Realized I forgot to mention this last week. Life is the way this week — too many birthday parties and relatives visiting. Back next week — Jana
Prison City Murders – Case 14 – Death of a Lawman
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November 2nd, 1870. North of Abilene, Kansas.
Respected lawman T J Smith, nicknamed “Bear River Smith,” is brutally murdered while serving an arrest warrant for murder. The desperados responsible, Andrew McConnell and Moses Miles, flee on horseback.
image from Kansas Memory site — Kansas State Historical Society https://www.kansasmemory.org/
This is a wonderful site with hundreds of images related to Kansas history. Great pictures of the Old West.
Sources
The links to the sources used for this case are listed below.
There’s a very good book called Abilene Lawmen, by Larry Underwood (available on Amazon). I really like the way it paints a picture frontier life in Kansas cow towns like Abilene. There’s also an episode of American Lawmen called “The Two Fisted Marshal of Abilene” on PBS, that reenacts the events of this case. There’s a version on youtube – (if you don’t mind constant ads)
If you google “Thomas Smith Abilene,” there are a number of websites about his life and death. There were a couple that I really www.truewestmagazine.com and www.legendsofamerica.com. The primary newspapers that had relevant articles were the Abilene Chronicle (now the Reflector-Chronicle) and the Topeka Commonwealth (which was bought out by the current Topeka paper, the Capitol-Journal.)
Finally, as always, I googled and wiki’d and went through genealogy sites.
https://www.amazon.com/Abilene-Lawmen-Smith-Hickok-1870-71-Missouri/dp/1886225400
American Lawmen (Ep7 of 8) The Two Fisted Marshal of Abilene | PBS America https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XwKL-CySGGY
https://www.truewestmagazine.com
https://www.legendsofamerica.com
Gunsmoke Podcasts (I found a couple on Stitcher – search for “Gunsmoke”)
TV Show: https://www.cbs.com/shows/gunsmoke/
Radio: http://www.oldradioworld.com/shows/Gunsmoke.php
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/4356/thomas-james-smith
https://www.kansasmemory.org/item/228477/page/1
http://www.kancoll.org/articles/tomsmith.htm
http://www.abilenecityhall.com/index.aspx?NID=605
https://www.newspapers.com/search/
Prison City Murders – Case 13 – Coffins in a Bottle
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June 15th, 1929. Fort Riley, Kansas.
Mrs. Zenana Shepard, wife of Army doctor Major Charles A. Shepard, lies severely ill at the Army Hospital. Her life cannot be saved. Unsure of the cause of death, doctors at the hospital ask for Dr. Shepard’s consent to do an autopsy. He refuses, saying that his wife would not want to be mutilated. The commanding general at Fort Riley intervenes. Zenana’s organs and fluids are preserved for analysis.
Sources:
https://denverpost.newsbank.com/
https://www.star-telegram.comhttps://newspaperarchive.com/
https://www.newspapers.com/search/
https://www.genealogybank.com/
https://www.atsjournals.org/doi/full/10.1164/rccm.201501-0135OE
https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/290/96/
https://livebrooks.com/about-us/history/
https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/coffins-in-a-bottle
https://www.history.com/topics/roaring-twenties/flappers
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/290/96.html
Thank you for listening. Until next week, please don’t murder anybody. I don’t think you can listen to podcasts behind bars.
You can comment or ask questions below or email me at prisoncitymurders@gmail.com.
My Favorite True Crime Podcasts
Not necessarily in order or all of them — just going through my favorites on Stitcher
- True Crime Garage
- Generation Why
- True Crime Island
- The Trail Went Cold
- Trace Evidence
- Once Upon a Crime
- Casefile
- Criminology
- Nordic True Crime
- Southern Fried True Crime
- True Crime Enthusiast
- Gone Cold
- True Crime Sweden
- True Crime All the Time (and the Unsolved one)
- All Crime No Cattle
- Killafornia Dreaming
- Already Gone
- Evidence Locker
- Dark Poutine
- Don’t Talk to Strangers
Also love Cold Case Murder Mysteries by Ryan Kraus — you have to subscribe to it https://www.coldcasemurdermysteries.com/
Prison City Murders – Case 12 – Just Because She Was There
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Just the show notes. Audio to be posted Monday.
Pacific Stars and Stripes Newspaper:
Dateline: Camp Zama, Japan. November 22nd, 1953.
Susan Rothschild, 9, daughter of Col and Mrs. Jacquard H. Rothschild, Chicago, Armed Forces Far East chemical officer, was found unconscious in an empty drainage moat near here yesterday and was pronounced dead on arrival at the 8169th Army Hospital a few minutes later.
The child was found by her father in an earthen moat, about two or three feet deep but empty, behind the Sagamihara fire station at 6:10 p.m. and was rushed to the hospital.
Investigation into the cause of death is being made at the Tokyo Army Hospital where the body was taken for autopsy.
Sources
https://www.stripes.com/news/pacific
https://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/may/25/german_pows_buried_prison
https://www.sfexaminer.comhttps://daughterofliberty.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/02/index.html
http://720mpreunion.org/history/time_line/1953/1953_tl.html
https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/the-final-service-6411529
https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/419/256.html
https://www.britannica.com/science/artificial-respiration
https://www.deathpenaltyinfo.org
https://www.chicagotribune.com
Bulletin of the Atomic Scientist, October 1964, book review by Matthew Meselson of Tomorrow’s Weapons, Chemical and Biological, author Jacquard Hirschorn Rothschild
Listeners, I get my sound effects from envatomarket https://audiojungle.net/
Theme music by me.
Prison City Murders – Case 11 – Thy Neighbor’s Wife
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Early morning, February 28th, 1982. Olathe, Kansas.
Young Johnson County, Kansas, Assistant District Attorney Paul Morrison is called by police to a duplex at 1000 West Sheridan in Olathe, Kansas. The bedroom is a bloody crime scene. David Harmon, a 25-year-old banker, lies brutally bludgeoned to death in his bed. Years later Morrison vividly recalls the shocking sight of the body: “You couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, 10 years old or 80.”
Sources
A Cold-Blooded Business author Marek Fuchs
https://www.democratandchronicle.com
https://www.zanesvilletimesrecorder.com
https://kansascity.newsbank.com/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/woman-who-murdered-husband-in-kansas-freed-after-9-years/
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-knock-on-the-door/
https://www.investigationdiscovery.com/
https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/LegalCenter/story?id=732881&page=1#.UEr9lI1lT0M
https://people.com/archive/conspiracy-to-kill-vol-65-no-9/
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/13559768/david-j_-harmon
Thank you so much for listening and until next time, please don’t murder anybody. I don’t think you can listen to podcasts behind bars.
Prison City Murders – Case 10 – Better Cast Into the Sea
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Noon, Monday, May 6, 2013. Ottawa, Kansas.
None of his family or friends talk with Andrew Stout, age 30, for several days. Three of his friends decide to stop by his rural Kansas home to check on him. One of them peers into the detached garage near the house, recoils, and says “Is that teeth?” They have discovered a human body partly covered with a tarp. The smell of death hangs heavy over the property. Just after noon that day, they call 911.
Sources
https://legaldictionary.net/hearsay-evidence/
http://www.franklincoks.org/index.aspx?NID=701
http://www.ottawaherald.com/article/20160317/NEWS/303179841
https://www.cjonline.com/http://www.ottawaherald.com/
https://web.mo.gov/doc/offSearchWeb/offenderListAction.do?docId=1246922
https://kaufmanatlaw.com/legal-news/can-states-curtail-insanity-defense-supreme-court-to-decide/
Prison City Murders – Case 9 – A Man on Fire
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February 5, 1979. Kansas City, Missouri.
The marriage of Wanda Conkling and William Cadwalader is abusive: he beats her–she leaves him–he apologizes–they make up—he beats her… and on and on … In early 1979, they are in one of the “let’s make up” phases. They plan a short vacation. They pack their bags and get ready to head out for the airport. Tragically, they open their front door to a murderer.
Sources:
This episode is based on a series of newspaper articles from the Kansas City Star (October 2018) called “A Man on Fire.” It’s a very good job of investigative reporting. It’s in 6 parts and they’re well worth looking at. I did some of my own digging, but much of the information is from these articles. The photos and videos that accompany the articles are very good, too. The reporters are Ian Cummings, Glenn E Rice, and Tony Rizzo. I recognize Tony Rizzo’s name—he’s kind of an ace crime reporter. The link is below.
https://www.kansascity.com/news/local/crime/article216751240.html
https://www.kcur.org/post/5-little-known-historic-mob-locations-kansas-city#stream/0
https://www.drphil.com/advice/sexual-predator-warning-signs/
https://fox4kc.com/2016/08/06/woman-found-dead-in-northland-apartment-fire-leading-to-homicide-investigation/
https://kansascity.newsbank.com
https://newspaperarchive.com/us/kansas/olathe/olathe-daily-news
https://www.genealogybank.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Prison City Murders – Case 8 Part 2 – The Union Station Massacre
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Saturday Morning, June 17th, 1933. Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri.
Notorious bank robber Frank Nash, on the run after escaping from Leavenworth Federal Prison, is nabbed in Hot Springs, Arkansas, by two FBI agents and the McAlester, Oklahoma, police chief. After arriving at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, the four disembark from the train to make the dangerous journey by car up to Leavenworth, Kansas. Two more FBI agents and two Kansas City, Missouri, police officers, form a phalanx around the prisoner. Armed with two shotguns and pistols, they march through the station to the parking lot. As they watchfully load up the car, two men with machine guns and shout for everyone to put their hands up. A 30-second hell breaks loose. When the gun smoke settles, 5 men are dead.
Sources
The main source for this episode is The Union Station Massacre: The Original Sin of John Edgar Hoover’s FBI, by Jeffrey Unger. This is an excellent book for those who want to know more about this case, or who just want a good read.
https://www.amazon.com/Union-Station-Massacre-Original-Hoovers/dp/1933466081
https://kansascity.newsbank.com
https://www.newspapers.com/
https://www.genealogybank.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
https://www.babyfacenelsonjournal.com/verne-miller.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_massacre
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073225/ (The Kansas City Massacre 1975 ABC TV)
I’d appreciate it if you would subscribe to Prison City Murders and write a review. Even critical feedback is appreciated. You can email me at prisoncitymurders@gmail.com or comment on the cases below.
Prison City Murders – Case 8 Part 1 – The Union Station Massacre
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Saturday Morning, June 17th, 1933. Union Station, Kansas City, Missouri.
Notorious bank robber Frank Nash, on the run after escaping from Leavenworth Federal Prison, is nabbed in Hot Springs, Arkansas, by two FBI agents and the McAlester, Oklahoma, police chief. After arriving at Union Station in Kansas City, Missouri, the four disembark from the train to make the dangerous journey by car up to Leavenworth, Kansas. Two more FBI agents and two Kansas City, Missouri, police officers, form a phalanx around the prisoner. Armed with two shotguns and pistols, they march through the station to the parking lot. As they watchfully load up the car, two men with machine guns and shout for everyone to put their hands up. A 30-second hell breaks loose. When the gun smoke settles, 5 men are dead.
Sources
The main source for this episode is The Union Station Massacre: The Original Sin of John Edgar Hoover’s FBI, by Jeffrey Unger. This is an excellent book for those who want to know more about this case, or who just want a good read.
https://www.amazon.com/Union-Station-Massacre-Original-Hoovers/dp/1933466081
https://kansascity.newsbank.com
https://www.genealogybank.com/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
https://www.babyfacenelsonjournal.com/verne-miller.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kansas_City_massacre
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073225/ (The Kansas City Massacre 1975 ABC TV)
I’d appreciate it if you would subscribe to Prison City Murders and write a review. Even critical feedback is appreciated. You can email me at prisoncitymurders@gmail.com or comment on the cases below.