November 29, 2014, 4:17 am
“We got caught up in the minute…”by Robert A. WatersRegardless of what anybody says, there is no excuse for rioting, looting, and violence. The Ferguson crowd should be prosecuted, but if previous riots are a measure, the thugs committing these acts will serve little time. In 1991, the Rodney King riots left dozens dead and large swaths of businesses destroyed. In most cases, the perpetrators were not held accountable.Reginald was a working stiff.Damian, Antoine, Henry, and Gary never worked. Gang members, they made their living hustling and committing street crimes.On that afternoon, Reginald drove a Kenworth T800 Tandem Axle Dump Truck through the heart of Los Angeles. He was hauling 27 tons of sand to a plant in Inglewood. His truck had no radio, so he was unaware of the riots that had exploded earlier that day. At 6:56 p.m., he stopped at an intersection on Florence Avenue.As groups of people blocked the juncture, Antoine opened the door of Reginald’s cab. Several men pulled Reginald out and threw him onto the road. A group of unidentified men began kicking him, while another smashed his head with a claw-hammer. Damian hurled a slab of concrete at the downed man, hitting him in the skull and knocking him unconscious. Henry and Gary helped in the assault, and afterwards, Gary danced over the injured man.A news helicopter covering the riots recorded the whole sequence. As the beating played out live on the evening news, Anthony spat on Reginald. Others in the area made no attempt to assist the fallen trucker, nor did nearby LAPD officers.From their homes, several residents watched in horror as the beating continued. Eventually, at least four went out into the street to help. After Reginald regained consciousness, he climbed back into the cab and attempted to get away. One of the residents helped drive him to the hospital.Reginald Denny survived, but his skull was fractured in 91 places. Bone pushed into his brain. His left eye was dislocated, the socket shattered, and doctors had to rebuild the sinus cavities. Denny underwent decades of therapy. His speech and ability to walk were permanently damaged. His injuries ruined him financially, as well as physically. Today, he lives and works in Arizona, avoiding the spotlight.Four of Denny’s attackers were identified as Damian “Football” Williams, Antoine “Twan” Miller, Henry Keith “Kiki” Watson, and Gary Williams. Watson later said: “Nobody specifically sought out Reginald Denny to cause him any harm. We got caught up in the moment, just like everyone else.”The “L. A. Four,” as they came to be known, served little time for their crimes. All got light sentences or no sentences at all.Damian “Football” Williams served four years of a ten-year sentence. He was later convicted of murdering an acquaintance and sentenced to 46 years.Henry Keith “Kiki” Watson had previously served a prison sentence for robbery. After being convicted only of a misdemeanor for his role in the Denny beating, he walked free. He later served another sentence for drug offenses.Gary Williams, a drug addict and panhandler, also walked free. He hasn’t been heard from since.Antoine “Twan” Miller served no time for the attack on Denny. He was shot and killed in 2004. A Los Angeles Times article informed readers that “Miller had an extensive criminal record that included arrests and convictions for gun possession, burglary, theft and assault.”While many minimized the behavior of the “L. A. Four,” even a quick glance at the Reginald Denny beating shines a light on viciousness that is rarely seen in the open. Regardless of any supposed grievances, there was no excuse for the crime.
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December 4, 2014, 6:09 am
The Kidnapping and Murder of Little Skeegie Cash: J. Edgar Hoover and Florida’s Lindbergh Case by Robert A. Waters and Zack C. Waters.For 75 years, one of the most important cases in FBI history lay forgotten. While dozens of books describe how the Feds took down John Dillinger, Ma Barker, Pretty Boy Floyd, and other gangsters in the 1930s, another audacious crime went un-noticed by historians. Had the G-men not received credit for solving this case, the FBI would look much different today. In fact, it might not even exist.How could such an important case fall under the radar?It happened a few months before the beginning of World War II. From that point on, news of the war dominated headlines. After the war, the case was all but forgotten, except by the unfortunate parents of the murdered child and their friends and neighbors.On the night of May 28, 1938, five-year-old James Bailey “Skeegie” Cash, Jr. disappeared from his home. A search mounted by the parents and townspeople failed to turn up the child. They did, however, find a series of notes that demanded $10,000 for the return of Skeegie. Within hours, the FBI had been notified. Soon the small town of Princeton, Florida was crawling with more than 100 agents.Why did the FBI care so much about a missing boy in a backwater town?It all boils down to cold, hard cash. By May, before the fiscal year ended, the FBI had run out of money. In fact, J. Edgar Hoover had furloughed half his G-men. This embarrassment allowed his political enemies to publicly denounce him. But when Hoover got wind of the Cash kidnapping, he realized that if he could solve it, he might re-establish the FBI’s credibility with skeptical Congressmen.The Kidnapping and Murder of Little Skeegie Cash plays out against a back-drop of weird characters, heart-pounding suspense, and the overwhelming presence of the FBI.The book would make a fine Christmas gift.
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December 8, 2014, 7:57 am
Death of the Icemanby Robert A. Waters5300 years ago, a solitary man met a violent death in the Alps. Called “Iceman” because he was found half-frozen in ice, he has been subjected to scientific scrutiny for more than two decades. The results of those studies have constantly shifted, but some things are known.In September, 1991, while climbing a mountain pass on the border between what is now Italy and Austria, hikers found a frozen corpse. They called local gendarmes, who pried the remains from its icy grave. Once inspectors hauled the Iceman to a police lab, they realized his age and called scientists. Otzi, as he is also known, soon became the world’s most ancient celebrity. Suddenly, a routine police investigation became an international inquiry to discover everything possible about some of the oldest known remains in the world.Investigators returned to the site and found numerous items carried by the Iceman. These included the oldest copper axe ever found, as well as a bow and arrows, and a flint-bladed knife. Scientists also recovered clothing, including shoes, a cloak, coat, leggings, cap, and other apparel. The Iceman had worn a belt with a leather pouch that contained a scraper, drill, flint flake, and bone awl—this was probably a fire-starting kit. A basket contained medicinal herbs and berries for food.The Iceman seemed prepared for the cold climes of the Alps.But he was not prepared for the attackers who killed him.The thing that fascinates me about Otzi is that he is so similar to modern man. Research has shown that he had many of the ailments that we’re afflicted with, including cavities, worn bones (arthritis), Lyme disease, and even lactose intolerance. He had nearly fifty tattoos covering his body. During his lifetime, he faced danger, and carried weapons for protection. The Iceman attempted to keep himself warm by wearing the best clothing possible. He ate relatively well, and traveled long distances.He engaged in many battles during his 45 years on earth. His hands, back, and legs showed signs of many wounds. The Iceman’s last encounter left him dying in an ice-flow high above the meadow where he likely lived.Who were his enemies? Researchers don’t know. One guess is that another clan may have attacked his village and Otzi fled into the mountains. There he was chased down and shot in the back with an arrow. (Doctors discovered a flint arrow less than an inch from his heart.) After being shot, he may have fallen, or been unable to flee, because it is known that he engaged in hand-to-hand combat shortly before he died. The Iceman was likely killed by a blow to the back of his head.National Geographicpublished this report of his final fight: “[Archaeologist Thomas] Loy believes that the Iceman died in a boundary dispute with several individuals and that the Copper Age male received his first wound as early as 48 hours before his death. According to Loy, the Iceman shot two different people with his arrow (DNA of two individuals were found on his arrow), each time managing to retrieve the arrow from his victim. The Iceman's success, however, was short-lived. He missed his last target, shattering his arrow-shaft. The Iceman died before he could fix his weapon. He was shot in the back with an arrow and was also badly cut on one hand. Loy's reconstruction suggests the Iceman stacked his gear carefully on a nearby ledge, slumped over a rock, and died.”This is just one interpretation of what may have happened high on the Alps that fateful day. Other theories abound. But what we do know is that the Iceman lived and breathed and died more than 5,000 years ago. Continued study will no doubt open new windows into his short, sad life.
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December 11, 2014, 5:10 am
Taking refuge in the Second Amendment…by Robert A. WatersGene Weingarten of theWashington Post wrote that the Second Amendment is “the refuge of bumpkins and yeehaws who like to think they are protecting their homes against imagined swarthy marauders desperate to steal their flea-bitten sofas from their rotting front porches.” Well, not quite. Here are just three of many true (not imagined) stories of homeowners protecting themselves and their families.In November, 2014, Nashville (TN) Police Department issued the following press release: “Homeowner Gary Jonathan McCormick, 34, reported that he was watching television in the living room of his Long Branch residence while his wife was asleep on the couch when a gunman unknown to him (Jonathan William Corke), whose face was masked by a bandana, entered through an unlocked screen door shortly after 9 a.m. McCormick said the gunman demanded money and other belongings. McCormick complied, but the gunman continued to demand more. While the gunman was dealing with the wife, McCormick walked into a bedroom, retrieved a .45 caliber pistol, and came out. McCormick said when Corke raised a 9 millimeter pistol in his direction, he opened fire. Corke was hit several times and fled to the front yard where he collapsed. He died shortly after arriving at Vanderbilt University Medical Center.” At the time of his death, Corke was under indictment on multiple counts of home burglary and theft. Police said the shooting was justified.Indianapolis homeowner Howard Murphy retrieved his shotgun when he heard someone breaking into his home. As Murphy hid in the pantry, Kocho Long entered the kitchen. Murphy confronted Long, but the intruder attacked him. After a brief struggle, Murphy shot Long in the leg. The invader stumbled outside, and screamed for neighbors to call an ambulance. Instead, they called the cops. “Either I was going to get hurt or he was going to get hurt,” Murphy said. “I know I didn’t want to get hurt in my own house.” After a stay in the hospital, Long was arrested for burglary. Murphy, who was not charged, said, “If I can work for what’s mine, then people like that can work for what’s theirs.” Murphy also had some advice for Long: “Get a job. Do things the honest way and stop breaking into people’s houses. Because you don’t know who is waiting around the corner.”In Lakewood, Washington, three violent intruders forced their way into the home of Harry Lodholm and his wife. The robbers had been told there would be “weed, money, and gold” there. None of those items were in the home, but the invaders wouldn’t be satisfied. They pistol-whipped Lodholm, and dragged his wife from the shower. Both were tied up as the intruders ransacked their home. After they left, Lodholm untied himself and his wife and they retreated to their bedroom. There, Lodholm took a handgun from its case as his wife called 911. Suddenly, the intruders fired gunshots through the front door (which Lodholm had locked) and attempted to enter the bedroom. Lodholm fired, killing Taijon Voorhees. An accomplice has been arrested, and police are searching for the third man. “I feel bad for their families,” Lodholm said. “But they basically put us in an untenable position.” Lodholm was not charged with any crime.Is it really that difficult to understand that millions of normal citizens—black, white, male, female—own guns for self-protection? And that in many cases every year, homeowners would be dead or injured if they did not have those guns?
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December 20, 2014, 6:37 am
Church Street, Near the Scene of the Murder
Teen’s murder was never solved…by Robert A. WatersThe Leah Lloyd Johnson murder case in North Adams, Massachusetts baffled investigators for decades before it died of old age.It was April 28, 1933 when Edward Dolan found Leah’s remains. The body of the eighteen-year-old lay in a thornapple thicket east of Church Street. Less than a mile from the murder scene, searchers located Johnson’s leather pocketbook. Inside, police found a wrist watch that had stopped at 11:10, a comb, and a mirror. The watch had been dented, as if it had met foul play.The North Adams Transcript reported that “in order to reach the place where the pocketbook was found a person leaving the scene of the crime would have to cross the road, go down the steep embankment toward the tracks of the Boston & Maine railroad, and cross the land formerly occupied by the Hoosac Lumber Company, up another embankment and down the other side. A person standing at the top of the second embankment might have thrown the articles away.”Before nightfall, thousands of curious residents trooped through the brush-covered hillside where the body was found. Any possible evidence that the killer left vanished as the crowds trampled the scene.Investigators determined that Leah lived with her grandfather, A. M. Burdick, a retired janitor. Grief-stricken, he arranged for funeral services and asked that only family and close friends attend.Rumors began almost immediately. The most persistent was that on the night of her murder she had attended a “whoopee party” with two couples. This alleged night of “merrymaking” took place at a lakeside bungalow where women became “hopelessly intoxicated.” Police questioned those who were supposedly involved, including a Navy sailor, and determined the rumor to be false. Another discounted report was that Leah had eloped with a mysterious young man.After finding letters written to the murder victim by Albert Reynolds, 23, police grilled him. He stated that he had met Leah when she was sixteen, and they had become friends. But he said he broke off the correspondence when his sister advised him that Leah was not the “type of girl” that he should date. By the following morning, Reynolds, who had an iron-tight alibi, was cleared by police.Leah had worked as a housekeeper for Mr. and Mrs. Walter Brunson. They stated that she rarely spoke of her personal life, and seemed content to attend movies, read, or listen to the radio. She was a reliable worker who often spoke on the telephone with her close friend, Ruth Crapo. Ruth and several friends were interrogated for 48 hours, but provided no useful information.Dr. Ellis Kellert conducted the autopsy. The Transcript reported that “Leah was not carnally attacked on the night of the crime and [Ellert] indicates that there was nothing about her condition which needed to cause her or a boy friend to worry.” Leah had been stabbed and strangled with a shoestring designed for use in a heavy work boot or a high-top shoe. Police tracked down the owner of a local shoe store who stated that he routinely sold similar laces.Throughout the investigation, the motive for the murder remained a mystery. In fact, cops quickly became frustrated with the lack of leads. On May 6, 1933, the Transcript reported that “Assistant District Attorney Harold Goewey and State Detective Silas P. Smith today suspended their investigation of the slaying of 18-year-old Leah Lloyd Johnson, convinced that the mystery is probably beyond solution. The girl, employed by her neighbors as a household helper, was found stabbed and garroted in a remote field after she had left the home of her grandparents last Saturday night, ostensibly to go to a neighbor’s home to mind their children. Investigators determined that the girl had misled her grandparents and did not have an appointment at the neighbor’s home.”Periodically, police would take another look at the case. In 1936, two confessed killers of a cab driver were questioned about the Johnson murder, but they were quickly eliminated. In 1942, investigators spoke again with Edward Dolan, who found the body. He reiterated that he was merely taking a walk when he stumbled onto the scene. No evidence contradicted his story and Dolan was never charged.Eventually, the case was shelved and the unanswered question remains: who murdered Leah Lloyd Johnson?
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January 1, 2015, 12:43 am
Feds to Seek Death Penaltyby Robert A. WatersThe explosions that blasted Boylston Street on April 15, 2013 claimed three lives and maimed more than 200 people. Three nights later, as police and FBI agents searched for the bombing suspects, a police officer at Massachusetts Technical Institute (MIT) was murdered in a sneak ambush.On January 5, 2015, Boston bombing suspect Dzhokhar Tsarnaev is scheduled to go on trial for the carnage. If convicted, he faces the death penalty.These innocent victims—both the dead and wounded—deserve justice. The courtroom will likely be crowded with prosthetic-wearing men, women, and children. If Tsarnaev is found guilty, every survivor of the deadly attack should be paraded in front him and each should be allowed to address him.There are few crimes more evil or cowardly than bombings designed to mutilate and disfigure random people.When the pressure cookers exploded, they launched hundreds of nails and steel pellets into the crowds, killing Krystle Campbell, 29, Lingzi Lu, and eight-year-old Martin Richard (pictured above). Dozens more had limbs blown off, so much so that blood pooled in the streets hours after the attack. Victims lay injured as police officers, medical workers, and passersby attempted to help. It seemed a miracle that more people weren’t killed.Then, three nights later, according to FBI sources, the perpetrators of this attack stole up to a police cruiser in Cambridge. They pumped five rounds into the lone officer, Sean Collier, 27, who died at the scene.Sean Collier
A few hours later, the suspects, Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, allegedly engaged police in a fierce battle, hurling home-made bombs and firing semi-automatic weapons. Tamerlan died at the scene, but Dzhokhar survived and was captured.Massachusetts no longer has a death penalty, so the case will be tried under Federal jurisdiction. If convicted, Tsarnaev faces execution.If he’s guilty, that’s exactly what he deserves.Lingzi Lu
Krystle Campbell
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Heath William Burch won’t be executedIn Maryland, killers can rest easy. No matter how heinous their crimes, they won’t face execution. In 2013, Maryland legislators abolished the death penalty for future murderers. So Democratic Governor Martin O’Malley decided that the abolition should extend to those already on death row. Just before leaving office a few days ago, he commuted the death sentences of Heath William Burch, Jody Lee Miles, Vernon Evans, and Anthony Grandison.The following excerpt from court documents describe the crimes of Burch: “In the early morning hours of March 19, 1995, Burch burglarized the home of Robert and Cleo Davis in Capitol Heights, Maryland, intending to steal property that could be sold to support his cocaine habit. [NOTE: Robert Davis was a World War II hero and winner of the Purple Heart.] When confronted by the Davises, an elderly couple in their 70’s, Burch savagely attacked them. Following the assaults, Burch stole their guns, their money, and Mr. Davis’s truck. A family friend discovered the Davises the next day, and by that time Mr. Davis had died. Mrs. Davis, who was alive when found on a couch with blood splattered over her, was hospitalized and died eight days after being attacked by Burch. The medical examiner determined that Mrs. Davis died of blunt force injuries and resulting complications.“An autopsy performed on Mr. Davis revealed that he had died from thirty-three wounds, of which eleven were stab wounds from the blade of a pair of scissors. There was overwhelming evidence in Burch’s state court trial linking him to the murders of Mr. and Mrs. Davis. Indeed, Burch confessed to the Maryland authorities that he had entered the Davis home and killed its occupants. A boot found in Burch’s home matched a bloody footprint in the Davises home, and traces of the victims’ blood were found on clothing in Burch’s home. Additionally, Burch’s brother testified that on March 19, 1995, the day of the attacks, Burch came to the brother’s home with blood on his neck and hands and acknowledged that he had killed two people.”Sentenced to death, Burch won the lottery. He gets to live out the rest of his life and die of old age while the good people of Maryland support him.Mary Francis Moore, daughter of Cleo and step-daughter of Robert, reacted to the news: “I’m very devastated,” she said. “I’m not disappointed. I’m devastated.”She and other family members pleaded with O’Malley not to commute the sentences. “I knew this [the death penalty] was hanging over him, and that he didn’t have much of a life up in Cumberland,” Moore said. “Now, I believe they’ll bring him down to another prison and he’ll have a life, a social life with other inmates, which I don’t appreciate.”While some will applaud the governor for his actions, it seems cruel to ignore the family’s wishes—especially since a jury thought the murders were brutal enough to warrant execution.Burch’s victims lie in their graves, still awaiting justice that will never come.
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January 11, 2015, 2:34 pm
Unpunished war crimes of the United Statesby Robert A. WatersThe United States government’s war machine was not content to just invade the Confederate States of America. Soon after decimating the Confederacy, Union generals such as Phillip Sheridan and William Tecumseh Sherman led blood-thirsty raids into Indian Territory to exterminate the natives who had roamed these lands for centuries.Sheridan manifested his contempt for Native Americans when he quipped, “The only good Indians I ever saw were dead.” After professional hunters slaughtered millions of buffalo (a major source of the Indian diet), Sheridan said: “Let them kill, skin and sell until the buffalo is exterminated.” General Sherman, whose atrocities in the Civil War were condemned even by northern newspapers, held a hatred for Native Americans (and African-Americans) that bordered on the pathological.The Marias Massacre was typical of war crimes committed by the heroes of the Union army. On January 23, 1870, in northern Montana, the Second U. S. Regiment came upon a sleeping village of peaceful Piegan Blackfoot Indians and murdered 173 women, children, and old men. When Americans learned that many of the executed Indians were already dying of smallpox, the public was incensed. But even outrage couldn’t stop the war machine that the late President Abraham Lincoln had created.The genesis for the Marias Massacre began over a minor incident.In the fall of 1869, Montana rancher Malcolm Clarke accused a Blackfoot warrior named Owl Child of stealing horses. Clarke and his cattlemen administered a public beating to Owl Child, humiliating him in front of other Indians. In revenge, Owl Child led a group of warriors to Clarke’s home and murdered him and his son. Owl Child then fled, joining Mountain Chief, a Blackfoot chieftain who was rebelling against the continued encroachments of white settlers.Enter Major Eugene Baker, another Union veteran. General Sherman ordered Baker, who was stationed at Fort Ellis near Bozeman, to lead his cavalry of 400 men out into the minus-thirty-degree weather to hunt down Owl Child and Mountain Chief. Baker, a drunkard of the worst sort, imbibed almost continually from the time he left the fort until he reached the Marias River. On the morning of January 23, 1870, Baker’s army stumbled onto a small village containing mostly women and children (all the able-bodied males were out hunting).The leader of this band of Piegan Blackfoot Indians was Heavy Runner, known to be friendly to white settlers. Baker’s Indian scouts recognized the paintings on the teepees as belonging to this peaceful group and informed Major Baker. But the major, in a drunken stupor, ordered his men to kill any scout who attempted to alert the village of their presence. Then the cavalry charged into the camp.As the army began shooting into the undefended teepees, Heavy Runner raced outside waving government-issued papers and medals showing that his band was peaceful. He was quickly riddled with bullets and killed.Of the approximately three hundred inhabitants of the village, only 15 were warriors. These were quickly slain. Then cavalrymen rode up to the teepees and pumped round after round into the flimsy skins, killing scores of women, children, and old men. The surviving villagers suffered a worse fate when soldiers burned the teepees down. Natives still inside smoke-filled tents suffocated or burned to death.When the massacre was over, bodies littered the ground around still-smoldering teepees, and charred corpses lay smoking in the ashes.In addition to the dead, Baker’s army captured about 140 women and children. But as he began herding them to Fort Ellis, Baker learned that many were sick with smallpox. He quickly decided to abandon them, and, with his 400 soldiers, simply rode away. Without food or shelter, few of the women and children survived in the sub-zero weather.When word of Major Baker’s atrocities reached the media, many Americans were dismayed. One soldier reported that during the massacre, Baker “had been too long in conference with John Barleycorn.” Others stated that all the officers were “in the spirits.” While newspapers published editorials condemning the raid, General Sherman stonewalled the affair until it was eventually forgotten. In the end, no one was ever held accountable.In 1873, three years after the Marias Massacre, Major Baker almost got his cavalry wiped out near Pryor’s Creek when they were attacked by Sioux warriors. As usual, Baker had been too drunk to effectively command his troops, but he suffered few consequences. Later, he was court-martialed for arresting an officer while he (Baker) was drunk. Scheduled to be dishonorably discharged, General Sherman again intervened, suspending the beleaguered major for six months at half-pay.At 48 years of age, Baker died drunk and penniless. The cause of death, not surprisingly, was said to be cirrhosis of the liver.
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January 17, 2015, 8:08 am
Pamela J. Webb
From the Maine State Police files…Baby Jane Doe– “A woman drove into a gravel pit in Frenchville, Maine in 1985, got out of her vehicle and proceeded to give birth to a baby girl. She then carried the living baby into the woods and left her there. It was extremely cold, and bootprints were observed frozen into the blood left on the ground. A Siberian Husky later found the infant and carried it home to it’s owner. The infant died of exposure, and was not harmed by the Husky. The mother has never been located, and it is suspected she is from Canada.”Pamela J. Webb– “On July 2, 1989, Pamela Webb’s 1981 Chevrolet pickup truck was found abandoned on the Maine Turnpike at mile 30.4 southbound in Biddeford. The passenger side rear tire was flat and a spare tire was leaning against the tailgate. There were blood stains on the pavement on the passenger side of the truck and earrings near one of the blood stains. Webb’s dog was in the front of the truck. A turnpike ticket was found inside the truck indicating Webb entered the turnpike in Augusta at 2152 hours on 07/01/89. Webb was headed to Mason, NH, to visit her boyfriend. The boyfriend reported Webb missing on 07/02/89 at 1009 hours. 75 to 100 people called the State Police to report seeing Webb’s truck broken down, but no one was able to provide descriptions of vehicles or persons near the truck.“On July 18, 1989, human remains were found in Franconia, New Hampshire, which were subsequently identified as Webb’s. The body was severely decomposed with only a small patch of soft tissue left on the skull. Webb was identified through dental records. No bones below the pelvis were found with the remains. A skirt, blouse and bra were recovered with the remains.”Joyce McLain– “McLain was 16 years old when she left her home and went jogging in East Millinocket on the evening of August 8, 1980. Her body was found two days later, partially naked, on a powerline behind the Schenck High School soccer field, with blunt trauma to her head and neck. At the time of her death, there were several hundred construction workers at the local mill and the town was hosting a softball tournament.”Raynald Levesque– “Levesque was found dead in his residence on 04-06-94 [in Madison, Maine] at 1220 hours by a soft drink delivery man. Levesque owned and operated a bottle redemption center in a building behind his residence. Levesque’s wife last saw her husband alive at 0815 hours, prior to leaving for work in Madison that same day. Levesque’s business office was located inside his residence. His residence was on the same grounds as the redemption center. It is theorized that the murderer entered Levesque’s residence to steal money. Levesque surprised the suspect, the suspect then killed Levesque.”
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January 24, 2015, 9:47 pm
Franz Reichelt
Death comes like a thief in the night...by Robert A. Waters(10) Rudolph Tyner. Bill and Myrtie Moon owned a small store near Murrells Inlet, South Carolina. On March 18, 1978, Rudolph Tyner and a cohort shot-gunned the couple in a daylight robbery. In court, he laughed about how the couple had begged for their lives. Tyner was quickly convicted of the murders and received the death penalty. Tony Cimo, the adopted son of the Moons, figured the eighteen-year-old killer would never be executed. He hired serial killer Donald “Pee Wee” Gaskins, also on death row, to murder Tyner. Cimo smuggled a radio containing bomb components to Gaskins. The killer rigged the radio with explosives and gave it to Tyner. When Tyner turned it on, a tremendous explosion shook the prison. Tyner died, having been blown to bits. Gaskins was convicted of the murder and once again was sentenced to death. Cimo was arrested for his part in the murder, convicted, and sentenced to eight years in prison. He served only three, then was released. He returned home, unrepentant. He said: “I think constantly of Tyner laughing while Mama and Daddy begged for their lives. I did what I did, and that was it.” Gaskins was executed for the murder of Tyner.(9)Delvonte Tisdale. On November 15, 2010, in Milton, Massachusetts, a motorist noticed a body lying on the road. The remains turned out to be what was left of sixteen-year-old Delvonte Tisdale. Investigators discovered that the teen had stowed away in the wheel well of a Boeing 737 commercial jet airliner and fallen to his death. The plane had flown from Charlotte, North Carolina to Logan Airport in Boston. Somehow, Tisdale breached security and climbed into the wheel well for a free flight up north. His purported reason was to return to Baltimore where he had family. Cops told the media that he likely froze to death in the wheel well and fell when the plane lowered its landing wheels. It was so cold at the altitude flown by the jet that a plastic card Tisdale carried had frozen and broken into tiny pieces. A good student and member of the ROTC, the teenager’s death seemed senseless to those who knew him.(8) Christine Chubbuck. In the middle of her daily newscast, Sarasota, Florida reporter Christine Chubbuck stunned her audience by saying: “In keeping with Channel 40’s policy of bringing you the latest in blood and guts, and in living color, you are going to see another first—attempted suicide.” With that, she pulled a .38-caliber handgun from her purse, stuck it behind her ear, and fired. As she fell, her body began to twitch. Before the cameras could stop rolling, thousands of viewers witnessed the entire event. Ten hours later, Chubbuck was pronounced dead at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. It turned out that she had even written her suicide into her news script. According to her wishes, family members scattered Chubbuck’s ashes into the Gulf of Mexico.(7)Franz Reichelt. An Austrian who became a French citizen, Reichelt earned his living as a tailor. His hobby, however, was inventing and designing parachutes. On February 4, 1912, Reichelt climbed the Eiffel Tower to test one of his inventions. (Reichelt had permission from the Parisian Prefecture of Police to use a dummy, but all along he intended to act as his own guinea pig.) Like a giant bird, with his wings flapping, Reichelt leaped. The parachute did not deploy, and Reichelt dropped like a stone. He was dead before rescuers could arrive.(6)General John Sedgwick. On May 9, 1864, at the Battle of Spotsylvania Courthouse, Union General John Sedgwick watched his troops ducking as Confederate snipers fired at them from 1,000 yards away. Sedgwick berated the soldiers, and reportedly asked, “Why are you dodging like this? They couldn’t hit an elephant at this distance.” Within seconds, a sniper’s ball smashed into the general’s face, killing him. Just before dying, Sedgwick agreed that the soldiers should duck.(5)Clarabelle Lansing. On April 28, 1988, the fuselage of an Aloha Airlines flight from Hilo to Honolulu, Hawaii was damaged due to an explosive decompression. Several feet of the top flew off, suctioning out seats and debris. Flight attendant Clarabelle Lansing was blown out of the airplane at 30,000 feet. She likely fell into the Pacific Ocean, though her remains were never found. Of the 95 passengers and crew, 68 were injured. Was Lansing alive when she exited the fuselage? If so, would she have been flash-frozen? If she happened to exit the plane alive, it must have been a terrifying fall. Investigators blamed metal fatigue for the accident.(4) Sherwood Anderson. The celebrated author of Winesburg, Ohio loved martinis. Before taking a cruise to South America in 1941, Anderson and his wife celebrated their departure at several parties hosted by well-wishers. As always, the author imbibed until he could barely move. Once he boarded the cruise liner Santa Lucia, he began to complain of abdominal pain. The discomfort grew worse, and Anderson disembarked at Colon, Panama where he was taken to the hospital. After lingering for several days, he died. An autopsy revealed that a toothpick had pierced the lower part of his colon, causing an infection that eventually developed into peritonitis. Biographers claimed that Anderson likely swallowed the toothpick while drinking martinis. Buried at his home in Virginia, the author’s epitaph reads: “Life, Not Death, is the Great Adventure.”(3) David Carradine. The actor is best known for his television show, “Kung Fu.” Carradine, scion of a famous Hollywood family, made numerous movies in several genres, including martial arts flicks, westerns, and science fiction films. In 2009, ABC News reported that Carradine “was found by a chamber maid at Bangkok’s Park Nai Lert Hotel naked and dead, slumped in a closet with cords bound and connecting his neck and his genitals.” Reports stated that he died wearing women’s stockings and a wig. Police ruled the death an accident, the result of “auto-erotic asphyxiation, the practice of cutting off one’s air supply to heighten sexual pleasure.” Two of Carradine’s former wives told reporters that he was addicted to “deviant sexual behavior.” Carradine’s acting legacy likely will be overshadowed by the weird circumstances of his death.(2) Sidney Reso. The CEO of Exxon, Reso was kidnapped from the driveway of his home in Morris Township, New Jersey. He put up a struggle and his captors, Arthur and Irene Seale, shot him in the arm. Two wannabe Yuppies, the couple hoped to collect 18.5 million dollars from Exxon. Arthur and Irene forced Reso into a wooden box and nailed down the lid. The box had only a few holes for air, some candy, and water. Reso, still in the wooden box, was placed inside a storage unit as his kidnappers attempted to collect the ransom. A diabetic who needed daily shots of insulin, Reso could not last long. In addition to his medical issues, the summer’s heat made the box unbearable. By the end of his third day in his tomb, he died from heat and exhaustion. The Seales then moved his body, dumping it into Bass River State Park. A few days later, the FBI captured the duo. They were both convicted and sentenced to life in prison.(1) Jeffrey Bush. Central Florida is the sinkhole capital of the world. These cavernous chasms have been known to swallow cattle and horses, cars and trucks, streets and homes. It’s rare that they take a human life, but Jeff Bush not only fell into a one hundred foot sinkhole, his body was never recovered. Bush was asleep in his Seffner, Florida home when the floor beneath him suddenly collapsed. He screamed, and his brother, Jeremy, ran into the room and watched as Jeff disappeared into the abyss. Jeremy clambered into the hole in an attempt to save his brother, but Jeff was gone. Rescuers soon arrived, but could do little. A few days later, officials demolished the home and covered the place where Jeff Bush vanished. Several neighboring homes were also demolished, and a fence placed around the site. How did Jeff Bush die? Did falling debris kill him? Did he fall all the way to the aquifer 100 feet below and drown? No one knows.
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February 2, 2015, 12:03 am
Still making news…by Robert A. WatersLarry Flynt has a bounty on Tim Tebow. If you can catch the former quarterback and practicing Christian in a flagrant sex act, you’ll win a cool million dollars. Flynt, owner of Hustlermagazine, seems to think everyone is as twisted as he is. So he’s prepared to pay big bucks to prove that Tebow is a hypocrite.In another round of recent news, Patrick Schmidt, a writer for SI.com, took issue because someone wore a Tim Tebow New York Rangers jersey to a Pittsburgh Penguins game. In fact, Schmidt wrote an entire column describing his outrage, including this gem: “I don’t think I’ve ever seen a cross-sport jersey in my lifetime, but I suppose there is a first (and last) time for everything. It is hard to disagree…about it being the worst jersey on the planet.”I mean, really! Who cares? On a scale of one to a million (with one million being the least obnoxious thing going on in sports), I’d rank a Tebow “cross-sport jersey” at one million. Schmidt needs to get a life.
In case you missed it, there’s other news about Tebow.
The Tim Tebow Foundation, in partnership with CURE, has opened an orthopedic hospital in Davao City, Phillipines. His foundation reports that “the Tebow CURE Hospital in the Philippines will provide life-changing surgeries for hundreds of children with curable disabilities each year.” All medical treatments are free to patients.
In 2012, Tebow opened his first Timmy’s Playroom, which are for children battling life-threatening illnesses. The brochure advertising this innovative approach to medical rehabilitation reads: “Through allowing children to take their minds off of their medical treatments, a Timmy's Playroom provides them with a place to smile, draw, create, play video games, and enjoy a positive atmosphere.” Nearly a dozen more Timmy’s Playrooms have opened since 2012.
In addition to Tebow’s CURE Hospital and Timmy’s Playrooms, the former football star has launched the W15H (WISH) program and an Orphan Care program.Tebow spends much of his time making a difference in the lives of children. His latest project is to fund 45 prom nights in the United States, Uganda, and Kenya for special needs teenagers.And yet some reporter has nothing better to do than criticize a “cross-sport jersey” with Tebow’s name on it.How about an article on all the good works Tim Tebow is doing?
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February 7, 2015, 9:38 pm
Justice overdue…by Robert A. WatersThe federal government has a poor record of carrying out executions. Only three men have been put to death since 1988: Timothy McVeigh, terrorist mass murderer; Juan Raul Garza, mass killer; and Louis Jones, rapist, kidnapper, and killer.Hell impatiently awaits another 59, including Keith Duane Nelson.The U. S. Court of Appeals published a summary of his crimes: “On October 12, 1999…ten-year-old Pamela Butler was rollerblading in the street near her residence in the same area. Nelson parked his vehicle at the side of the street and lay in wait. As Pamela skated near the slightly ajar door of the truck, Nelson quickly jumped out of the truck, grabbed her around the waist, and threw her into the truck. Pamela’s sister, Penny, observed the kidnapping and saw her sister struggling with Nelson in the cab of the truck. Several witnesses also observed the kidnapping, one of whom gave chase in his own vehicle. Although Nelson eluded him, the witness was able to write down the license plate number of the truck—Missouri plate number 177-CE2. Several other eyewitnesses verified the truck license plate number.“Later that evening, the custodian of the Grain Valley Christian Church in Kansas City, Missouri, and his wife saw a suspicious white truck with Missouri license plate number 177-CE2 parked in the church lot. The custodian’s wife wrote down the plate number and noticed an afghan in the front seat of the truck. They contacted the police after seeing the kidnapping story on the ten o’clock news and informed them of the location of the truck. When the police arrived at the church, the truck was gone.“The truck was found abandoned the next day in Kansas City, Missouri. A police dog that had been provided with some of Pamela’s clothing was dispatched to Nelson’s mother’s house and alerted to an afghan found inside the residence. That same day a large manhunt for Nelson commenced. On October 14, a civilian employee of a police department spotted Nelson hiding under a bridge. After he was spotted, Nelson went into the river and attempted to get away. When he made it back to shore, he was surrounded by railroad workers who detained him until the authorities arrived. After the authorities arrived, an onlooker shouted, “Where is the little girl?” Nelson turned to an officer and stated, “I know where she’s at, but I’m not saying right now.” His capture was broadcast live on television. The next day the police found Butler’s body in a wooded area behind the Grain Valley Christian Church. That discovery was broadcast on local television, and the United States Attorney held a live press conference from the discovery site. Subsequent investigation revealed that Pamela had been raped and then strangled to death with wire. The DNA in seminal fluid obtained from Pamela’s underpants matched Nelson’s DNA.”A few days before snatching Pamela, Nelson had attempted to abduct Michanne Mattson, 20. The pretty medical student fought for her life, refusing to enter his truck even though she had been handcuffed. After hand-to-hand combat that seemed to go on forever, Mattson escaped.Nelson, a career criminal who had recently been released from prison, was tried in federal court because of the Lindbergh Law—the kidnapping took place in Kansas but the murder was committed in Missouri.KMBC.com reported that Nelson’s execution has been delayed because the government claims it has a “lack of funds to pay for the [appeals] of poor people charged with federal crimes.”(Imagine that—the U.S. government can spend $175,000 “to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior,” but they summarily delay executions because, as KMBC.com reports, “federally funded lawyers don’t have the money to pay for travel and witness fees.”)Pamela’s mother, Cherri West, figures it’s time for the Feds to quit playing around and execute this monster. “This has gone on long enough,” she said.I agree.
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February 14, 2015, 4:19 am
25 years and counting…by Robert A. WatersUnknown to forty-two-year-old Sharon Marie Gill, a two-man crime-wave lived just yards away from her new home in Deep Creek, Florida. She and her husband, Percy, were missionaries who planned to retire in the Sunshine State. Sharon and daughter Kendra, 17, had moved south a few months ahead of Percy (who was still working in Detroit) to get their new house ready.On the afternoon of Wednesday, March 21, 1990, the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office responded to a call from Kendra. The distraught teen sobbed into the phone that she’d returned home from school and found her mother dead. A report from the sheriff’s office stated that “[Sharon Gill] was found partially nude, stabbed multiple times, lying in a pool of blood on the master bathroom floor of her residence.” In addition to having sustained 38 stab wounds, Sharon had been brutally raped.Investigators learned that she had been speaking on the phone with her travel agent when she heard a knock at the door. Before hanging up, Sharon informed the agent that she thought landscapers had arrived.A few yards behind the Gill home, another family of transplants resided. Shawn Edward Malsky and his brother Scott hailed from Massachusetts—each had been in and out of trouble since their early teens. In Florida alone, Shawn had been arrested 30 times. In one case, he was convicted of injecting heroin into his girlfriend’s 4-year-old daughter. According to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, “Malsky landed behind bars again Oct. 31 after he allegedly shot heroin into preschooler Rylee Nantell and put a lighted crack pipe in her mouth. He reportedly told Rylee that smoking crack would give her energy, a sheriff’s report states.” Shawn is currently serving out a 16 year sentence for that crime. He had previously served prison time for crimes such as forgery, aggravated battery with a deadly weapon, grand theft, and burglary.Shawn Malsky is the older brother of Scott Christopher Malsky, who is currently serving a life sentence for raping and killing Pauline Farrington, an elderly Port Charlotte widow. Scott was also convicted of abducting, raping, stabbing, and setting on fire a 14-year-old girl. He is currently serving a life sentence for murder.Immediately after Gill’s murder, investigators took a close look at the Malsky brothers, particularly Shawn. He was arrested and charged with her murder. However, after spending two years in jail awaiting trial, he was released. Investigators cited a lack of evidence, although to this day they continue to view him as a suspect.In November, 2014, WBBH TV reported that “Sharon [Gill], 42, was stabbed multiple times in her home on Rampart Blvd. in Deep Creek on March 21, 1990.“One very strong suspect, Shawn Edward Malsky, was eventually arrested for this murder.“Malsky was living in the same neighborhood with his grandparents at the time. The charges were eventually dropped against Malsky because of an alibi.“Cold Case detectives have recently discredited the alibi. Detectives are currently re-examining all evidence and witness testimony.”Although it’s been 25 years since Sharon Gill’s murder, the family still grieves her loss. Family members have stated that DNA is available, but that no match has been made to any suspect.If you have information about this case, please call the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office Cold Case Unit at 941-575-5361 or after hours call 941-639-2101, or email them at coldcase@ccso.org.
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February 19, 2015, 6:12 pm
A few days ago, my blog, “Kidnapping, Murder and Mayhem,” surpassed 1 million page views.Influenced by Laura James’ outstanding blog, “CLEWS,” I wanted an online outlet to publish short true crime stories, as well as narratives about any other subject that struck me. I decided to stay away from political discussion since there are thousands of websites that cater to every nuance of the political spectrum. Two exceptions were the gun issue (I’m obviously pro-gun) and the death penalty (in certain narrow instances, I’m obviously pro-death penalty).Here are a few facts about my blog.I refuse to allow any advertisements since I loathe pop-ups and side-ads that distract from the content. In fact, I refuse to read the content of websites that have distracting ads.I get many comments from readers, and I generally publish them whether the reader agrees with me or not. But I personally do not use profanity either in speech or prose and will not publish comments that contain foul language. I am exceedingly grateful to readers of my blog and always feel blessed when hearing from them.I enjoy writing reviews about good books that I’ve read. For the last two decades, I’ve read almost no novels. To me, real life trumps fiction every time.In my blog, I publish only material that appeals to me.I’m interested in American history, particularly the history of my native Florida; the War Between the States; World War I; and World War II. I also enjoy learning more about unsolved cases. Some of these include the kidnapping ofDorothy “Dee” Scofieldfrom my hometown of Ocala, Florida; the abduction ofAmber Hagerman from Texas; and the kidnapping of Jennifer Kesse from Orlando. The brazen, senseless murder ofLinda Raulerson, a convenience store clerk in Lake City, Florida, is another case I’d like to see solved. I’ve written two blogs about the Canadian kidnapping and murder of Sharin’ Morningstar Keenan, and her killer Dennis Melvyn Howe. How a career criminal who had never been out of jail for more than a few weeks at a time could escape police and remain undetected for more than 30 years leads me to believe that Howe died shortly after his escape, but I have no proof of that.So a huge THANKS to those who have clicked into my blog, and particularly those who read it on a regular basis. I hope to continue writing it for many more years.
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February 24, 2015, 5:58 am
Pharmacist outguns robber…by Robert A. WatersWorking behind the counter at Good Family Pharmacy in Pinch, West Virginia, pharmacist Don Radcliff noticed a strange man walk in. The man’s head was covered with a hoodie, and his face masked by a white bandana. Since the weather was freezing outside, Radcliff didn’t feel uncomfortable with the man’s unusual attire.Attempting to crack a joke, Radcliff asked the man if he was there to rob the store. The man didn’t respond, and that suddenly struck Radcliff as strange. “He didn’t say anything,” Radcliff said. “He didn’t reply. He didn’t laugh or joke with me. He didn’t pull his hood or mask down and that gave me an uneasy feeling.”Surveillance videos inside the store recorded what happened next.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wOq7iUFiXR4The masked man, later identified as Terry Gillenwater, reached into his pocket and pulled out a handgun. Radcliff later said: “As soon as I saw [Gillenwater’s] gun, I went for mine. You can’t hesitate and I didn’t. I tried to close the distance between us because there was another student and an employee there and I definitely didn’t want them between us in a gunfight. If there was going to be a gunfight, it was going to be between me and him.”The pharmacist fired three rounds from his .45-caliber pistol. Each bullet struck home. The first round hit Gillenwater in the chest while the second hit the robber’s gun, disabling it. Radcliff’s final round struck the robber in the abdomen. Gillenwater fell to the floor, mortally wounded.While Radcliff attempted to treat the robber’s wounds, pharmacy staff dialed 911. Gillenwater, however, died on his way to the hospital.Investigators concluded that Gillenwater’s intent was to steal prescription drugs. He had a history of drug abuse, and had recently entered a treatment center after pleading guilty to conspiracy to distribute Oxycontin. Kanawha County Prosecutor Chuck Miller stated that “Mr. Gillenwater had done some preliminary efforts to case the pharmacy. He had done some search[es] on his iPhone with respect to drugs in the pharmacy.”Miller later told reporters that “it took a great deal of courage for Mr. Radcliff to pull his weapon and fire in the face of a weapon being pointed at him that was fully loaded with a round in the chamber. That takes a lot of nerve, but he was completely justified in doing so.”The pharmacist, who had a concealed carry permit, will not be charged with any crime.
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Kermit Alexander Seeks Justice
“In the past 29 years, I’ve missed my mother everyday…”by Robert A. WatersIt has long been my opinion that capital punishment is a social contract between a nation’s populace and government. Throughout much of history, families of murder victims took their own revenge. When civilized societies formed, governments took the role of avenger. Today it’s called justice, but it’s the same thing. When states do not administer justice, what recourse do families have? Recently, Kermit Alexander, a former NFL star, sued the state of California, demanding that his mother’s killer be executed. This lawsuit is long overdue.At 5:30 A.M., on August 31, 1984, Ebora Alexander, still wearing her nightgown and slippers, was making coffee in her kitchen. Within seconds, she lay dead. Ebora had been shot three times in the head.Her daughter, Dietra, 23, screamed when she heard the commotion. Ebora’s killer then ran into her bedroom and shot her between the eyes.Two of Ebora’s grandchildren, Damon Bonner, 8, and Damani Garner, 10, died in their beds, brutally slaughtered by the same gunman.The murdered members of the family were innocent victims of a botched hit—the killers had mistaken Ebora’s home for that of their intended target.Ebora Alexander lived in Watts, always a powder-keg ruled by drugs and gangs. Her son, Kermit Alexander, who had played for ten years in the NFL, begged her to move out. But Ebora wanted to be near her friends, so she remained in her long-time home.Kermit’s first impulse was to find the murderers and kill them. He bought a gun and, like the police, searched for the killers. NBC News reported that “the ex-athlete—who was a first-round draft pick in 1963 and spent 10 years in the pros—says the only reason he didn’t become a killer himself is because then-Mayor Tom Bradley made him promise to give up his hunt and let the legal process run its course.”When the shooter, Tiequon Cox, a member of the Rollin 60 Crips Gang, was identified by police, Alexander assumed that justice would be served. Cox was tried and convicted, and sentenced to death. His cohort, who did not pull the trigger, received a life sentence.For 31 years, Alexander has waited. “It galls me,” he said. “The people of California have said over and over again that they want this kind of punishment for the worst criminals.”Two years ago, Kermit wrote in the San Francisco Chronicle that “on Aug. 31, 1984, Cox murdered my mother, sister and two nephews during an early morning home invasion. Cox, a for-hire killer, went to the wrong address and mistakenly killed my family—four acts of murder committed on an innocent family in exchange for $3,500.“In the past 29 years, I have missed my mother every day. Yet my family’s murderer continues to live, even though the jury found him guilty and then unanimously recommended the death penalty.”I’d like to see a parade of other families of victims join Aexander’s lawsuit. Maybe that would convince California’s anti-capital punishment governor, Jerry Brown, that justice should finally be served.
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“History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.” Napoleon Bonaparte.“Every man must do two things alone; he must do his own believing and his own dying.” Martin Luther.“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.” George Orwell.“People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.” George Orwell.“How can you expect a man who’s warm to understand one who’s cold?” Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn.“[We] made a great mistake in the beginning of our struggle, and I fear, in spite of all we can do, it will prove to be a fatal mistake. We appointed all our worst generals to command our armies, and all our best generals to edit the newspapers.” Robert E. Lee.“Anyone who clings to the historically untrue — and — thoroughly immoral doctrine that violence never solves anything I would advise to conjure up the ghosts of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington and let them debate it. The ghost of Hitler would referee. Violence, naked force, has settled more issues in history than has any other factor; and the contrary opinion is wishful thinking at its worst. Breeds that forget this basic truth have always paid for it with their lives and their freedoms.” Robert A. Heinlein.“If freedom of speech is taken away, then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” George Washington.“By gnawing through a dike, even a rat may drown a nation.” Edmund Burke.“Giving money and power to government is like giving whiskey and car keys to teenage boys.” P. J. O’Rourke.“History is written by the winners.” Alex Haley.“I think that there are certain crimes which the law cannot touch, and which therefore, to some extent, justify private revenge.” Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes quote from “The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton.”)“Political correctness is tyranny with manners.” Charlton Heston.
“Be wary of strong drink. It can make you shoot at tax collectors... and miss.” Robert A. Heinlein.
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“A bloody spectacle…”by Robert A. WatersAt the Boston terror trial, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s attorney admitted his client set off the pressure cooker bombs that killed three people and injured hundreds more. But just wait, the lawyer said, my client had a reason. Before we get an explanation, however, a parade of victims file into court to recount the horror of that afternoon.One fine spring day, while people are having fun in arguably the country’s most iconic city, a deafening blast rocks the landscape. Then another. In the courtroom, photos and videos show excruciating scenes of mutilation, blood (real blood, not movie blood), evisceration. Jurors gasp when they hear the explosions, but after the smoke clears, there’s more—whimpers drifting into the sad sky mixed with shrieks that must confound the heavens.In court, wounded souls drag prosthetic limbs to the stand and tell their stories, trying to make sense of the senseless. A father describes how he had to make a decision: should he tend to his mangled son whose light was already flickering, or should he help his daughter whose leg had been blown to smithereens?There’s the cop who administered CPR to a woman whose lower body had been blown off. “From the waist down,” he said, “it’s really tough to describe. It was complete mutilation.” As strangers worked to save her life, the woman mouthed to a friend that her legs hurt. Seconds later, her hand went limp.Then there was the graduate student who traveled seven thousand miles only to die on a bloody foreign street.While viewing destruction on an unimaginable scale, the gallery of spectators wept. But somewhere out there, in the midst of death, the lawyer says there’s a reason. After jurors hear Tsarnaev’s motive, they’ll want to let him live out his life.The prosecutor informed jurors that the bomb was “designed to tear people apart and create a bloody spectacle.” That’s obvious.But why?I can’t wait to hear Tsarnaev’s explanation.
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The Internet’s original cybersleuth, Todd Matthews, is to be featured in a documentary film that will publicize missing persons and the unidentified dead, but the project needs $40,000 for completion. This website explains how you can help.Todd, who now works for the Department of Justice, has been featured on national television, in People Magazine, and in books about the unidentified dead.He has been my friend for many years, since I visited him in his hometown of Livingston, Tennessee. Todd is a champion of the underdog whose life has been dedicated to helping others. He learned early on that publicity and an online army of volunteers can do as much or more than law enforcement to find identities of those sad remains that no longer have names.The first person who emails me and tells me they’ve made a contribution to the documentary film fund will receive a free copy of my latest book, The Kidnapping and Murder of Little Skeegie Cash: J. Edgar Hoover and Florida’s Lindbergh Case. The book will be signed by both me and my co-author, Zack C. Waters. (NOTE: WE HAVE A WINNER. THANKS, KAREN.)“Let Nothing Tear Us Apart” will bring much-needed publicity to the cause.
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New York: The capital of American slavery
by Robert A. WatersDouglas Harper is a Pennsylvania historian and author. His website about slavery in the northern states draws heavily on original source material. While researching northern slavery, Harper writes: “I kept running into people, most of them born and raised in ‘free’ states, who had no idea there ever were slaves in the North.” Much of the information in this story comes from Harper’s work, and from Mac Griswold’s book, The Manor: Three Centuries At a Slave Plantation on Long Island.Yes, Virginia, northern slavery not only existed but flourished. In fact, slavery still survived in some northern states years after Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation called for freeing slaves in the South.Dutch and English slavers brought Africans to America soon after its discovery. Not to be denied, New England ship captains quickly began sailing to Africa where they purchased slaves from tribal leaders. These Africans were shipped to northern ports and sold to the highest bidder. By 1790, the population of America was four million, 19% of which were slaves, most in northern states.In “The Hidden History of Slavery in New York,” Adele Oltman, writes: “On display [at the New-York Historical Society] is The Trading Book of the Sloop of Rhode Island, which left the Port of New York in 1748 for West Africa under the direction of Capt. Peter James…Early in the voyage, around Sierra Leone, James distributed two New World commodities that had come through the Port of New York: tobacco and rum…In return he loaded up on cloth, guns and other manufactured goods from Europe. Later, as he sailed along the Gold Coast (today’s Ghana), he traded those goods for slaves, a few at a time.“James’s book registered the deaths of thirty-eight slaves on the journey home. But even with the loss, the trafficking in slaves was profitable. A table provides a graphic illustration of just how lucrative the business was. In 1675 the average selling price of a slave in dollars in Africa was $354.89, and in New York it was $3,792.66 (that's a 969 percent markup, for those econometricians keeping score). A hundred years later the trade was still profitable, although with a more modest return of 159 percent.”Uncle Tom’s Cabinportrayed Southern slave-holders as brutal. But brutality is where you find it, as these true stories show.After a New York City slave uprising in 1712, Harper writes that “a special court convened by the governor made short work of the rebels. Of the twenty-seven slaves brought to trial for complicity in the plot, twenty-one were convicted and put to death. Since the law authorized any degree of punishment in such cases, some unlucky slaves were executed with all the refinements of calculated barbarity. New Yorkers were treated to a round of grisly spectacles as Negroes were burned alive, racked and broken on the wheel, and gibbeted alive in chains.”The following example could come straight from the files of ISIS: “As in other Northern colonies, blacks in New York faced special, severe penalties for certain crimes. An example from Poughkeepsie illustrates one of them: A young slave, about twenty years of age...[burned] his master’s barn and outbuildings, and thus destroyed much grain, together with live-stock. He was detected by the smoke issuing from his pocket, (into which he had thrust some combustibles,) imprisoned, tried, and on his confession, condemned to be burned to death. He was fastened to a stake, and when the pile was fired, the dense crowd excluded the air, so that the flames kindled but slowly, and the dreadful screams of the victim were heard at a distance of three miles. His master, who had been fond of him, wept aloud, and called to the Sheriff to put him out of his misery. This officer then drew his sword; but the master, still crying like a child, exclaimed, ‘Oh, don’t run him through!’ The Sheriff then caused the crowd to separate, so as to cause a current of air; and when the flame burst out fiercely he called to the sufferer to ‘swallow the blaze;’ which he did, and immediately he sunk dead.”In the early-to-mid 1800s, most northern states abolished slavery, but not all.After Lincoln’s armies invaded the Confederacy, the U. S. president issued the Emancipation Proclamation. Intended for the South, the Proclamation was never intended for the northern states. For example, even though the War Between the States ended in April, 1865, slave-owners in Delaware kept slaves until the 13thAmendment was ratified in December, 1865. That was three full years after the Proclamation. One thorny question remains: if ending slavery was truly the major motive for the war, why did Northerners continue to own slaves while demanding that the South relinquish theirs?
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