Tag: poison
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On This Day in 1917 – Dr. Arthur Warren Waite, the ‘Playboy Poisoner.’
To mark the release of my third book ‘Murders, Mysteries and Misdemeanors in Southern California,’ here’s a criminal classic from my files. Look at the photograph and ask yourself ‘What kind of man was he?’ Handsome? Attractive? Smartly dressed? Perhaps very plausible to anyone who didn’t know him very well? Maybe he looks superficially charming…
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On This Day in 1921, George Bailey -Convicted by Britain’s first female jurors in a capital case.
In today’s more enlightened times there is nothing unusual about women serving on juries, but it wasn’t always so. British courts didn’t permit female jurors until 1920. They were still a novelty on 13 January 1921 when three women joined a jury at Aylesbury. The defendant was one George Bailey. The charge was capital murder.…
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On This Day in 1934, Ethel Lillie Major.
Normally this time of year would be cause for celebration, a time of Christmas cheer and goodwill to all men. That wasn’t the case for Ethel Major who stood condemned for the murder of her husband Arthur. For her the previous couple of days had been spent sobbing and incoherent as she pondered her imminent…
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I wrote a book.
Originally posted on Crimescribe: ? It’s been quite some time since I last posted ere, but I have been extremely busy with paid work and earning a living. Part of that has been writing my first book. Criminal Curiosities is a collection of crooks, all with something about their crime, trial or punishment that is…
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On This Day in 1953 – Louisa Merrifield, the Blackpool Poisoner.
It’s a fact that, for all their ruthlessness and guile, murderers can and do make the most idiotic mistakes. Louisa Merrifield was certainly one of them. Born in 1906, Merrifield was a liar, a fraudster, a cheat and ultimately a murderer. Today in 1953 her criminal career ended abruptly at the end of Albert Pierrepoint’s…
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Doctor George Henry Lamson, the ‘Sleight of Hand Poisoner’; Not as clever as he thought.
All in all, a sorry fate for a man who'[d once shown such promise.
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I wrote a book.
It’s been quite some time since I last posted ere, but I have been extremely busy with paid work and earning a living. Part of that has been writing my first book. Criminal Curiosities is a collection of crooks, all with something about their crime, trial or punishment that is singular to them. The…
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True Crime Blogs And Websites: Some Top Picks.
So, as you’re no doubt aware, I have an interest in true crime and I ted to cover the more unusual bits and pieces. If you’re interested in the subject generally then it’s hard to avoid the plethora of websites and blogs out there that deal with it, although the tone and style of some…
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Herbert Rowse Armstrong – A Poisonous Plymothian
Herbert Rowse Armstrong, the only British lawyer to be hanged for murder, Next up in a parade of deliberately-forgotten Plymouth folk is Major Herbert Rowse Armstrong. Retired Army Major, former MP for Plymouth, respectable small-town lawyer, embezzler, fraudster, repeat poisoner and one of Britain’s most notorious murderers. His case isn’t especially memorable in…