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[pilgrim1975]

On This Day in 1909 - The Santa Clara Valley bank robbery, the world's first using a getaway car.

On This Day in 1909 – The Santa Clara Valley Bank Robbery, the world’s first using a getaway car.

On This Day in 1909 - The Santa Clara Valley bank robbery, the world's first using a getaway car.

[pilgrim1975]

Eugene Boyer AKA 'Andre Baillard.' One of Papillon's more interesting fables.

Eugene Boyer, AKA ‘Andre Baillard.’ One of Papillon’s more interesting fables.

Eugene Boyer AKA 'Andre Baillard.' One of Papillon's more interesting fables.

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The Last Meal - What would you order..?

The Last Meal.

The Last Meal - What would you order..?

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On This Day in 1964 - Joseph Johnson, Jr. The night they drove Old Sparhy down.

On This Day in 1964 – Joseph Johnson, Jr., the night they drove Old Sparky down.

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On This Day in 1905 - Frank Rimieri, Adolph Koenig and Doctor Allan Mclane Hamilton, a dark day that cast a very long shadow...

Frank Rimieri, Adolph Koenig and Doctor Allan Mclane Hamilton – A dark day that cast a very long shadow…

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On This Day in 1952 - Lloyd Sampsell California's 'Yacht Bandit.'

Lloyd Sampsell, California’s ‘Yacht Bandit.’

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Punch drunk or premefitated? Probably a little of both

Del Fontaine - Middleweight champ and murderer.

[pilgrim1975]

Dwight Beard, a tale of two cities and (at least) two murders.

Dwight Beard, a tale of two cities and (at least) two murders.

Dwight Beard, a tale of two cities and (at least) two murders.

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22 July 1934 – The death of Dillinger and the Texas Death House escape.

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Not a new one, but an interesting tale nonetheless.

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On This Day in 1945 - Lena Baker suffers Jim Crow justice.

The case of Lena Baker, the only woman electrocuted in Georgia and, until Kelly Renee Gissendaler in 2015, the only woman executed there at all, is a prime example of Jim Crow justice. Granted, Baker was later issued a full, unconditional pardon (albeit decades too late), but she clearly should never have died in the first place. Born in Cuthbert, Georgia on June 8, 1901, Baker came into the…

[pilgrim1975]

Books, books, beautiful books.

[pilgrim1975]

Books, books, beautiful books.

[pilgrim1975]

Rainey Bethea - America’s Last Public Execution

Rainey Bethea probably isn’t an instantly familiar name, but he holds as unique a status in American crime as names like William Kemmler (the first man to be electrocuted) or Martha Place (Old Sparky’s first female victim). But his place in the annals of American crime is secured not by his being first, but last, the last American convict to suffer the indignity of a public execution. Born in…

Rainey Bethea - America’s Last Public Execution

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Spencer Perceval - England's only Prime Minister to be assassinated.

Assassination of important and powerful political figures is nothing new and neither is it particularly rare. Four American Presidents, Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Tsar Nicholas II’s entire family are a tiny percentage of public figures who died by the hand of an assassin. Assassination, either to advance a cause or settle personal grievance (real or imagined)…

Spencer Perceval - England's only Prime Minister to be assassinated.

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A matter of 'honour' - Englad's last duel to the death.

Duelling was once an accepted practice in both European and American society. When two gentlemen had a disagreement, ‘a matter of honor’ in the language of the time, they would agree to meet and fight with either swords or pistols according to a strictly-defined code of conduct. The ‘Code Duello’ rigidly defined the rules and etiquette for such occasions. After all, gentlemen were gentlemen and…

A matter of 'honour' - Englad's last duel to the death.

[pilgrim1975]

'Baby Face' Nelson - Public Enemy Number One

Meet Lester Joseph Gillis, AKA ‘George Nelson,’ AKA ‘Baby Face’ Nelson though never to his face. It was a nickname he personally hated and, considering his hair-trigger temper and extraordinary capacity for senseless violence, was one people seldom used. A career criminal and homicidal sadist, Nelson had inherited the dubious mantle of ‘Public Enemy Number One’ in 1934 after the death of sometime…

'Baby Face' Nelson - Public Enemy Number One