Births

Stephen D. Richards

1856 – Stephen D. Richards – also known as Samuel D. Richards, was an American serial killer who confessed to committing a total of nine murders in Nebraska and Iowa between 1876 and 1878. He was born on March 18, 1856, in Wheeling, Virginia, U.S., and died on April 26, 1879, in Minden, Nebraska, U.S. He was also known in the media as The Nebraska Fiend, Kearney County Murderer, and The Ohio Monster.  Richards was born in West Virginia (then part of Virginia) in 1856. His family later moved to Ohio, eventually settling in the Quaker village of Mount Pleasant. In 1876, Richards left his home and headed westward intending to seek his fortune. For a time, he found work at a local asylum; he claimed that during his time there, he lost all empathy for other people. When Richards later confessed to his crimes, he claimed to have committed his first murder sometime in late 1876, two weeks after arriving in Kearney, Nebraska. He went on to commit several other murders, which he later claimed were done in self-defense.  Richards fled after murdering Mary L. Harlson and her three children but was captured in Mount Pleasant. In 1879, he was convicted of the murders of the Harlson family, as well as the killing of neighbor Peter Anderson, and hanged. Richards was regarded as handsome and charismatic by some contemporary chroniclers, who described his appearance and behavior as completely obscuring his nature as a cold-blooded killer. Many observed that he displayed a complete lack of remorse for his crimes and indifference toward his execution. Modern-day forensic psychologist Katherine Ramsland has written that these characteristics were also displayed by serial killer Ted Bundy, and she has referred to Richards as The Old West’s Ted Bundy. The nature of Richards’ crimes and his behavior after his capture led to a brief period of notoriety, as Richards was widely talked about in the media at the time. Richards has been featured in a handful of books and periodicals, including a posthumous biography, based on an interview conducted after his final arrest. The biography, which also included entries on other criminals of the time, was published in 1879 by the Nebraska State Journal. In modern times he is known as Nebraska’s first documented serial killer in Nebraska and the first person to be executed by the state.

1866 – Albert Edward Horsley – also known by the pseudonym Harry Orchard, was born on March 18, 1866, in Northumberland County, Ontario, Canada. He was one of eight children in a poor farm family of English and Irish parentage. Albert was only able to attend formal school through the third grade, helping to support the family by working as soon as he was able.  At the age of 22, Horsley left home to work as a logger in Saginaw, Michigan. He returned to Canada and married around 1889. The Horsleys spent some time as cheesemakers, both independently and in the employ of others. His wife gave birth to a daughter, removing her from their cheese factory, while Albert later recalled that he “lived away beyond my means, and was some in debt, and my credit was not so good.”  Seeking to run away with another woman, Horsley burned his cheese factory and collected the insurance money, thereby settling his debts. Horsley abandoned his family and, together with his girlfriend, headed west to Pilot Bay, about twenty miles from Nelson, British Columbia. The pair spent three months together there before they split up and went their separate ways, with Horsley landing in Spokane, Washington.  In April 1897, Horsley was employed to drive a milk wagon to the mining communities around Wallace, Idaho. He worked steadily through 1897, saving his money so that he was able to invest $500 for a 1/16 share of the Hercules silver mine near the town of Burke towards the end of the year. Horsley then quit his milk route and moved to Burke, borrowing money to buy a wood and coal business there. In the spring of 1898, Horsley had to sell his share of the Hercules mine to pay the debts he had incurred, also taking a partner into his business to raise funds.  Horsley is best known for his conviction in the 1905 political assassination of former Idaho Governor Frank Steunenberg. This case was one of the most sensational and widely reported of the first decade of the 20th century, involving three prominent leaders of the radical Western Federation of Miners as co-defendants in an alleged conspiracy to commit murder. Horsley was sentenced to death, but his sentence was later commuted to life imprisonment. He passed away on April 13, 1954, in the Old Idaho State Penitentiary, Boise, Idaho, U.S.

1874 – Henry Lee Moore – was an American forger, murderer, and suspected serial killer. He was born in Boone County, Missouri, United States. Moore lived on the outskirts of Columbia with his mother and grandmother, but worked as a blacksmith’s helper at various car shops in Moberly, along the Wabash Railroad.  Moore was convicted of killing his mother and grandmother with an axe in their home. He had a morbid habit of visiting various morgues in St. Louis to look at the bodies. He also collected newspaper scraps from infamous criminal cases.  In May 1910, he was arrested in Wichita, Kansas for forgery. He was convicted and sentenced to a year of imprisonment in the Hutchinson Reformatory, receiving his parole in May 1911.  Sometime after his release, Moore began corresponding with a 16-year-old Columbia girl named Queenie Nichols, eventually professing his love for her. However, Nichols rejected him because he had no home of his own. In response to this, he wrote a letter to her that soon his mother’s home would be his, along with all the money in there.  On the night of December 17, 1912, he snuck into the house carrying a rusty axe with a broken handle which was normally used for handling coal. He crept up behind his 63-year-old mother Georgia, who was sitting in a chair and rubbing herself with an ointment for her joints, and began hitting her on the neck and head. After killing her, Henry moved on to the bedroom, where his 82-year-old grandmother Mary Wilson was sleeping. Using this as an advantage, he struck her with the axe on the neck and head, killing Wilson before she could make a move to defend herself.  While in prison, it was alleged by a Justice Department agent named W. M. McClaughry that Moore was possibly responsible for a string of unsolved axe murders in several states, among them being the Villisca axe Murders. His criminal penalty was life imprisonment; however, it was commuted and he was released in 1949. He passed away in 1956 in Missouri, United States.

1935 – William Darrell Lindsey – was an American rapist and serial killer, notorious for his heinous crimes during the mid-20th century. Born in the United States, Lindsey earned the chilling nicknames “Red Bird” and “Crazy Bill” as a result of his brutal acts.  Lindsey confessed to seven sickening rapes and murders, but law enforcement suspected his involvement in up to 20 killings. His criminal activities unfolded in a dark era of true crime, leaving communities terrorized and authorities grappling with the extent of his brutality.  Despite the gravity of his crimes, Lindsey’s exact date of death remains unknown, shrouding the conclusion of his mystery life. His legacy stands as a haunting reminder of the depths of criminal depravity and the challenges faced by law enforcement in the pursuit of justice.

1952 – David Fine – is an American anti-Vietnam War radical. He was one of the four perpetrators of the Sterling Hall bombing on the campus of the University of Wisconsin–Madison on August 24, 1970. This act was a political protest against the University’s research efforts on behalf of the U.S. military. The bomb destroyed the building, killing one person and injuring three others.  Fine was born in Wilmington, Delaware, and was the second of two children in a middle-class family. He attended the Wilmington Friends School, a private Quaker-run school. He enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the fall of 1969 on a full academic scholarship. At the university, he was a reporter and editor for the student newspaper, The Daily Cardinal, and earned a 3.75 grade point index in his freshman year—the only year he was in attendance.  In response to the Kent State shootings on May 4, 1970, in which four protesters were shot and killed by the Ohio National Guard, Fine, along with brothers Karleton and Dwight Armstrong and Leo Burt, conceived of an attack on the Army Mathematics Research Center at the University of Wisconsin, which had been a frequent site of antiwar protests. At age 18, Fine was the youngest of the four. Karleton made a bomb out of dynamite, 100 US gallons of fuel oil, and 1,700 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer. The bomb was placed in a stolen van left next to Sterling Hall, a building that housed the Army Mathematics Research Center, as well as the university’s physics department. The bombers claim to have lit the fuse after checking the windows of Sterling Hall and seeing no activity, assuming that the building was empty. The bomb detonated at 3:42 AM on August 24, 1970, killing Robert Fassnacht, a physics post-doctoral researcher who was working late, injuring three others, and causing millions of dollars in damage to the building. When they heard a news report on their car radio that someone had been killed by the explosion, all four went on the run and were placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted List.  Fine spent five and a half years as a fugitive after the incident. He was eventually captured in San Rafael, California on January 7, 1976. After the arrest, his former University of Wisconsin roommate Rod Beaton formed a fundraising committee to assist with the legal defense for Fine. Fine was paroled after three years. His convictions included conspiracy, unlawful flight to avoid prosecution, and third-degree murder. The penalties for these crimes were seven years each, all served concurrently.

1956 – Deborah Jeane Palfrey – She operated Pamela Martin and Associates, an escort agency in Washington, D.C. Palfrey maintained that the company’s services were legal.  She spent her early life in the Pittsburgh area town of Charleroi, Pennsylvania, but spent her teens in Orlando, Florida. Her father was a grocer. She graduated from Rollins College with a degree in criminal justice and completed a nine-month legal course at the Thomas Jefferson School of Law. Working as a paralegal in San Diego, California, she became involved in the escort business. Dismayed at how most services were run, including widespread drug abuse, she started her own company, recruiting mostly women over 25.  In 1990, she was arrested on charges of pimping, pandering, and extortion; after fleeing to Montana she was captured while trying to cross the Canada–US border and brought back for trial. Following her conviction in 1992, she spent 18 months in prison. After her release, she founded Pamela Martin and Associates.  In June 2004, the United States Postal Inspection Service and Internal Revenue Service began an investigation into an illegal prostitution business being run in Washington, D.C. During the investigation, Palfrey was identified as the operator of the prostitution ring. In October 2006, United States Postal Inspection Service agents posed as a couple who were interested in buying Palfrey’s home as a means of accessing her property without a warrant. Agents subsequently froze bank accounts worth over US$500,000, seizing papers relating to money laundering and prostitution charges.  On April 15, 2008, she was convicted of racketeering, using the mail for illegal purposes, and money laundering. Slightly over two weeks later, facing a prison sentence of five or six years, she was found hanged. Autopsy results and the final police investigative report concluded that her death was a suicide.

1960 – Terrance Anthony James – He was involved in a notorious crime that took place on February 6, 1983, in Muskogee County, Oklahoma, USA. At the time, James was in jail awaiting trial for Theft of Government Property. He became convinced that Mark Allen Berry, another inmate, was a “snitch.”  James, along with accomplices Dennis Brown and Sammy Van Woudenberg, strangled Berry with a wire, then hung him to make it appear as a suicide. Brown received a 35-year sentence, and Van Woudenberg was sentenced to death for aiding in the strangulation.  On May 22, 2001, James was executed for his role in the murder. His execution took place in Oklahoma when he was 41 years old. The murder he committed more than 18 years ago had a significant impact, and the case is often referenced in discussions about crime and justice.

Deaths

Paul Warner Powell

1902 – Richard Wigley – a slaughterman by profession, was a man of complex and tragic history. Born in the late 19th century, he was married but had separated from his wife. Around 1898 or 1899, he met Eliza Mary Bowen and began a relationship with her.  In June 1900, Eliza moved to live at a certain man’s home and started to become very close with Richard. Sometime later, Richard procured lodgings in Shrewsbury for Eliza, stating that it was so she could mend her clothes and get her things in order before moving on to another situation. Richard was a frequent visitor during the time Eliza was in the lodgings.  On August 12, 1901, Eliza moved back to the Red Lion Inn at Westbury and later tried to end the affair. This led to a tragic event on November 30, 1901, when Richard walked into The Lion Inn public house where Eliza worked and cut her throat with a butcher’s knife. He had lived ten miles away in Shrewsbury and it was heard that he had got up early and walked the ten miles to kill her.  After the murder, Richard was quoted as saying, “I’ve done it, lads, for love”. When he was arrested by the police he said, “I have killed that little woman. It’s all for love. I loved her and nobody else shall have her”. His mental condition was reported to be normal at the time of his arrest. Richard Wigley was convicted of the murder of his girlfriend Eliza Mary Bowen and sentenced to death. He was executed by hanging within the walls of HMP Shrewsbury on Tuesday, March 18, 1902.

1902 – Harold Apted – was a 20-year-old male who lived in Southborough, Tonbridge. He was convicted of the murder of Frances O’Rourke, a 7-year-old girl, and was sentenced to death. The crime took place in Southborough, Tonbridge, and Apted was executed on March 18, 1902, at Maidstone. The method of execution was hanging, carried out by the executioner William Billington.  Frances O’Rourke had been sent on an errand to pick up a parcel by her parents. She was later seen getting into a four-wheel horse-drawn van driven by Apted. When Frances failed to return home, a search was made, and she was found the next day, partially clothed with her clothes piled up nearby in a field. An attempt had been made to rape her, and she had been stabbed behind the ear with a two-bladed pocket knife with a yellowed handle.  Apted denied the murder, but blood was found on his shirt and jacket, and his van had recently been scrubbed, although not all the blood had been removed. The police also traced the knife to a man who said he had lent it to Apted sometime before. The knife had blood stains on it and human hair. A 12-year-old boy said that he had seen Apted borrow the knife and had also seen him kill rabbits with it, stabbing the rabbits by the side of their necks. Apted claimed that he had lost the knife some months before. Despite a recommendation to mercy on the score of youth and a largely signed petition for a reprieve, Apted was hanged. His case remains a dark chapter in Tonbridge’s history.

1932 – Harry F. Powers – born Harm Drenth on November 17, 1893, in Beerta, the Netherlands, was a Dutch-born American serial killer. He immigrated to the United States in 1910, initially residing in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, before moving to West Virginia in 1926. In 1927, he married Luella Strother, an owner of a farm and grocery store, after responding to her Lonely Hearts advertisement.  Despite being married, Powers continued to take out his own Lonely Hearts advertisements, attracting many women. He constructed a garage and basement at his home in Quiet Dell, which was later discovered to be the scene of the murders for which he was convicted.  Under the alias “Cornelius Orvin Pierson,” Powers began writing letters to Asta Eicher, a widowed mother of three residing in Park Ridge, Illinois. He visited Eicher and her children and soon left with Eicher for several days. When he returned, he picked up the children to supposedly join him and their mother. However, it was later discovered that Powers had murdered Eicher and her children for their money.  Powers was known for luring his victims through “lonely hearts” advertisements, claiming he was looking for love, but ultimately murdering them for their money. He was convicted of first-degree murder and was executed by hanging on March 18, 1932, at the West Virginia State Penitentiary in Moundsville, West Virginia.  His crimes inspired Davis Grubb’s 1953 novel “The Night of the Hunter” and its subsequent film and TV adaptations, with the character Preacher Harry Powell being inspired by Powers. The character Preacher was played by Robert Mitchum in the 1955 film and by Richard Chamberlain in the 1991 TV movie. Jayne Anne Phillips’s novel “Quiet Dell” (2013) also examined the Powers case.

1938 – Lester Brockelhurst – also known as “The Crime Tourist,” was an American spree killer and serial killer born in 1914 in Galesburg, Illinois. He, along with his girlfriend Bernice Felton, was responsible for the murder of at least three men during a six-week crime spree across multiple states in 1937.  Brockelhurst was the first son of a Mormon couple, Lester Warfel Brockelhurst, Sr., and his wife Edyth (née DuPree). After graduating from school, he worked as a teacher at a Sunday school in Galesburg. In 1935, he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery in Chicago, serving a two-year prison term at the Joliet Penitentiary. He was paroled in 1937 and went to Rockford, where he met 18-year-old Bernice Felton, also from Galesburg. The two quickly fell in love, and on March 31 of that year, embarked on an 18-state-wide crime spree.  Their victims included a local tailor named John Albin Theander, tavern owner Jack Griffith, and wealthy landowner Victor A. Gates. After their crime spree, which included about 40 robberies and hold-ups, Brockelhurst and Felton were apprehended on May 13, 1937. Found guilty of the final murder, Brockelhurst was executed at the Tucker Unit in Tucker, Arkansas, on March 18, 1938.

1976 – Guiseppe Genco Russo – also known as “Zi Peppi Jencu”, was born on January 26, 1893, in Mussomeli, Sicily. He was of very humble origin, with his father being a simple peasant. In his youth, he was forced to work as a goatherd on the large Polizzello estate owned by the noble Lanza Branciforti family. He started his criminal career as a juvenile highway robber, rustling cattle and sheep. Through a career of violence stretching from the 1920s to the 1940s, he established his position as a mafioso, a so-called “man of honor.”  From 1918–1922, Genco Russo served in the military, leaving a record of “rebellious behavior and impatience to discipline.” In a 1927 report by the police chief of Caltanissetta, he was described as “a mafioso that acquired a respectable financial position out of nothing” and in the countryside, people feared him. In 1929 he married a local girl and four years later his first son Vincenzo was born. The best man at the baptism was fellow mafioso Calogero Vizzini who would also be the witness at the marriage of Vincenzo in 1950 together with Rosario Lanza, the president of the Sicilian regional assembly. Genco Russo was an uncouth, sly, semi-literate thug with excellent political connections. A vulgar man – he used to spit on the floor no matter who was present – he was often photographed with bishops, bankers, civil servants, and politicians. As such he was considered to be the arbiter of Mafia politics, and was regarded as the successor of Calogero Vizzini, who had died in 1954. Although by then a wealthy landowner and politician (as a member of Democrazia Cristiana) he still kept his mule in the house and the toilet outside, which was little more than a hole in the ground with a stone for a seat and no walls or door, according to Mafia turncoat Tommaso Buscetta.  Traditional mafiosi, like Genco Russo and Calogero Vizzini, Mafia bosses in the years between the two world wars until the 1950s and 1960s, were the archetypes of the “man of honor” of a bygone age, as a social intermediary and a man standing for order and peace. Although they used violence to establish their position in the first phase of their careers, in the second stage they limited recourse to violence, turned to primarily legal sources of gain, exercised their power openly and legitimately, and became “men of order”.  Genco Russo passed away on March 18, 1976, in Mussomeli, Italy.

1993 – Syvasky Lafayette Poyner – was born on April 7, 1956, in Newport News, Virginia. He lived on the East End with his mother, a very religious woman who often kept him inside their 19th Street apartment. Poyner would not meet his father, William E. Johnson, until he was called to testify at his murder trial. From the age of 14, Poyner was in and out of detention centers and jails for stealing. In 1974, Poyner was evaluated by a psychiatrist after an arrest for auto theft. The doctor concluded that Poyner, then 17, suffered from “difficulty in social relations, feelings of insecurity, and dissatisfaction with his abilities.”  As an adult, Poyner committed crimes dating back to 1976. He served nearly three years in prison on 1981 forgery and burglary charges and faced multiple auto theft charges. He was married to a nurse at one point but later divorced.  On January 23, 1984, Poyner killed Joyce Baldwin, a 45-year-old proprietor of a beauty salon in Hampton, Virginia. She was found dead behind the counter in her shop, shot once in the left side of her head. Poyner had shot her as she pleaded for her life. A week later, in Williamsburg, Poyner killed Clara Louise Paulett, a motel manager, as well as her maid, 43-year-old Chestine Brooks, during a hold-up. On January 31, in Newport News, Poyner robbed and killed 17-year-old Vicki Ripple, an ice cream parlor clerk. Two days later, Poyner raped, robbed, and murdered Carolyn Hedrick, a candy bar saleswoman.  Poyner was arrested on February 4, 1984. He was caught after trying to sell candy bars he had stolen from Hedrick to a local barber. The barber, who had heard that Hedrick was a candy bar saleswoman, called the police.  Syvasky Lafayette Poyner was an American spree killer who killed four women and a teenage girl during a series of armed robberies in Hampton, Virginia in 1984. Convicted of multiple counts of capital murder and condemned to death, Poyner was executed on March 18, 1993.

2003 – Walanzo Deon Robinson – Robinson was a member of the Van-Ness Gangster Bloods, a violent street gang that dealt in crack cocaine, after an argument with 26-year-old Dennis Hill over drug sales and turf, Robinson shot Hill who was running away, he then chased and shot him several more times, killing him

2003 – Louis Jones Jr – was born on March 4, 1950, in Shelby County, Tennessee, U.S. He served as a soldier in the U.S. Army and was a veteran of the Gulf War.  On February 18, 1995, Jones, then 44 years old, drove onto Goodfellow Air Force Base in San Angelo, Texas, and kidnapped Private Tracie Joy McBride, a 19-year-old from Centerville, Minnesota. Jones took McBride to his house, raped her, and held her in a closet. He then drove McBride to a remote area and beat her to death with a tire iron.  Jones was tried and convicted in the U.S. federal court system for kidnapping resulting in death. The crime was a federal case since it started on a military base, and rape was the prime aspect of the murder which made it a capital offense. Jones, who was sentenced to death, argued that he should be spared execution due to the traumatic effects of Gulf War syndrome. His appeals were unsuccessful and he was executed by lethal injection in 2003.

2010 – Paul Warner Powell – is an American criminal who gained notoriety for his involvement in a heinous crime that shocked the nation. Born on September 23, 1978, Powell’s name became synonymous with brutality due to his actions in a case that unfolded in 1999.  Powell’s most infamous crime took place in Virginia, where he attacked and murdered 16-year-old Stacie Reed. On January 29, 1999, Powell broke into the Reed family home in Manassas, intending to sexually assault Stacie. He brutally assaulted her and her younger sister, Kristie, who miraculously survived the attack. Stacie, however, succumbed to her injuries.  Following the crime, Powell was apprehended and charged with capital murder, rape, and abduction. During the trial, Powell opted to represent himself, an unusual decision given the severity of the charges. His behavior in court was erratic and often disruptive. The prosecution presented compelling evidence, including DNA linking Powell to the crime scene.  In 2000, Powell was convicted of capital murder and sentenced to death. However, his legal battles did not end there. Powell’s case went through multiple appeals and reviews, and at times, his execution was stayed. Throughout the process, he maintained his innocence and engaged in various legal maneuvers in an attempt to overturn his conviction.  Paul Warner Powell’s case garnered significant media attention due to its gruesome nature and the lengthy legal proceedings. The brutality of the crime and Powell’s subsequent actions in court contributed to the public’s perception of him as a callous and remorseless individual.

Events

The Rolling Stones

1834 – Six farm laborers from Tolpuddle, Dorset, England are sentenced to be transported to Australia for forming a trade union

1882 – Morgan Earp is assassinated whilst playing billiards

1965 – The Rolling Stones are fined £5 each for public urination

1990 – The largest art robbery in history takes place as $300 million is stolen from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts

1992 – American businesswoman Leona Helmsley was sentenced to 4 years for tax evasion, she famously said “We don’t pay taxes, only the little people pay taxes”

2003 – FBI agents raid the corporate headquarters of HealthSouth Corporation in Birmingham, Alabama on suspicion of massive corporate fraud led by the company’s top executives

2018 – A serial bomber is suspected after a fourth bomb goes off in Austin, Texas, injuring two. The total bombing death toll is 2 dead and 5 injured