Criminal Curiosities.
Lawmakers, laws and those who break them.
A free chapter from 'Murders, Mysteries and Misdemeanors in New York.' Grover Cleveland is seldom regarded as an exceptional US President. He wasn’t universally despised (although often deeply unpopular) but not universally admired either. In short, he was a safe and unspectacular pair of hands. He does have one singular attribute setting him apart from … Continue reading On This Day in 1873 – John Gaffney hanged by future President Grover Cleveland.
On February 3 the Virginia State Senate voted 21 to 17 in favour of abolishing Virginia’s death penalty. Two days later the House of Delegates voted 57-41 to back repealing capital punishment in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Governor Ralph Northam has also indicated he will back the decision, remarking that “The practice is fundamentally inequitable. … Continue reading Virginia to abolish capital punishment.
Between 1953 and 2003 the US Federal Government carried out fourteen executions. Since June 2020 it has carried out nine, most recently that of Brandon Bernard at Terre Haute Federal penitentiary in Indiana. Tonight (within hours at the time of writing) it intends to perform another (Alfred Bourgeois) and has another four scheduled before the … Continue reading Are Federal executions nearing their end..?
Despite once being one of the most conservative states in the US, Vermont is seldom notable in the chronicles of crime. Unusually for so conservative a place it rarely used its death penalty before virtually abolishing it. To give readers some comparison Vermont had eight executions in the twentieth century while New York had 663 … Continue reading On This Day in 1908 and 1954 – Mary Rogers and Donald DeMag, Vermont’s First and Last 20th Century Executions.
The following are available from bookstores and online: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/45711744-murders-mysteries-and-misdemeanors-in-new-york https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36309416-criminal-curiosities https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/50730085-murders-mysteries-and-misdemeanors-in-northern-california
Rosario, believing he had done enough to catch the right eyes, awaited his clemency and heard nothing. There was no more ominous silence than when a Governor was considering clemency, it usually meant there wouldn't be any.
Today, Rufus Franklin ('Whitey' to his friends) is a name largely forgotten. In the South during the 1930's Franklin was a crook well-known the South's law enforcement and penal system alike. Born in Alabama in 1916 Franklin was the incorrigible's incorrigible, a crook so dedicated he would likely have never gone straight even if pardoned … Continue reading Rufus ‘Whitey’ Franklin, the incorrigible’s incorrigible.
If the worst prisons are those we make for ourselves Thomas Tobin couldn't have constructed anywhere more hideous.
A few years ago I covered the story of John Hurlburt, New York's second 'State Electrician.' Trained by predecessor Edwin Davis, Hurlburt executed 140 prisoners during his tenure. Hurlburt's official debut was executing George Coyer and Giuseppe DeGoia at Auburn Prison on August 31 1914. Unofficially he had already executed prisoners under Davis's supervision. As … Continue reading On This Day in 1925 – John Hurlburt performs his last execution. ‘Yellow Charleston’ has his last dance.
The duel between US Senator David Broderick and David Terry, former Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court is a rollicking tale of friendship-turned-feud; politics, pistols, slavery and slander. Their duel on 13 September 1859 would have made a terrific historical novel or movie and still might. Duels over political disagreements, personal enmity and often … Continue reading The Broderick-Terry duel of 1859, the last notable duel in California.