From the duel on Bloody Island to the "Missouri Miracle" kidnapping and recovery of Shawn Hornbeck, Missouri has seen its share of notorious crimes. It was home to the first western gunfight on the town square between Wild Bill Hickok and Dave Tutt. The three trials of the alleged murderer of Colonel Thomas Swope, the founder of Kansas City's Swope Park, enveloped the state. Residents also saw the killings within a few blocks of each other that inspired the songs "Stagger Lee" and "Frankie and Johnny." Vicki Berger Erwin and James W. Erwin explore crimes, criminals and victims from the violent history of the last two hundred years in the Show Me State.
"Missouri Innovators: Famous (and Infamous) Missourians Who Led the Way in Their Field presents over seventy-five exceptional Missourians who have made significant contributions from across many walks of life. They include ground breakers across many diverse fields including entertainment and the fine arts, education and literature, business and industry, science and technology, politics and the military, athletics, and more. Several of these innovators are famous and a few are less known, but all achieved greatness in some form" -- From Amazon.com.
Alcatraz Screw is a firsthand account from a prison guard’s perspective of some of the most storied years at the infamous U.S. Penitentiary at Alcatraz. George Gregory began his career as a guard for the Federal Bureau of Prisons in 1940. Following his training, he was sent to the federal prison at Sandstone, Minnesota. A few years later he enlisted in the Marine Corps. Badly wounded at Iwo Jima, he returned to Sandstone after a long rehabilitation. When the Bureau of Prisons closed Sandstone in 1947, Gregory was transferred to Alcatraz, which had been a federal penitentiary since 1934. For the next fifteen years, Gregory worked on “The Rock.” He takes the reader along on a correctional officer’s tour of duty, showing what it was like to pull a lonely, tedious night of sentry duty in the Road Tower, or witness illicit transactions in the clothing room, or forcibly quell a riot in the cell blocks. Gregory provides an insider’s account of the tenures of all four of Alcatraz’s wardens and their sometimes contradictory approaches to administering the institution. He knew and regularly interacted with such legendary inmates as Robert Stroud (the Birdman of Alcatraz) and George “Machine Gun” Kelly. Without glamorizing or demonizing either the staff or the convicts, Alcatraz Screw provides a candid portrayal of corruption, drug abuse, and sexual practices, as well as efforts at reform and unrecorded acts of kindness. Various incidents in the memoir convey the fear, hatred, frustration, boredom, and unavoidable tension of being incarcerated. With the inclusion of maps and diagrams of Alcatraz Island, as well as photographs of inmates, officers, and the prison itself, this book offers insight into life at the notorious Alcatraz from an unprecedented perspective.
Marauders like Jesse James and the Younger gang earned Missouri the title of "Outlaw State," but the male desperadoes had nothing on their female counterparts. Belle "Queen of the Bandits" Starr and Cora Hubbard kept Missouri's sensationalist newspapers and dime novelists in business with exploits ranging from horse thefts to bank heists. Missouri native Ma Barker and her murderous sons rose to infamy during the gangster era of the 1930s while Bonnie Parker crisscrossed the state with Clyde Barrow. From savvy burlesque dancers to deadly gold diggers, historian Larry Wood chronicles the titillating stories of ten of the Show-Me State's shadiest ladies.
Myths and Mysteries of Missouri dispels any notion that the Show Me State is a boring place harboring little unknown. Thirteen diverse chapters, each a story unto itself, probe dark secrets, unexplained phenomena, legendary individuals and actual events which leave people incredulous to this day. Much in this well-researched book has been largely forgotten, but the author's lively and amusing style will awaken curiosity in lifelong residents and armchair visitors alike
Madams of brothels, houses of gambling, rampant government corruption—all these were found in a late 1800s Mormon community. This is the fascinating, well-researched, true history of Two-Bit Street—a street that became known throughout the world for its ladies of the evening and saloons that never closed. The American West’s wildest poured into this small Utah town after it was chosen to be the Junction City for the newly constructed 1869 transcontinental railroad. A history that spans three quarters of a century, this book shows how a pious people can be overpowered by an uncontrollable malignancy of lust. At times inspiring, this book also unveils the struggle between deep corruption and those who wanted this corruption to be destroyed. Infamous Twenty-Fifth Street in Ogden has been named as one of the ten great streets in America because of its past notoriety and its complete contiguous turn-of-the-century commercial architecture which remains as a witness of that colorful past. Lyle J. Barnes is the street’s original historian, and many other authors have quoted his history of Twenty-Fifth Street. With the fine additional research and writing done by Jean Barnes, this second edition makes Lyle’s best-selling history better than ever.
"The history of Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis is told through the stories of those who are buried there. Cemetery records and interviews with insiders inform the research"--Provided by publisher.
Many people know Nashville for the bright lights and nonstop music, but it also has a history that doesn't make it into the guidebooks. The first public hanging in the city took place in 1802 when Henry Beeler and Samuel Carman were executed for horse theft and larceny. The Briley and Bates families held a deadly feud in Cane Ridge near the turn of the century. Frank and Jesse James returned to Tennessee in the summer of 1877 to lay low after a botched bank robbery. Author Brian Allison recounts these and more stories of infamous crimes and criminals in Nashville.
