Thanks to the digital collections available online through New York Public Library, users and historians alike can access thousands of historical photos. It should come to no surprise that within this treasury of thousands of digital images include pictures related to real crimes. Using this excellent free public resource I was able to uncover five real crimes that have historical significance, but have mostly been lost within public consciousness in the sands of time.
The Lynching of Rubin Stacey
When President Roosevelt took office, the NAACP assisted him in winning the election and many were hopeful to put an end to lynch mobs. An important anti-lynching bill had been proposed to Congress, but Roosevelt, fearing he would anger Southern supporters, refused to back the bill.
That same year, the story of an African American man who had been a victim of a white lynch mob had been making headlines. The man, Rubin Stacey, had been employed as a tenant farmer. Stacey was out of work and decided to go to a woman’s home in hopes she had some food to spare. Stacey knocked on the door, but when the woman answered the door she screamed at the sight of Stacey.
Six sheriffs deputies arrived to take Stacey to Miami’s Dade County Jail, but before they could take him into custody, Stacey was overtaken by a lynch mob and hung. The photo showing Stacey being hung as young children look on was used as a powerful media tool to pressure President Roosevelt into supporting the anti-lynching bill. The story did little to sway Roosevelt’s opinion on the matter.
Mrs. McDougal
The demand for cadavers for University medical programs were on the rise due to advances in medical science. Two men, Burke and Hare, capitalized on this demand by stealing corpses. Eventually simple grave robbery turned into a murder for profit scheme and the rest is history. Aside from Burke and Hare, themselves, there was a third member of the pair’s operations who is often overlooked, but played a key role in their crimes.
William Burke had left his wife to live with a woman whom had also been married named Mrs. McDougal. Taking up residency near William Hare and his wife, Burke and Hare formed a close friendship and it wasn’t long before the two began selling off bodies to local medical schools.
The pair’s plan came to a screeching halt after a couple had visited Burke’s lodging house the night prior to their discovery. The couple returned to the lodging house the next day to retrieve some items left there, but were refused entry near a bed a pair of stockings had been left. When the couple looked under the bed the body of a woman seen at the lodging house the previous night was discovered. On their way to the police station McDougal stopped them and offered to pay them £10 a week in exchange for the couple’s silence. The couple refused.
Burke and McDougal were both charged with three murders, with the Hares offered a plea deal in exchange for their testimony against Burke. Burke was found guilty of one of the murder charges, McDougal was released on the grounds that there was not enough evidence against her.
After her release McDougal was instantly recognized in any city she went to and was often forced to be taken into police custody for her own protection.
The Red Barn Murder
Maria Marten and William Corder agreed to meet at Suffolk landmark, the Red Barn. The couple had planned to elope, but Marten was never heard from again. Corder left town, but continued to send the Marten family letters claiming to be from Maria. Her body was later recovered from underneath the barn.
Corder was eventually found to be living in London. He was tried and convicted for Maria’s murder, and later put to death in 1828 in front of a large crowd. The murder has since been the inspiration for a number of plays and other literary works.
The Murder of Mr. Bird
Mr. Bird, a long time Greenwich resident, had lived alone with his housekeeper after his wife’s passing two years prior. Mr. Bird had a considerable amount of wealth accumulated through his business as tallow-chandler. Bird had retired comfortably and was rarely seen in public except for Sunday church services, which he and his housekeeper both attended every week.
When neither Mr. Bird nor his housekeeper were seen at one Sunday’s church services, the congregation became alarmed and several members decided to go to Bird’s home to check on him. When their knocks and yells went unanswered, the group began to fear that something terrible had happened. They decided to force their way into the home.
Inside of the residence, both the bodies of Mr. Bird and his housekeeper were discovered, appearing to have sustained injuries from a blunt object. The scene appeared to have been the result of a home invasion gone bad. The case has never been solved.
The Mountain Meadows Massacre
In the early days of Mormonism, John D. Lee was one of the founding members of the Latter Day Saint Movement. Lee and other church members were initially in charge of traveling to the territory we now know as Utah in order to establish Mormon communities.
Lee worked closely with the Native American groups in the area and had established a good rapport between the local tribes and the Mormon colonists. When a group from Arkansas attempted to camp at Mountain Meadows – a staging area for groups crossing the Mohave desert en route to California – Native Americans, along with Mormon militias dressed as Native Americans, ambushed the group. The only survivors left from the ambush were 17 children.
Lee’s plan was to blame the massacre on the Native Americans, but was later arrested in 1874 for leading the massacre. Lee underwent two trials before he was sentenced to death for masterminding the plot. He left behind 19 wives and 56 children.