histories

Murder Under the Crab Apple Tree By Damon Runyon
When a friend of mine started pitching Hall-Mills murder to me as a potential episode, I was immediately enthralled by the tale of an Episcopalian rector and his tragic affair with the choir singer, but when he told me the case hinged on the eyewitness testimony of “the pig woman,” I knew this was a story for True Crime Historian. 
But it gets even better. I started looking into it and discovered that the famed sportswriter Damon Runyon covered the trial with the same breezy prose he used in the short stories he wrote that inspired the musical “Guys and Dolls,” with daily dispatches drawing vivid word pictures of the trial and its participants. I felt it worthy of in depth exploration, so we’ll be doing a six episode series released on consecutive Sundays to hear all about the case and its cast of characters as told by one of America’s premier storytellers, who turns out to also be a Pioneer of True Crime. 

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Panic at the Italian Hall
This episode comes from the request of a listener in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan who wanted to know more about the panic disaster that took place at the Calumet Italian Hall in 1913. 
We just took nice camping trip to the Keneewah Peninsula, Michigan's upper Upper Peninsula. You'd be hard pressed to find a more beautiful place in the world. The weather was sublime and Lake Superior is one of my favorite bodies of water--crystal clear, unsalted and shark-free. My girlfriend wants to move up there, at least for the summers, and I'm not opposed.
While we were there, we took the time to stop at Calumet and visited the memorial to the the Italian Hall. I'm usually a pretty cynical person, but I was truly moved to tears thinking about how horrible a person it took to instigate this tragedy, especially when most of the victims were little children. I took some pictures of the memorial and that evening, dug Episode 67 out of the vault, made a few edits, enhanced some of the audio, and while listening to it, found myself with the sniffles all over again. 
It’s a sad story, folks, but I think it’s an important one to remember because it’s all about what happens when we lose our civility. 
Theme music by Dave Sams Some incidental music via musopen.org Creative Commons license 

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AN EYE FOR AN EYE-
A special edition of Yesterday’s News exploring the criminal justice system at its most extreme: Inflicting the Death Penalty.
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This episode comes at the request of a faithful listener in Cincinnati who wanted to hear more about Anna Marie Hahn, the first woman to be executed in Ohio's electric chair.
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Although ‘Arsenic Annie’ had stoically proclaimed her innocence right up until her dying day, Anna Marie Hahn left a handwritten 20-page confession in her death row cell on December 7, 1938, when they led her to Ohio’s electric chair, literally kicking and screaming.
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In the letter, she not only takes responsibility for six murders, she denies other poisoning attempts and goes into details about her life and how she began her series what the governor called cold-blooded and horrifying crimes when he made the final decision to take her to the chair.
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The letter is such a remarkable and revealing self-portrait, more entertaining than her pathetic execution, that I gave it to a professional actress, my friend and colleague Emily Simer Braun, to help bring out some of the nuances in this rare insight into the mind of a mass murderer.
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Music by Dave Sams
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www.truecrimehistorian.com/1938hahn

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THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES A special edition of Yesterday’s News focusing on the notorious scoundrels of the Prohibition and Depression eras.
The Final Chapter of the Dillinger Saga
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The first volume of this this series has been devoted to the exploration of newspaper accounts of the trail of terror blazed by one of America’s most famous, dare I say most beloved, gangsters, John Dillinger.
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From the time he was paroled from the Michigan City prison in May, 1933, to the time he was gunned down by police on a Chicago sidewalk 14 months later, John Herbert Dillinger was one of America’s most notorious scoundrels.
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In previous chapters, we read the newspaper accounts of the escape of ten convicts from the Indiana penitentiary at Michigan City and the bloody delivery of Dillinger from the Lima, Ohio, jail; how Dillinger and his new gang blazed a trail of terror across the Midwest until he was captured in Tuscon, his second daring escape using a gun he made from broomstick, and his continuing reign of terror. Last month, we heard about one more narrow escape from the clutches of the law and one final bank robbery.
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The narration for this episode was recorded on the main stage of the Biograph Theatre in Chicago, where Dillinger saw his last film just minutes before meeting his fate on the sidewalks of the Windy City. It was a movie theater then, and Dillinger, his hair dyed black, came here with two women to see Clark Gable in “Manhattan Melodrama,” and on the way out… Well, listen to this episode to see how it all shakes out.
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Music by Chuck Wiggins
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www.truecrimehistorian.com/1934dillingers0106

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YESTERDAY'S NEWSA reading from America's historic newspapers in the golden age of yellow journalism.
Luke Brannon Thwarts a Lynching
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The Classic Village of Oxford, Ohio, got so riled up over a shooting in a local saloon, that they bust open the jails and drag the culprits to the local hanging tree. The tree had been  used once before, and if you go to my archives, you can hear about that tale in the episode two, "An Outrageous Murder in Oxford," in which the town got so outraged over the apparent murder of one of the town matrons that they hung a dead man. A decade later, another Oxford mob attempts another lynching, but it doesn’t really go any better for them, not when brave Deputy Luke Brannon swoops in just in the nick of time.
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Music by Chuck Wiggins

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THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES 1.5A special edition of Yesterday's News focusing on the notorious scoundrels of the Prohibition and Depression eras.
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We're beginning this series with newspaper accounts of the trail of terror blazed by one of America's most famous, dare I say most beloved, gangsters, John Dillinger.
-
From the time he was paroled from the Michigan City prison in May, 1933, to the time he was gunned down by police on a Chicago sidewalk 14 months later, John Herbert Dillinger was one of America's most notorious scoundrels.
-
In previous chapters, we read the newspaper accounts of the escape of ten convicts from the Indiana penitentiary at Michigan City and the bloody delivery of Dillinger from the Lima, Ohio, jail; how Dillinger and his new gang blazed a trail of terror across the Midwest until he was captured in Tuscon, his second daring escape using a gun he made from broomstick, and his continuing reign of terror. In this chapter, we’ll hear about one more narrow escape from the clutches of the law and one final bank robbery.
I’m pleased to announce that on Sunday, May 8, I will be recording the final chapter of the Dillinger saga from the main stage of the Biograph Theatre in Chicago, where Dillinger saw his last film just minutes before meeting his fate on the sidewalks of the Windy City. Please visit my website, www.truecrimehistorian.com, for updates on that event.
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Musical Direction by Chuck Wiggins

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TRUE CRIME STORY TIMEThe Sad Tale of Anna May Gamble Knapp
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Around the jails and the Indiana and Ohio neighborhoods where he lived, Alfred Knapp carried the nickname “Looney” Knapp for his bizarre, often childish behavior. He spent half of his adult life in prison for petty larcenies and attacks upon young women. When he was released from the Michigan City Penitentiary in the summer of 1902, he joined his third wife, Hannah, in her hometown of Hamilton, Ohio. Three days before Christmas that year, Knapp strangled his wife in the early morning hours and put her body in a box and put the box in the Great Miami River, then told everyone that Hannah had left him. Some in his family became suspicious, and when he remarried two months later, they had him arrested for bigamy. Alfred Knapp then not only confessed to killing his wife, but four other women in Cincinnati and Indianapolis, including his second wife. Consequently, “The Strangler Knapp” became a Midwest sensation and dozens of newspapers sent reporters to cover the case.
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One of the many things that makes the Knapp case a remarkable story worth telling is the intense family and courtroom drama that was chronicled in the extensive press coverage. One of the most colorful real-life characters in this tale is the young, simple-minded fourth wife, from whose bed he was arrested for bigamy at four in the morning. So I want to tell you her story in a series of excerpts from my latest book, The First Celebrity Serial Killer: Confessions of the Strangler Alfred Knapp.
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I invite you to visit my website, www.truecrimehistorian.com, for source information and instructions on how you can buy an inscribed edition of “The First Celebrity Serial Killer.”

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TRUE CRIME STORY TIMEThe Saga of the Scoundrel Thomas McGehan
A true crime short story by Richard O Jones
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On Christmas eve, 1870, three men attack a local politician with boulders and slungshots, and at least a dozen men scramble for the door while five shots pepper the faro room at the American Saloon in Hamilton, Ohio. One of bullets kills the politician, Thomas Myers, but in their haste, none of the gamblers see who fired the gun. The blame falls on the leader of the gang of thugs who attacked Myers, his political rival Thomas McGehan. At his trial the famed former Congressman, exiled Copperhead and gubernatorial candidate Clem Vallandigham, who literally gives his life to McGehan’s defense.
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For a complete list of sources for this podcast, please visit www.truecrimehistorian.com, where you can also find newspaper clippings and drawings from this case, including a diagram of the layout of the American saloon, as well as more stories about the scandals, scoundrels and scourges of America’s past, along with information about my true crime books and my Two-Dollar Terror series of historical crime novellas.
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Music by Chuck Wiggins

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THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES 1.4-
The Gangster Chronicles is a special edition of Yesterday's News focusing on the notorious scoundrels of the Prohibition and Depression eras.
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We're beginning this series with newspaper accounts of the trail of terror blazed by one of America's most famous, dare I say most beloved, gangsters, John Dillinger.
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From the time he was paroled from the Michigan City prison in May, 1933, to the time he was gunned down by police on a Chicago sidewalk 14 months later, John Herbert Dillinger was one of America's most notorious scoundrels.
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In chapter one, we looked at the escape of ten convicts from the Indiana penitentiary at Michigan City and the bloody delivery of Dillinger from the Lima, Ohio. In Chapter Two, Dillinger and his new gang blazed a trail of terror across the Midwest. In chapter three, Dillinger gets quietly captured in Tuscon, but makes another daring escape, this time, using a gun he made from broomstick.
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With Dillinger again in the wind, state and now federal police launch a desperate manhunt while the gangster continues his trail of terror.
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For source information and clips related to this installment of the Gangster Chronicles, visit www.truecrimehistorian.com, where you can also find additional stories about the scandals, scoundrels and scourges of America's past, as well as information about my books and my TwoDollar Terror series of true crime novellas.
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And come back here next month for Chapter 5 in the Dillinger saga when the notorious scoundrel once more narrowly escape arrest in a deadly police raid at Little Bohemia.Lodge in Wisconsin.
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Musical direction by Chuck Wiggins.

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THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES 1.3Yesterday's News
A reading from America's historic newspapers
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From the time he was paroled from the Michigan City prison in May, 1933, to the time he was gunned down by police on a Chicago sidewalk 14 months later, John Herbert Dillinger was one of America's most notorious scoundrels.
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In chapter one, we looked at the escape of ten convicts from the Indiana penitentiary at Michigan City and the subsequent delivery of Dillinger from the Lima, Ohio, jail that led to the death of Sheriff Jesse Sarber. In Chapter Two, Dillinger and his new gang blazed a trail of terror across the Midwest.
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Now, the wanted desperados have made their way to Tuscon, Arizona, to escape the heat of Chicago, but a hotel fire spells the beginning of the end for most of the outlaw gang.
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Musical direction by Chuck Wiggins.
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Produced by Richard O Jones

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THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES 1.2A reading from America’s historic newspapers from the golden age of yellow journalism
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Law enforcement officials and fellow bandits alike lose their lives in the hunt for the desperate criminals who escaped from the Michigan City prison and murdered a sheriff in getting John Dillinger out of jail. In the meantime, Dillinger and his companions continue their spree of mayhem across the Mid [...]

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THE GANGSTER CHRONICLES 1.1Yesterday's News
A Reading from America’s Historic Newspapers
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In this first volume of "The Gangster Chronicles," we will follow the trail of terror blazed by one of America's most famous, perhaps most beloved, gangsters, John Dillinger. From the time he was paroled from the Michigan City prison in May, 1933, to the time he was gunned down by police on a Chicago sidewalk in front of the Biograph Theater 14 months later, John Herbert Dillinger was one of America's most notorious scoundrels. Chapter One will detail some of Dillinger's earliest known robberies and his murderous escape from the Lima jail. We plan to tell the Dillinger saga in five chapters. After this first one, you can expect a new installment at 7 p.m. on the first Sunday of the month. We're considering the options for Volume 2 and are welcome to suggestions. Please email us at truecrimehistorian@outlook.com with your thoughts.
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Music by Audionautix. Theme song by Josh Woodward.

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Here, Eastside Community Heritage explore the archives about Jewish festivals in honour of Jewish New Year.

Charley leads Cat, Jilly, Hazel and Laura on a trip down memory lane, as they discuss the children's entertainment franchise Horrible Histories.

This Podcast takes a look at some of the stories behind Eastside's up coming Great War exhibition. It looks at the effects of the warfare on some of the soldiers and their families.

This episode focuses on the culture of Queens Market, a vibrant part of the Upton Park community where thousands of people come to shop and mingle every day since 1904. In this podcast, we feature four voices from the Queens Market community, discussing the role of the market in the community as a whole.

At this time of the year, Eastside Community Heritage are thinking about the festive season- we hear all about Angel Lane market and dancing at the Ilford Palais...

Barking Park Peoples Stories and Memories Of The Park and Swimming Pool

The Olympics of 2012 are reflected on by East Londoners who participated; coaches, athletes, families, and announcers. To find out more about Eastside Community Heritage, visit www.hidden-histories.org.uk