UNIDENTIFIED: May 26, 1865 Boston, Massachusetts John Doe

On May 26, 1865, the body of a young boy was found in the Boston Harbor in  Boston, Massachusetts. He was never claimed and was buried at the Mount Hope Cemetery in an unmarked grave in the potter's field. 

Its believed the boy was around 8-years-old. 

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Murder of Old Aquito and Squaw

 There is little information in this case. On November 18, 1686, a man named Jonathan Neponet would be executed at the Gallows in Boston, Massachusetts. He was executed for the murders of a Native American couple known as Old Aquito and Squaw.

SOURCES:

Legal Executions in New England Page 56

UNIDENTIFIED: August of 1922 Northbridge, Massachusetts

In August of 1922, the body of a man was found in Linwood Pond in Northbridge, Massachusetts. It's possible he died from an accidental drowning. There is little information on this case.

John Doe was a man "beyond middle life".

SOURCES:
Find a Grave

UNIDENTIFIED: April 19, 1854 Boston, Massachusetts Jane Doe

 On April 19, 1854, a woman's body was found in the water near Battery Wharf in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts. She appeared to have drowned recently as hours before she was seen. She was walking the streets and seemed to have been acting insane. 

The woman is about 35-years-old.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Boston Evening Transcript April 20, 1854

GHOSTS: Charley The Doll

 

Photo by Cauer an Atlas Obscura User

In 1968 a doll would be discovered in the attack of a Victorian home in Upstate New York. It was inside a forgotten trunk. It had laid among tattered newspapers from the early 1930s and a yellow piece of paper containing the Lord's Prayer. The doll however could not be dated. 

The doll would be given the name Charley and added to other antiques in the home. He would blend in well with the rest of the dolls in the collection. There was little attention given to him until he began moving from his place on the bench of dolls. 

The parents would blame their five children because if it wasn't the parents it had to be the children. The children never fessed up to moving the doll, however. The parents never witnessed anything, but the children began to act weird around the doll. 

The youngest daughter (4) had at one point claimed that Charley spoke to her when she got up to use the bathroom in the middle of the night. The parents believed it to be her wild imagination. Then the other four children refused to use the bathroom at night or go near the bench within 5 feet. One day the youngest was covered in scratches with the blame placed on Charley instead of their cat. 

The parents wanting to end the children's antics removed Charley from his place. They would lock him back up in the attic in the trunk he was originally found in. Everything would go back to normal and Charley wasn't being blamed for anything. He would lay there for years forgotten. 

Years later after the children were grown the house was sold. The trunk was found in the attic and sold in a garage sale. Charley was one of the last things to go and went to a woman wanting him for her own antique doll collection. She was warned of Charley's antics. 

Charley would switch hands several times with stories of moving from time to time. It was made sure his story of the family in 1968 was told to each owner. It's said that he is more active around children.

In Salem, Massachusetts a shop called the "Local Artisan". The shop beholds odd things suck as taxidermied animals, unusual art, and oddities. He can now be seen by the public. 

SOURCES:

Atlas Obscura

From Tiny Pennies

The Ghost in My Machine

UNIDENTIFIED: March 23, 1921 Northbridge, Massachusetts John Doe

On March 23, 1921, the body of a man was found in the Blackstone River in Northbridge, Massachusetts. It was assumed that he had drowned and had been dead for a long time.

John Doe was a white male. He was around 5'10" and had black hair.

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

INFANTICIDE: August 24, 1880 Worcester, Massachusetts Baby Doe

 On August 24, 1880, a baby girl was found dead in the jail yard on Vine St. in Worcester, Massachusetts. She was about a month old and had died from exposure. 

SOURCES:

Find a Grave

Murder of Hannah Rogers Harding

By 1733 62-year-old Amaziah Harding and his wife 65-year-old Hannah had been together for around  40 years (the first child was born in 1694). The relationship had been abusive especially in the last 20 years of marriage. He would see her as a "Plague" in his life. 

On July 18, 1733, Hannah would die due to Amaziah's abuse at their home in Eastham, Massachusetts. He either beat her or threw her down the stairs, or both. This would lead to her death. He would bring her to their bed and wrap her in blankets to make it seem she died in her sleep. He would summon a neighbor woman to tell her his wife died.

As per local tradition, he asked the neighbor woman to dress and get his wife ready for burial. The neighbor was suspicious as she came over. An hour earlier one of their sons had told her that Hannah was in good health. Throughout the time he spoke as if he was grateful for her death that she was a "plague" in his life. Seeing that she had blood and bruises on her throat, lips, and cheek. Knowing he was abusive she asked how she died.

Amaziah told the woman that she had drank rum and sat on the door sill, and he laid in bed. he claimed to her when he woke up that morning that she was in the bed and would not respond to him. That she had died naturally. The neighbor woman saw through his lies and refused to get the body ready until the coroner saw the body. 

The coroner would state that Hannah died from foul play. Amaziah would be charged with capital murder. He would get the death penalty and hanged on June 5, 1734. 

SOURCES:

Legal Executions in New England Pg 125

Geni Amaziah

Geni Hannah

Tree Tree Tree

Cape Cod Times

Bowman Family

Murder of Alice "Mamie" Sterling

 

Alice Sterling was the 5th of 6 children of George and Alice Sterling. She was named after her mother and went by Mamie. Their home was on 47 Savin Hill in Boston, Massachusetts. Around the corner on Dorchester George ran a barbershop and a laundry agency. Little Alice was known as popular inside and outside of her home.

April 10, 1895, it started out like any other day for the Sterlings.No one was home, The two oldest daughters (20, 17) were in Boston, their oldest boy (14) was selling newspaper and the other son (9) was in school and Mrs. Sterling went to Everett to spend time with her mother and took the youngest with her. Which left Alice with her father. That day like many days his daughter, 8-year-old Alice, was playing outside the barbershop while he worked. Around 1 pm Alice's brothers came by the shop picked up Alice and the house key. The three would eat lunch and then drop her back off at the shop.

On this day Angus Gilbert, a close friend of Mr. Sterlings, came by the shop like he had done many times before. 

28-year-old Angus Gilbert was a native of Nova Scotia, in 1895 he was working as a chore man on the Emmons Estate of Dorchester. He would do things like chopping wood and carrying water in exchange for lodging in their barn that no longer had animals. At night he was an assistant station agent at the railroad depot.     

Angus had been friends with George for the last 5 years and was very fond of little Alice. When he would see young Alice he would often hold her on his knee and kiss her. He told Mr. Sterling he was fond of the young girl. Sometimes he would joke saying she would be his bride when she grew up. He would talk and visit with George and leave.

Alice was playing in front of the shop up until 3, and then she went to the corner to play. People had seen her around 4. No one had realized that Alice was missing. A search was done, and at 5 police were notified of her disappearance. When Alice didn't return back home by the next morning, the police were notified again. Officer Perkins would begin to investigate and found that Alice was taken.

Police knew that a man dressed in dark clothing was seen walking with Alice at the time of her disappearance. A woman would soon come forward stating she saw Angus with the girl and had even greeted the two when she saw them. Another woman stated that she saw Angus with a young girl that day. He would soon be arrested. 

On April 13th Angus was sleeping in his room he was arrested. The dirt cellar that was right beneath his room was searched and within hours a gruesome crime was discovered. There was a patch of loose dirt and when police officers stumbled upon a small foot. Alice's body was found and it was obvious she met a brutal end. She what seemed to be two wounds on her head one of which was from an Axe and they believed that she was sexually assaulted.

Nearby they found an Axe with a bloodstain and a piece of wood that was believed to have been used to hurt the girl. It was believed that when Alice was abducted that Angus brought him to the home the long way.

Angus would claim he had no knowledge of the crime. He stated that he was drunk on that Wednesday and had little knowledge of what he had done that day. He said he had remembered moments of the day and continued on like normal. He stated that he was the type of drunk to act normal, but have no idea what was going on. Like for example, he'd walk like he knew where he was going, but have no clue where he was. He was adamant that he did not walk away with the girl and he did not murder her that he would have remembered that if he did. 

 Angus would profess innocence till the end. It was suspected that even though there was so much evidence against him that he never admitted guilt for his sister's sake. Being prosecuted is one thing but admitting to it might have caused her even more grief.

On February 21, 1896, Angus would be executed for the murder. It would seem that he slept well, dressed, and ate a heavy breakfast. Shortly after 9 a.m., he would be taken from his cell. Religious services would be done to prepare him for the execution. At 10:49 he was hung until dead.

Angus D. Gilbert

SOURCES:

Murder by Gas Light

Boston Globe April 14, 1895

Boston Post April 14, 1895

Boston Post April 15, 1895

Fall River Evening Daily News  Feb. 6, 1896

The Boston Globe Feb. 20, 1896

The Saint Paul Globe Feb. 22, 1896

Murder of Nathaniel Sewell

12/13-year-old Nathaniel Sewell was sent over from England to Roxbury, Massachusetts in 1643. He was to be an apprentice to William Franklin. William Franklin was cruel to the young boy. He would beat, starve, and torture the young boy. He would be left outside wet during the winter and hanging him in the chimney.

When Nathaniel was dying William strapped him across a horse and would have him ride like that through five miles of winter weather. He would go in front of Magistrate saying the boy was a useless servant. It wouldn't state when, but Nathaniel would die in 1644.

He did not feel guilty about the boy's death and on the contrary, he felt enraged he was getting charged with it. His attitude towards the whole ordeal caused him to excommunicated from his church. He would go to trial in April of 1644. He would be convicted of wilful murder and sentenced to hang in June of 1644.


SOURCES;
Historic Ipswich 
The Daily News
Legal Execution in New England

Murder of Mary Ellen Kearney

In 1866 19-year-old Mary Ellen Kearney and 21-year-old John Moran were seeing each other. Her father had learned of John's bad character and was refusing to let the two see each other. He forbid John from their home in Roxbury, Massachusetts.

It had turned out that Mary Ellen went to see John at his cottage the week before March 19, 1866. He wasn't home and while waiting for him she read a letter on the table. The letter was from a man named Mallory in Philadelphia who wrote to John telling him that the man they had garroted died from their injuries.

When he came home he asked her if she had read the letter. She admitted she did. She told him that she hoped he wasn't guilty of the crime and didn't get an answer. He snatched the letter from her hands and threw it into the fire. The two then went out on a walk. When they got to spot he threatened her with a revolver he had with him. He forced her to take an oath to not tell anyone of the letter's contents. She did and went home.

Fearing for her life and knowing that the oath was not binding she admitted of the contents of the letter and that John threatened to kill her on March 18th. At the time John was working at Grover and Baker's Machine Shop near her home.

On the 19th He came to Mary Ellen's home. John knocked on a window and called out to her to talk to him. She did so and when she opened the door he shot her. She staggered to the kitchen door and screamed "Oh Aunt I am Killed" as she fell to the floor. The ball came through her left side through her heart and out the right. It had killed her almost instantly.

John was already been gone by the time the physician came. On March 23rd he turned himself in to the police. He refused to answer questions. On May 24th the trial began. He was supposed to be hanged on Jan. 25, 1867, but his time was then commuted in early January to life in prison.

SOURCES:
The New England Farmer  March 14, 1866
The Daily Evening Express  March 23, 1866 (part 1)
The Daily Evening Express  March 23, 1866 (part 2)
Lewiston Gazzette March 28, 1866
The Pittsburgh Daily Post May 25, 1866
Harrisburg Telegraph- Jan 11, 1867
Intelligencer Journal -Jan 12, 1867

Murder of Harriet Bell

37-year-old Harriet Bell was a widow by 1882 and worked as a seamstress to support her and her daughter. On morning of March 7, 1882, Harriet left her home of Kirkland Street in Boston, Massachusetts.13-year-old daughter stayed at home as she headed out to do errands.

The witness saw a man following behind Harriet and she was unaware until she got home around 8 a.m. When she got to her doorway the man attacked her, but not before the witness heard her say "I don't know you." He then took her arm and shoved her inside. The witness then heard her scream and the man leave the home. What he didn't know is in that short time he had stabbed her to death.

They quickly found two police officers nad stated the man just attacked a woman. They did nothing and let him go. They didn't stop the man nor did they do anything about it at the time saying it was a family matter. They had not known that she had been murdered and that they let the killer walk free.

Later the witness asked another officer to check on the woman. This was when the officer found her body. Several people were suspected, but none were charged in this case.

He was described as a white man around 45 or 50-years-old. He was 6'1" and 165 lbs. He had very broad shoulders and sandy side-whiskers, and mustache with a grey tinge. He was wearing a dark blue smooth overcoat with a velvet collar, a black worn high round derby hat, and dark pantaloons.

10 years later in late 1892, a man came forward with some information. The morning of the murder he and a woman who looked similar to Harriet had robbed a drunk sailor. They kicked him out in the street and he slept in a doorway near where the woman lived and where he was kicked out. It was believed that the doorways were similar and when he saw Harriet he believed her to be this other woman and killed her in revenge.

I couldn't find if this sailor was identified and arrested, but it could be possible the case was never solved.

SOURCES:
The Boston Globe March 11, 1882
Chicago Tribune March 9, 1882
The Boston Globe May 16, 1892
Democrat and Chronicle December 24, 1892
The Cape Girardeau Democrat December 31, 1892
The Anaconda Standard Jan. 3, 1893