Crime & Craziness In The News -- Part One

With rioters burning police patrol cars in Atlanta, and a series of mass shootings taking place around the country, including some in California by shooters who do not meet the profile of mass shooters, there's a silly notion going around these days that says our world has never seen such craziness as we are today.

 
Well, read some of the following news clippings. The news clippings below may assure you that crime and insane acts of people have always been with us.

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QUARREL LEADS TO KILLING

New Era, Humeston, Iowa, March 17, 1887

In a quarrel in Lawrence County, Ky., on March 9th, Samuel Smith, aged sixteen years, shot and killed Stephen Hammond and his wife and wounded their two small children. 

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LYING IN WAIT

Perry Chief, Perry, Iowa, Friday, September 30, 1887

William Thompson concealed himself near the house of A. J. Thompson and shot three members of the family, one of them fatally. The murderer also shot a school teacher. His victims were his own cousins. He has not been captured.

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DEMENTED WOMAN'S DEED
Newark Daily Advocate, Newark, Ohio, May 8, 1891

She Puts Arsenic in the Coffee Pot and Poisons the Entire Family 

Catlettsburg, Ky., May 8. - Mrs. George Carter, who resides with her husband, made a deseprate but unsuccessful attempt to poison her entire family with arsenic Monday night. For some time the woman has been in a very despondent mood, and her friends fear she is insane.

On the day mentioned she placed a quantity of arsenic in the coffee pot. After the family had partaken of the evening meal, all became seriously ill; medical assistance was summoned, and the woman told what she had done, adding she wanted to die but did not wish to leave her husband and two children. One of the children is expected to die.

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LYNCHED FOR THEIR CRIME
New Oxford Item, New Oxford, PA, Friday, May 20, 1892

Two colored men, named Finkley and Smith, who killed a boy without provocation, were captured and lynched.

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INSULTS HAVE CONSEQUENCES
Landmark, Statesville, N.C., Thursday, June 9, 1892

N. H. Matofsky, a traveling occultist, and J. Will Harman, a Cincinnati drummer, charged with making insulting remarks on the street to women of Louisa, Ky., were placed on a raft last week by the citizens of the town and sent adrift down the Ohio river. They were rotten-egged before they started.

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MOTHER ARRESTED FOR KILLING HER CHILD

Daily Herald, Delphos, Ohio, Saturday, April 18, 1896

The body of an infant was found in a spring near Louisa, Ky., yesterday with a rock tied around its neck. The verdict of the coroner's jury was that it was killed and placed there by its mother, Orpha Stanley, a widow with nine other children, who came here three weeks ago from Johnson county. Mrs. Stanley is in jail.

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A SAD GOODBYE

Freeborn County Standard, Albert Lea, Minnesota, August 31, 1898

Mrs. Nancy Wellman, who died at her home at the age of 95 years, was the mother of 16 children, 11 of whom were married. She had 88 grandchildren, 192 great-grandchildren, and 31 great-great-grandchildren. She also raised nine orphan children.

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EX-SOLDIER SHOT
Marion Daily Star, Marion, OH, March 3, 1899

Harry Price, a young lawyer of Catlettsburg, fatally shot Jerry Moningham, this morning, while on the steamer, Argand, seven miles below here. Moningham was the member of the First Kentucky volunteers who shot his captain R. S. Carr, at Ashland last week.

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RENEWED AN OLD QUARREL

Sandusky Daily Star, Ohio, Monday, February 25, 1901

Dick Vinson shot and killed William Thompson. On meeting, they renewed an old quarrel and Vinson opened the firing.

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SLEW THE MARSHAL
Mansfield News, Mansfield, Ohio, April 10, 1902

At Fallsburg, in this county, Ralph Marcum, Marshal of Fallsburg, was shot and instantly killed by George Cooksey, whom he was trying to arrest for some minor offense. After Cooksey shot Marcum, he was wounded by a man named Edward Webb, but it is not known how serious his wounds are. Cooksey returned from the Philippines War recently.

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BYSTANDER MORTALLY WOUNDED

Washington Post, Tuesday, April 30, 1907

Huntington, W.VA., April 28.- George Washabaugh, of Mount Pleasant, Pa., was shot and mortally wounded in Central City, a suburb, late this afternoon, by Edward Adkins, of Louisa, Ky. Adkins was intoxicated, and in being ejected from a saloon opened fire with a pistol at random on a crowd of bystanders, shooting Washabaugh. Adkins was arrested.

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TO PREVENT MOB VIOLENCE
Decatur Daily Review, Decatur, Illinois, Monday, August 31, 1908

Kentuckian, Who Caused Death of Two, Spirited Away

John Sprouse was brought here yesterday from near Cherokee to escape violence. He is accused of having set fire to the residence of Charles Cooper on Saturday, resulting in the destruction of property and the lives of two of the Cooper children. Cooper's wife and two children were seriously burned. Sprouse and Cooper had been engaged in a lawsuit over lumber.

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ROBBER ARRESTED

Washington Post, Washington, DC, Friday, December 31, 1909

Sam Crabtree was arrested at Kenova yesterday and charged with waylaying, assaulting, and robbing Charles Skiba, general manager of the Charleston sheet steel works at Huntington Tuesday night.

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SAFE ESCORT FOR WITNESS
Washington Post, Washington, D.C., June 12, 1910

Court Fears For Constable Who Appeared Against Vinson Gang

Charleston, W. Va., June 11. - The jury in the Federal court in the case of the Vinson gang of mountaineers, charged with conspiracy to prevent Federal Officers from making arrests, reported a failure to agree. The jury was discharged until Monday when they will again be sent back to consider the case. 

Judge Keller detailed a deputy marshal to accompany Constable Rowland Salmons, who was a government witness, back to the State line for fear that friends of the Vinson might attack him.

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BRIDE DRINKS ACID

Altoona Mirror, Altoona, PA, August 8, 1918

Honeymoon of Three Weeks Ended by Pathetic Suicide

Circleville, Ohio, Aug. 28. - Mrs. Mary Burton, while her husband was in Columbus, took a dose of carbolic acid and her body was found in the morning. She had hung a white card on the front door and left a long letter, the contents of which has not been given out. Mrs. Burton was married three weeks ago and was homesick and had no money. 

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GUN BATTLE FATAL

Kingsport Times, Tennessee, Tuesday, June 14, 1921

Huntington, W. VA., June 14 - Millard Meeks was killed and his brother Garfield and Deputy Don Cheek were seriously wounded in a gun battle at White House, Ky, today during a circus performance. Three men were wounded slightly. The fight started when the deputy sheriff attempted to place Meeks brothers under arrest on charges of disturbing the peace.

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DOG FINDS CAN OF GOLD

Washington Post, Washington, D.C., February 26, 1910

Following Whining, Digging Dog, to Find Can with $482 in Gold

Huntington, W. Va., Feb. 25. - A can containing $482 in gold was found by boys on their way home from school across the river from Huntington, in Lawrence County, Ky. The boys saw a dog digging away and whining at a hole under a deserted log cabin. They went over and found an old tin canister. It was full of gold coins, which it is believed had been there for more than 25 years.

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