UNIDENTIFIED: Cochise County Does 1878-1884 Tombstone, Arizona

 

The Boothill Cemetary in Tombstone, Arizona was active between 1878 and 1884. On Row 11, Lot 9 two Chinese Does are buried there. They had died from leprosy, but it is unknown when they had died, but it's likely between 1878 and 1884.

SOURCES:

Unidentified Wiki

Find a Grave

Find a Grave

MISSING: Helen Stark

On or about Jan. 12, 1946, 23 to 26-year-old Helen Stark was last seen in South Milwaukee, Wisconsin. At the time Helen was having marital issues with her husband William P. Stark. She was supposed to come and pick up her young children but never arrived. 

The date of her disappearance is the same day as William's discharge from the Army. He had enlisted in March of 1943.

Helen's family doesn't believe that she abandoned her children as her own mother died when she was a teenager. This lead to her and her siblings going to an orphanage. 

Helen is a white female between 23 and 26 years-old and her maiden name was Brokowski. She was 5'8" to 6'0" and 170 to 180 lbs. She has brown hair and brown eyes and may be wearing glasses.

SOURCES:
Charley Project

Murder of Reinhold Deske

I could only find the same article in several papers. The murder would have happened before Jan. 10, 1882 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

SOURCES:
St. Louis Globe-Democrat January 10, 1882
The Greeley News January 12, 1882
Kingman County Citizen January 19, 1882
The Patron of Husbandry January 21, 1882

Murder of Bertha Schippan

A photograph of the Schippan family, with Matthes (second from left) and Mary (to his right), Bertha is not in the photo.  

The Schippan family was a German immigrant family living in Towitta, South Australia, Australia. They were living in a small German farming community. Among the family was 13-year-old Johanne who went by Bertha and 24/25-year-old Mary.

Their parents Mattes and Johanne left on the day of  Jan. 1, 1902 to travel to Eden Valley that was 20 km away. They left the younger children to be watched by their oldest daughter Mary. By 8 p.m. that night both girls went to bed in the cottage while the boys slept in a galvanized iron room connected to a farm shed.

Around 10 p.m. Mary awoke to something heavy on her chest. She claimed that it was a bearded man that was on top of her. She was able to break free and run to the farm shed her brothers were sleeping in.

She told them of the man and she sent one of the boys to a neighbor for help. Bertha was still in the house with the man. The neighbor the boy ran to declined to help the family so he had to run 1 km to the house of Constable Lambert. When they returned they found Bertha laying in a puddle of her own blood. She didn't get to make it to her 14th birthday that was only 15 days away.

There was no bearded man in the home. There was also no evidence of anyone breaking in to harm the girls. So the police did not believe Mary's story of what had happened that night and two months later she was put on trial.

The evidence against Mary was circumstantial. She pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors brought up the fact that Mary and 21-year-old Gustave Nitschke had been in a secret relationship for the last year. They believed Bertha knew of the relationship and threatened to tell their father. Who was described as a nasty piece of work. They believed it was possible that Gustave could have also helped with the murder, but there was no evidence.

Some believed that their father was the perpetrator of the crime. He was a mean man. He once fired a shotgun at a Nitschke boy leaving the boy to pick pellets out of his leg. But it wasn't possible with the time to travel that far by horse and be where he was that day.

Mary eventually came back to town and was known as the grey lady. She would wear a grey dress and bonnet when walking around town. She would keep her head down and didn't talk to anyone. She would eventually die in 1919 from tuberculosis

It isn't for sure known who the murderer was. Maybe it was a member of the family, but maybe there was an unknown perpetrator. Maybe Mary was able to escape a terrible fate and was left to be called a liar. No one will ever really know what happened in the home that New Years Day.


SOURCES:
Wikipedia
ABC
Find a Grave

Murder of Josh Jones

On December 31, 1890 Ike and Josh Jones would get into a drunken fight near Woodbine, Texas. This would result in Ike stabbing his brother. Josh would not immediately die as he would live for 10 days and would die on Jan.9, 1891, in his father's home.

There is not much information in this case that I could find.

SOURCES:
The Gavelston Daily News Jan. 10, 1891
St. Louis Post-Dispatch Jan 11, 1891
Wise County Messenger Jan 31, 1891

Missing: Marion Alice Morton

2010 photo of Marion's home she was believed to be last seen alive.

On December 30, 1937, 52/52-year-old Marion Morton was reported missing from Georgetown, Delaware. THere's very little information in this case.

Her ex-husband was Bennet Carlton Morton. In the April 12 1930 Federal Census Marion was listed as the head of the house with her son Ralph (19 at the time) and school teacher Lewella Cain was a tenant in her home in Newark, New Jersey.

SOURCES:
NamUs

Missing Child: Melvin Charles Horst

On the afternoon of December 27, 1928 4-year-old Melvin Horst was playing with four neighborhood friends. They were playing at a vacant lot off of Chestnut St. in Orville, Ohio. The area was near the railroad tracks. At some point, Melvin decided to walk home alone because he only lived a block away. He was carrying his small red truck a gift he got on Christmas.

At 4:30 Zora decided to call him home from dinner and sent her oldest out to search for him at his friend's homes. He was not found.  He must have at least made it to his front yard as it was found his truck. They waited till his father Raymond got home and they searched the neighborhood at 6 p.m.

By 7 the police helped and they initiated the search at 8:30. The search was led by Roy who was Raymond's brother and village marshal. It was hoped that Melvin was mistaken as a child of a wealthy family and a ransom would come, but it never did.

Some theorize that his disappearance was to deal with Roy. The prohibition was going on at the time and Roy was zealous at getting bootleggers and enforcing liquor laws making several enemies. He was living with the family at the time and one of the bootleggers decided to get revenge. This included Elias Arnold and his children William, Arthur, and Dorthy McHenry and Dorthy's husband Bascom.

On Jan 2. 1929, the group was arrested for Melvin's disappearance. Elias had been in jail for the most part of 1928 and had a grudge against Roy. Later Charles "Junior" Hannah Elias 8-year-old nephew and a 9-year-old friend of Junior claimed to have seen Melvin go into the Arnold's house. Elias and Arthur were convicted and spent three months in jail when they realized the children had lied.

In 1930 Junior admitted that his father Charles Hannah and a neighbor Earl Conold had told him to lie. He said that they had killed Melvin and told the children to lie about seeing Melvin going to the Arnold's home. The men confessed, but it was coerced by Law Enforcement.

Some believe that it could be possible he was hit by a car and his body hid. That he was kidnapped and murdered. Or someone kidnapped him to raise as their own. None of these theories could be confirmed though.

Melvin was 4 years old at the time. He was 3'1" and 49 lbs. He had blue eyes and brown hair. He has a jagged burn scar on his hip. He was described as having an upturned nose and stocky build. He was wearing a checked sweater, a brown overcoat, and a stocking cap.

SOURCES:
Charley Project
NamUs
Daily Record
Daily Record

Strange Company