Thomas O’Flaherty (1970 - 1970)

Born in Ireland, O’Flaherty arrived in St. Louis in 1825, where he started a boat store, a wholesale grocery & a commission house. In 1844 he married Eliza Faris, member of an old Creole family. They were the parents of writer Kate Chopin. O’Flaherty was one of the founders of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. In […]

(1970 - 1970)

Italian poet.

Vicente Pío Marcelino Cirilo Aleixandre y Merlo (1898 - 1984)

Poet. He was awarded the the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1977. Among his books are “La Destrucción o el Amor,” “Poemas de la Consumación,” and “Diálogos del Conocimiento.”

Bess Streeter Aldrich (1881 - 1954)

Author, Novelist. Bess Aldrich’s writing career spanned over forth years, during which she published of around 200 short stories and articles, 13 novels, and two books of short stories. Born Geneva Streeter, she was the youngest of eight children. A writer since early childhood, she won a writing contest at age 14 and another at […]

Carl “Andy” Capasso (1945 - 2001)

Crime Figure. “Millionaire tax cheat” Carl “Andy” Capasso, the ex-lover of former Miss America Bess Myerson and a key player in one of the most lurid scandals of the New York City “Koch era,” died of cancer at his Upper East Side apartment, one month after being diagnosed. Capasso, a sewer contractor, was at the […]

Richard Canfield (1855 - 1914)

American Folk Figure. Called “America’s Greatest Gambler”, Richard Canfield started running a small faro parlor in Pawtucket, Rhode Island thay landed him in jail. In Providence he established a gambling parlor as well.  At separate times he ran two high stakes  gambling houses in New York City; one which was across from the famous Delmonico […]

Richard Cain (1931 - 1973)

Organized Crime Figure. Richard Cain was born in Chicago but grew up in Owosso, Michigan. He was made into the Chicago Outfit early in life, despite the fact that his grandfather had been a prominent anti-Mafia activist in The Patch. He joined the Chicago Police Department in the 1950’s, functioning as a double agent. Cain […]

Martin Cahill (1949 - 1994)

At age 16, Martin Cahill was convicted of two burglaries and sentenced to an industrial school run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate at Daingean, County Offaly. After his release, he met and married Frances Lawless, a girl from Rathmines, where his family was now living. With his brothers, he continued to commit multiple burglaries in […]

James L. Butler (1855 - 1923)

American Folk Figure. On May 19, 1900 he was chasing a mule near present day Tonopah, Nevada, when he happened upon a rock containing silver ore. Out of that small incident grew one of the richest mining districts in the history of the West and a city which hosted the likes of Jack Dempsey, Wyatt […]

George Burroughs (1970 - 1692)

Victim of the Salem Witch Trials. George was raised by his mother in the town of Roxbury. George Burroughs was the only Puritan minister indicted and executed in Salem in 1692. He served as minister of Salem Village from 1680 until he left in 1683. As one of the succession of three ministers who left […]

Fred Burke (1893 - 1940)

Criminal. One of eight children of Mr. and Mrs. Wall Camp of Mapleton, Kansas. Teachers of Fred Burke stated he attended school in which he was exceedingly intelligent. He also attended Sunday school regularly. His real name was Thomas Camp. At seventeen he was involved in a land-fraud scheme with a traveling salesman. He fled […]

Guy Francis de Moncy Burgess (1911 - 1963)

Cold War Soviet Spy. Despite being a flamboyant drunk and open, notorious homosexual, he proved to be one of the Soviet Union’s best spies at the beginning of the Cold War. Born in Davenport, England, his father was an high-ranking officer in the Royal Navy, and his mother an aristocrat.  His wealthy, upper middle class […]

Angelo Buono, Jr (1934 - 2002)

Mass Murderer known as “The Hillside Strangler.” Beginning in 1977, with his cousin Kenneth Bianchi he kidnapped and tortured 9 young women between the ages of 12 and 28, eventually killing them. They taunted police by lining up the bodies in weeds along Los Angeles, California, highways. They would abduct their victims by flashing fake […]

Eng Bunker (1811 - 1874)

Entertainers. Born in the Mae Klong Valley, Samut Songkhram Province, Siam (present day Thailand) to a Chinese father, Ti-aye and a Chinese/Cham mother, Nok. The brothers, Eng and Chang Bunker, were born conjoined thoraopagus twins, the most common form of conjoined twins, they shared part of the chest wall, and their livers were fused. Legend […]

Chang Bunker (1811 - 1874)

Entertainers. Born in the Mae Klong Valley, Samut Songkhram Province, Siam (present day Thailand) to a Chinese father, Ti-aye and a Chinese/Cham mother, Nok. The brothers, Chang and Eng Bunker, were born conjoined thoraopagus twins, the most common form of conjoined twins, they shared part of the chest wall, and their livers were fused. Legend […]

Woo Bum-Kon (1955 - 1982)

South Korean Mass Murderer. A police officer, on April 28th, 1982, he left the house of his live-in girlfriend, Chun-Mai Sun in a rage. Upon arriving at work, he began to drink heavily. The other officers were at a community meeting, and a still-furious Woo raided an unguarded police armory, taking two carbines, 18 rounds […]

Roy Bryant, Sr (1931 - 1994)

Crime Figure. Along with half-brother J.W. Milam, murdered 14 year old Emmett Till on August 28, 1955, in Money, Mississippi. The crime is noted as a pivotal event motivating the African-American Civil Rights Movement.  Family links:  Spouse:  Vera Jo Orman Bryant (1932 – 2012)

Angelo “The Gentle Don” Bruno (1910 - 1980)

Organized Crime Figure. He joined the Philadelphia Organized Crime Family in the 1930s and took control of the Family from Antonio Pollina in 1959. A revolt led by Antonio (Tony Bananas) Caponigro, the Bruno Family Consigliere, ended in the murder of Angelo Bruno. On the night of March 21, 1980, he was shotgunned to death […]

Jerome Henry “Jerry” Brudos (1939 - 2006)

Criminal. Known as ‘The Shoe Fetish Killer.’ A native of Webster, South Dakota, he was a former electrician, who became serial kiler, and later one of Oregon’s most notorious inmates. Born to Henry Brudos and his wife Eileen, his troubles began when he was very young. He began a weird obsession with women’s shoes and […]

(1970 - 1970)

Folk Figure, Hysteria Victim. The second of three children born to George and Mary Brown, she lived a quiet life in the rural New England town of Exeter until an epidemic of Tuberculosis took the northeastern states by force. Prior to her death the disease had claimed hundreds of lives in the area as well […]

Pretty Boy Floyd (1904 - 1934)

Pretty Boy Floyd Bank Robber. He was nicknamed “Pretty Boy Floyd” by the press, a name that he personally hated.  The name came from his first major robbery, when the robbed paymaster described him as a “pretty boy with apple cheeks” to an interviewing reporter, and the nickname stuck.  Born Charles Arthur Floyd in Adairsville, […]

John King Fisher (1970 - 1884)

Western Outlaw, Lawman. Born in Collin County, Texas, in his brief life time, John King Fisher transformed from a accomplished outlaw to a very effective lawman. In 1869, he was accused of stealing a horse after he borrowed it without telling the owner. He was arrested but escaped, then arrested again for stealing and sent […]

Louis “Louie the Dip” Finkelstein (1970 - 1964)

Cleveland’s “Prince of Pickpockets”.  His 50 year career record of over 120 arrests and 20 sentences served, made him the most frequently arrested pickpocket in Cleveland history.  In 1933 he picked the pocket of the Parma, Ohio Chief of Police.  Finkelstein even picked the pocket of his bail bondsman and that of a reporter covering […]

David William Ferrie (1918 - 1967)

JFK assassination figure. Accused by New Orleans DA Jim Garrison of being a co-conspirator in the assassination of John F. Kennedy.  Ferrie was under investigation at the time of his death.  He had been interviewed 3 days prior by investigators and was under surveillance. His death was ruled by Garrison as an “apparent suicide.” However, […]

Olive Ann Oatman Fairchild (1970 - 1903)

Indian Captive. Olive and her family headed alone for California in 1850.  They were attacked by Indians on the Gila River in Arizona in February of 1852, and Olive and her sister Mary were captured.  The girls served as slaves for a year and were later sold to a Mojave chief who lived near Needles, […]

Judith Katherine Campbell Exner (1934 - 1999)

Mistress of US President John F. Kennedy and Mafia leader Sam Giancana, her disclosure of her relationship with the men diminished the near legendary stature of the deceased president by revealing a scandal during his administration. Born Judith Eileen Katherine Immoor, she was the daughter of a German architect in New York City.  While still […]

Henry Every (1970 - 1970)

Pirate. Seized the Grand Mogul treasure ship “Ganj-i-Sawai” which was filled with such a massive amount of money (5.2 million rupees) that it was said Every offered to pay off the British national debt with it in exchange for a pardon. Every embarked on his piratical career in 1694, taking over the British ship “Charles”, […]

Christopher Evans (1847 - 1917)

Western Outlaw. Born in Bells Corners, near Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in the late 1880s, together with partner John Sontag he formed the Evans-Sontag Gang and was it’s leader. Going to California, they proceeded to rob several Southern Pacific trains between 1889 and 1892. The outlaws evaded capture for some time until the killing of a […]

Ruth Ellis (1926 - 1955)

Ruth Ellis became a nightclub hostess through nude modelling work, which paid significantly more than the various factory and clerical jobs she had held since leaving school. Morris Conley, the manager of the Court Club in Duke Street, where she worked, blackmailed his hostess employees into sleeping with him. Early in 1950 she became pregnant […]

Johnny Eck, Jr (1911 - 1991)

Artist, Circus performer.  John Eckhardt, Jr. and his twin brother Robert Eckhardt were born to Amelia and John Eckhardt, Sr. in Baltimore, Maryland. John was born with a truncated torso due to sacral agenesis. Though John would sometimes describe himself as “snapped off at the waist”, he had unusable, underdeveloped legs and feet that he […]