note and laid it on the bank, telling the people why he drowned himself. Then he leaped toward the still, blue water, peg leg and all. That blasted peg leg stuck in the bank of the stream and Relmer's troubles began to double!

Before he could wrench the peg out of the soft bank he had changed his mind about dying. He decided he would begin life anew, provided he could get out. He finally pulled the peg out of the mud, but found the bank so steep he could not climb it. There was nothing to do but swim across to the other side.

Here's more trouble, real trouble, was added to Relmer's burdens. With that peg leg as he swam across the stream he clubbed several of Mr. Anderson's fine fish to death. They were his breeding fish and he had paid a fancy price for them. When he found the dead fish with their head and bodies beaten up and the note Relmer left on the bank he discovered what killed his fish. Anderson had Relmer arrested.

"He should have more sense than to try to drown himself in my fish pond," said Anderson. "Even if he had succeeded it would have injured my fish. He should have tried a rope and a limb."

"I didn't intend to kill the fish," said Relmer, "but I'm glad I'm alive."