Murder of Maggie Walker

Copy of the pamphlet given out prior to execution for 10 cents.

In May of 1879, 16 to19-year-old Maggie Blair ran away from home from Jonesboro, Tennessee to Russellville, Tennessee. It isn't stated why she ran away, but it's believed that her Stepfather Anthony Blair was a part of the reason. Maggie was described as a smart, and industrious girl.

Maggie was working for Esquire William Donaldson and his family. On July 29, 1879, Anthony showed up to the home of the Donaldson's. He had found out that Maggie was there and had ridden the train to get her. He walked into the kitchen and demanded she leaves with him to talk.

At the time Maggie was in the kitchen with Mrs. Donaldson preparing a meal. Maggie seemed afraid and told him she wasn't going outside with him and if he had anything to say he could say in front of Mrs. Donaldson.

Mr. Donaldson was arriving home at the same time. He had forced Anthony to leave the residence. Anthony didn't show up again till the night of July 30th a few nights later.

On the night of July 30th Maggie went up to a colored church near Russellville for a prayer meeting. She had gone with friends. After the prayer meeting, Anthony showed up again. He had found people who were at the prayer meeting.

Anthony went by the group, but went a short distance and took another road in which Maggie and other young folks were walking. He walked through the crowd up to Maggie who was walking in the back with Henry Taylor.

Maggie filled with fear as Anthony pressed Taylor away and grabbed Maggie's hand. “You must go home with me on the train to-night to your grandpapa,” He stated as he dragged her 150 to 200 yards down the road all while she struggled to get out of his grasp. She screamed that she would rather die than go back with him.

This enraged Anthony and he pulled out his gun and shot her twice. She didn't immediately pass and it had taken her 2 days to die from her wounds on August 1st. On August 8th Anthony Blair to be convicted and sentenced with the death penalty.

It was said when they delivered the death penalty that Anthony may have been the calmest person in the room. He just stared at the judge. He was due to die on September 26, 1879. He had made a deal with local doctors that he would will over his body after death for $15. This allowed to let him keep a supply of tobacco and candy.

On September 26, 1879, 26 guards went to Anthony's cell at noon. Anthony seemed unaffected and walked with a firm step to the wagon that would bring him to the gallows. After religious services were done by Rev. Geo. Branner Anthony sang a song and then talked for 30 minutes.

He stated his guilt but presented his facts for the reason it leads to him killing Maggie. The newspaper wouldn't state these facts as it was unsuited for the public to read/hear. At 1:30 a rope was placed around his neck and the black cap arranged. Buy 1:35 the wagon pulled away from beneath him. He had no pulse at 9 minutes, in 10 minutes his heart stopped beating, in 15 he was pronounced dead, and in 22 he was lowered into the casket.

His body was taken by the Doctors who paid him for it. medical students and doctors embalmed the body. His heart and brain were kept in jars. They boiled his bones in 1880. They were assembled and hung in the backroom of a Drug Store. They were used as a way to attract visitors to the store. A fire eventually broke out and burned down the store.

SOURCES:
Reasonable Doubt
Executed Today
The Olden Times 
Wikipedia
The Morristown Gazette
The Knoxville Daily Chronicle 
The Knoxville Daily Chronicle

MISSING: Thelma Jean (Thel) Cobbs

In 1946 (date unspecified) 29/30-year-old Thelma Cobbs or Thel by some went to visit her father and stepmother in Fort Branch, Indiana. There is little information in this case, but her family believes it was foul play involved.

Thelma is a white female and was 29-30-years-old at the time. She was 5'2" to 5'5" and 115 to 130 lbs. She has brown hair and brown eyes.

SOURCES:
NamUs
Doe Network
Find a Grave
Unidentified Wiki

Murder of Michael Vengalli

On the evening of July 28, 1931, 5-year-old Michael Vengalli was playing on E. 107 St. in Manhattan, New York with some of his friends. At this time the Coll-Shultz gang war was happening and the place, a social club, they were playing in front of belonged to members of the Dutch Schultz mob. At the same time that Michael and his friends were out there a few men from the Dutch Schultz mob were too.

This was when a car with Mad Dog Vincent Coll and his men drove by. As they drove by they shot off a machine gun hoping to take out the men. Instead of taking out the men Michael and four of his friends were shot. Michael instantly died from his wound in his stomach and the other four were in serious condition but survived. 

On October 4th Coll was arrested. In December of 1931 Mad Dog Vincent Coll was taken to trial. People called the killers baby killers. He was acquited of this crime, but his freedom didn't last long as a few months later on Feb. 8, 1932, Schultz's men trapped him in a manhattan drugstore phone booth and machine-gunned him to death.


SOURCES:
Find a Grave
Youtube- Video of Michael's funeral
Daily News
Harlem World

Annice was the First Female slave executed in Missouri for killing children

In 1828 Jeremiah Prior of Clay County, Missouri owned slaves. This included Annice and her children. On July 27, 1828, Annice pushed some of the slave children into a body of water where five of them drowned. The children's names were Ann, Billy, Nancy, Nelly, and Phebe. Billy was 5 and Nancy was 2 and the other's ages weren't stated and these two were Annice's children.

Annice did have a jury trial and a defense attorney. She was found guilty of the murders. It was possible she wanted to get back at Jeremiah and to take away some of his valuable property. The children were slaves and considered property. She was publically hanged on August 23, 1828, by Sheriff Shubael Allen.

This lead to Annice being known for the first slave woman in Missouri to be executed.


SOURCES:

Wikipedia
Women and Capital Punishment in the United States: An Analytical History pg 117

Genealogy Trails

The Porsmose Man

In 1946 the body of Porsmose Man was discovered near Næstved, Denmark in a bog. Unlike other bog bodies, he was not mummified and was a skeleton. The man was 35-40-years-old and had died around 2600 BCE. It was obvious he had a brutal end.

He had been murdered as an arrow had entered through his nose. This was not likely the arrow that killed him as another arrow was found in his chest. The killer was up at an angle above the man at close range. It could be possible that it was execution or ambush to kill the man.

It's unknown who the Porsmose Man is or why he was killed. This will remain a mystery lost to time.


SOURCES:
Mummipeida
The Danish National Museum

Murder of Eunice Bolles

12-year-old Hannah Ocuish is the youngest and last female to be documented and lawfully executed in North Carolina. Her mother was a Pequot Native American and her father was African American. She was also said to have had some intellectual disability. She was working as an indentured servant for an Ichabod Rogers at the time.

Hannah and 6-year-old Eunice Bolles, the daughter of a wealthy farmer, spent time together in a strawberry patch a few miles north of New London, Connecticut. They did not get along though after Eunice went home she told her parents Hannah was mean and took some of her strawberries.

About six weeks later on July 21, 1786, Eunice was walking to school on the Norwich road in New London. Hannah spotted the 6-year-old alone and beat her to death with rocks for complaining about the strawberry incident. After killing the girl she tried to cover her with large stones trying to make it seem as if the wall collapsed on her. But it was obvious that the stones were placed there and Eunice had been murdered. 

Eunice's body was found at about 9 a.m. The authorities knew of Hannah and Eunice's trouble. They began to interview Hannah and she lied to them claiming to seen four boys harassing Eunice where she was found. Authorities did not believe her and took her to the Bolles home to see Eunice, where she broke down and admitted to killing her.

Hannah was tried in October for the murder. She was convicted and found guilty of the murder.  During the trial, her age was put into account, but since the murder was brutal and she attempted to conceal the body she was given the death penalty. She seemed unconcerned during the trial.

She was set to be executed on December 20, 1786. When it came closer to her execution date she was becoming fearful. On the day of December 20th, she was crying for most of the day. Thousands gathered to watch the young girl hang. Reverend Henry Channing gave a lengthy sermon before her hanging. She said little but did thank the Sherrif for showing her kindness. 

SOURCES:

Courant

Murderpedia

Today in Connecticut  History

Wikipedia
Connecticut History

MISSING: Richard David "Pee Wee" Marlow

On July 18, 1944, 9-year-old Richard "Pee Wee" Marlow and his older brother decided to stay home as the rest of the family went to the movies. Richard decided to stay home because he went to the movies the day before. He was playing outside on his bike in front of his home in Etobicoke, Ontario, Canada. His older brother was keeping an eye on him from inside the house. This was when he went missing, and his bike was still in the yard.

It's believed that someone abducted the 9-year-old. He came from a good home and it was seen as he had no reason to run away. He was a bright and shy kid. He was known to even get to school early. He would never talk to strangers let alone go into a dark room by himself. Making it unlikely he ran away.

Richard is a white male and was 9 at the time. He was 3'8" to 4'0" and 50 lbs. He had blonde hair and blue eyes. He has a scar on the right temple. He was wearing a striped jersey, blue pants, grey socks with a yellow band, a dark blue nylon windbreaker and a ring "KL" aluminum.

SOURCES:
Canada's Missing
The Star
Doe Network

End of Watch: Death of Sheriff Oscar Dawes and His Killer James Smedley McCormick

In July of 1919 44-year-old Sherrif Fred O. Dawes was approached by a grain company owner in Nevada, Missouri. The owner was experiencing theft of sacks of feed on his property. They left feed out to bait the thieves. In the shadows waited Sherrif Dawes and the grain owner. A man appeared around 10 p.m. and was taken into custody.

It was found that the thief was James McCormick. They took the suspect to the office of the grain company. Around 11 p.m. on July 17  Sherrif Dawes was emptying out his pockets and when he turned his back to put the suspect's keys on the desk James took the chance. He pulled a .32-caliber-revolver out and shot Sherrif Dawes in the heart. He fell to the ground dead. 

A gun battle ensued with two other officers for 10 blocks. James was shot twice and died a few hours afterward. None of the other officers were injured in this gunfight.

Sherrif Dawes was working with the Vernon County Sherrif's Department for 2 and a half years. After his death, his wife Sephronia was elected the first female Sherrif in Vernon County. She only temporarily did this for a few weeks till a new sheriff could be elected.

SOURCES:
Officer Down Memorial Page
Facebook
Find A Grave 
The Butler Weekly Times and the Bates County Record

Murder of Elizabeth A. Darwin

On July 13, 1865, Gabriel J. Forsee had slit the throat of 36-year-old Elizabeth Darwin at her home in Monroe County, Illinois. She had previously testified against him in court and on the night of the killing, she may have rejected his sexual advances. In response he killed her. The knife he used was described as "for the value of one dollar".

Gabriel did not realize that a little girl who occupied the same apartment as Elizabeth would have seen him. She woke up to voices and with the aid of a light she was able to see Gabriel. She testified against him in court and in September he was found guilty and had gotten the death penalty. After his conviction, his wife and kids didn't contact him.

On June 2, 1866, he was hung between the courthouse and jail in Waterloo.

SOURCES:
The Woodstock Sentinel June 7, 1866
Darwintern
The Combined History of Randolph, Monroe, and Perry Counties Illinois page 158
Legal Executions in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, and Missouri page 3

Murder of Benjamin Trot

Before we get to the murder we have to talk about the murderer 23-year-old Patience Sampson (Boston). She was a Native American woman born on December 26, 1711, in Monomoy, an island near Chatham, Massachusetts. Her mother Sarah Jethro died when she was three and her father John bound her as a servant to Paul Crow.

The Crow family taught her how to read, counseled in following Christ's word, and warned her against being Sinful. Patience was a rebellious child though as she would play on Sabbath, tell lies and ignored her teachings. As her family was at church she would let the cattle into the cornfield. Her behavior did not get better as she got older.

She went out at night and kept bad company and followed lewd practices. After contemplating her terms of service she began to steal from the family and left the Crows. A year later she married an African American servant and also became one under her husband's master. Soon after they married she became an alcoholic and would abuse her husband verbally and physically.

While her husband was away on a whaling voyage she ran away from their master and cheated on her husband and would drink excessively She would return home to deliver her firstborn, who was born with broken arms and died within weeks.

She was still drinking and fighting with her husband constantly. She would then become pregnant a second time. It's stated that she had thoughts of murdering her second child after it was born. Before she could do it the baby died at two months.

While being drunk she got in an argument with her husband stating she had killed the second baby. She showed up to court drunk. She was acquitted of her babies death due to there being no evidence and she changed her story. With permission from her husband, she was bound to Cap. Dimmick who sold her to Joseph Bailey of Casco Bay, Maine.

There was another event of her claiming to kill a third baby. The baby couldn't be found where she claimed to have buried it. Nothing came of this case because there was no evidence this third child existed. An examination by a panel of matrons concluded that she hadn't recently delivered a baby.

Joseph Bailey likely grew tired of Patience's antics. She was sold yet again to another master. She immediately hated her new master. She had planned to poison the new master but had no access to any. She then tried to burn down his barn, but this was foiled.

Her new Master was raising his Grandson 8-year-old Benjamin Trot. On July 9, 1734, Patience decided to take revenge. The Master and his wife were out of the home. She lured the 8-year-old out into the woods with the intent of beating him with a large stick. She lifted the stick but lost courage to do so.

Instead, they went to the well together. She dropped her stick down it and asked him to help her get it, and when he got to the edge of the well she pushed him inside it. While at the bottom of the well she used the long pole to hold him under the water.

It's said that after the murder she  lifted her arms and stared at the sky "Now am I guilty of Murder indeed; formerly I accused myself falsely, yet now has God left me." She then left the well and walked two miles to the home where she confessed to killing the child.

Patience stayed in prison for months while waiting for the Supreme Court to convene and hear her case. She would cry out to God constantly while in prison. Then one day she stopped realizing she now believed in God.

Patience pleaded guilty to the murder.  She was then sentenced to being executed. At the time she was pregnant with her third child and was to give birth to him before her execution. While in prison she worked with a father and son who were ministers. She was said to solidify her belief in God. After the baby was born he got a fever and he recovered.

Patience was executed on July 24, 1735, in York, Maine by hanging.

SOURCES
Capital Punishment UK
Murderpedia
American Bibliography: 1730-1750
A Bibliography of the State of Maine from the Earliest Period to 1891, Volume 2

Murder of Evelyn Mary Maughan

Mug Shot of Fredrick Thompson

On the morning of 8 July 1945, 8-year-old Evelyn Maughan left her home On Goulburn Street Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. She was walking alone was supposed to go to church like she did most Sundays. She never was seen again after this. Her family worried reported the girl missing and searches for the girl was done, but she wasn't found until three months later.

On 5 October by  Edmund Charles Mead at the Queensborough Cemetery Sandy Bay. He was looking for his father's grave when he found Evelyn's body covered with sticks. He automatically went to the nearest public phone box and called the police. Eveleyn's uncle Jack was sent to identify the body, and it was her.


Evelyn had been bound and fully clothed. It wasn't for sure what her cause of death was or if she had been sexually assaulted. Strips of a blanket were found wrapped around the girl, and her hands had been tied, a khaki handkerchief was tightly tied around the girl's neck and is believed to be what killed her.

Mrs. Dorothy Adele Lewis claimed to have been looking out her window on July 8. She said she saw a young man cross Collins-Street with a bath on his shoulder with what looked like a child covered with a blanket inside. A Few minutes later he returned walking in a hurry and it appeared that a wooden toy was in the bath. He was later identified to be Fredrick Thompson.

A few days after Evelyn's body was discovered 31-year-old Fredrick Thompson was arrested and charged with her murder. In his home, they found strips of blanket similar to what tied Evelyn up. Fredrick's wife also suspected him asking him and his friend if they had heard of the missing girl. Another woman saw Fredrick at the cemetery gate that Evelyn was found in.

Fredrick maintained his innocence throughout the trial and never seemed upset during it. It took less than two hours to get a guilty verdict. He was hanged at 6 a.m. on 14 Feb. 1946 and was the last man executed in Tasmania. It's never been revealed what had happened to Evelyn and some suspected that Fredrick didn't kill the girl on his own and had an accomplice.

SOURCES:
Find a Grave (Evelyn Mary Maughan)
Find A Grave (Fredrick Henry Thompson)
ABC
The Mercury
The Age (08 October 1945)
The Age (12 December 1945)
The Age (18 December 1945)

Murder of Delmira Agustini and Suicide of Enrique Job Reyes

Born on October 24, 1886, in Montevideo, Uraguay Delmira Agustini started her talents as a writer young. She was said to have started to write at ten and soon released her first book of poems as a teenager.

She would get a job at the magazine La Alborada under the pen name Joujou. Her poetry is considered passionate and specialized in female sexuality. Which at the time was considered a modern idea.  Eros the God of love was a figure in many of her poems.  There were many critics that focused on her being a woman (either good or bad) rather than on her works. Often using her gender as a way to call her pure or sexually obsessed.

She was a part of a group of  Uruguayan writers. It was formed in 1900 she was in it with Julio Herrera y Reissig, María Eugenia Vaz Ferreira, Alberto Zum Felde, and Angel Falco. It allowed them to have an innovative voice in Spanish American poetry.

On August 14, 1913, Delmira married Enrique Job Reyes who wasn't a part of the literary world that she was. The marriage didn't even last a full year as on June 5, 1914, the two got divorced. On July 7, 1914, Enrique shot Delmira in the head twice and then took his own life in Montevideo.


SOURCES:

Brittanica 

Poem Hunter

Revolvy

Encyclopedia 

Wikipedia

Murder of Louisa McAdams

In 1867 When Louisa Long was 17 she married Jesse McAdams. The two lived in Bond County, Illinois. nearby neighbors were also family of them. Near Louisa's sister and brother-in-law, John Arm. John's sister Hannah would marry John Moore. John Moore was born in New York but raised near St. Louis.

On the day of Monday, July 5, 1869, 22-year-old John Moore went to look at his wheat. He then would arrive at the home 18-year-old Louisa, who was sitting on her porch when.  Her husband Jesse was not home at the time. He got her into the home by asking her questions about some books and a bureau. He would then try to attack her.

He wrapped his arms around her and tried to sexually assault her. She resisted him and then he threw her onto the floor. He then let her go. He begged her not to tell anyone of what he attempted to do to her and even offered her money. She stated that she would tell.

He then left her home and went to his. He sent his wife away and started packing up. He planned to leave, but after thinking of his wife and child he realized he didn't want to. The idea of leaving them was more than he could bear.

He then returned to the McAdams home. Louisa saw John and began to flee in fear. She tried to flee to her sister, Hannah's home by running across the field. The whole time John begged her not to tell and she still refused. She did not make it to her sister's home and John had caught her. He struck her and began to stab her and finished her off by slitting her throat.

After the murder, John pulled some shocks of wheat apart. He would then claim to hear a scream and went towards it. John claimed he had seen her from the fence and he jumped over it check on her. His story seemed implausible as you wouldn't have been able to see her body from the fence. He alerted others working the fields and alarmed his wife of the murder.

The following night John and his wife Hannah and four other people would stay the night at the McAdams home.

John seemed to not sleep well and at 3 a.m. he left the home. When Hiram McAdams asked him if he was leaving he told them no. This was a lie. One of the men watch and followed John M., but lost sight of him. They believed that he was heading to the Goodson place, so they waited for him there. It took John 15 minutes to get there.

He was wet to the boot tops and had gone to destroy the evidence of the footprints at the scene. On Tuesday around 8 to 9 a.m. John's boots were found under the dining table unhidden. There was evidence of blood on them. His pants were also unhidden and they were found with blood on them also. John's excuse for this, it happened when he helped move Louisa's body. Police then asked to see his pocket knife. John took it out of his pocket but instinctively used both hands to hand it over. This was to help prevent the officers from seeing his shaking hands.

John was then arrested for the crime and confessed to the murder. He was then taken to trial and convicted guilty with the death penalty. John Moore was hanged on October 22, 1969, in Greenville.

His last letter to his wife dated the same day he was executed read as the following
.
SOURCES:
Civil War Days and Those Surnames
Legal Executions in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, and Missouri page 4
The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer July 14, 1869
Wisconsin State Journal July 15, 1869
Chicago Tribune July 15, 1869
Decatur Weekly Republican November 11, 1869
New York Times October 26, 1869
Chicago Tribune October 27, 1869

MISSING: Gil Zacarias Avendano Vazquez

In 1954 55-year-old Gil Vazquez was last seen in Tlaxiaco, Oaxaca, Mexico. There is little information in this case (at least in English). He's a Hispanic male. He has brown eyes and greying hair. He's 155cm.

SOURCES:
Doe Network

MISSING: Gerald Clifford Bartlett

The last known record of Gerald Clifford Bartlett was in July of 1925 making him 21-years-old at the time.  The census record had him at Devil's Lake, North Dakota. He had went by the nicknames Cliff and Dutch. Clifford is a white male and was around 5'8" to 6' and 150 lbs to 200lbs. He has strawberry-blonde hair and blue eyes.

SOURCES:

NamUs

Murder of James Lail

On July 1, 1898, 19-year-old John Headrick went to James Lail's home in Cape Girardeau County about 3 miles out of Jackson, Missouri. He had been recently fired as a farmhand by James for stealing a buggy.

James's wife Vernie and daughter Jessie were inside their home as he was in the barn curried the horses. They watched as John entered the barn and then heard gunshots. James had been shot four times he managed to get out of the barn and his wife threw herself over him.

John then shot her once and the gun was out of ammo so he began to beat her. Jessie screamed at John that he killed her Papa and was going to kill her Mother. Vernie then got free and started running in which John pursued and stabbed her then slit her throat.

He marched Jessie around with the threat of being shot. He tried to make her promise to not tell anyone he had done it. She wouldn't do it. He also made her clean his clothes. When they got by the area Vernie's body should have been she wasn't there. This was because she ran to her mothers-in-law's home. He soon left. Vernie survived the attack, but unfortunately, James did not.

He claimed that he just came to the residence to get the money he was owed. He said when he got into the barn James threatened to beat him with the curry comb he was using. He said he was scared for his life so he shot James and attacked Vernie from the excitement.

John was hung on June 15, 1889 outside of Cape Girardeau's courthouse.

SOURCES:
Executed Today
The Record-Union
The Democrat-Argus