I purchased this book from Amazon. It's a horrific case about two depraved and fiendish men who raped and murdered young girls in the 1980s. They were called the Railway Murders because of their location near railway stations. However it's a good read. I recommend it to anyone interested in true crime. A Dangerous Place by Simon Farquhar is published by History Press.
In 1684 William Carstares became the last man in Britain to be tortured with thumbscrews. He was tortured because he was suspected of being involved in a plot against the king.
On 18 August 1634 a French Catholic priest named Urbain Grandier was burned to death after being convicted of witchcraft. He was supposed to have caused a group of nuns to become demon posessed. In 1971 a movie called The Devils was made about it.
On 17 August 1962 Peter Fechter became the first person shot by East German guards at the Berlin Wall.
Mary Blandy was convicted of murdering her father and was hanged for the crime. Mary was born in 1720 into a middle-class family. Her father, Francis Blandy, was a well-to-do lawyer and the town clerk of Henley on Thames in Oxfordshire. Mary was, by all accounts, intelligent and well educated.
Keen to see his daughter marry well, Francis offered a dowry of £10,000 (a huge sum at that time). However, Blandy's entire estate was only worth about £4,000, and he could not have honoured the bargain. Still, the offer attracted a man named Captain William Cranstoun in 1746. Cranstoun was the son of a Scottish nobleman. In 1747, he asked to marry Mary. Francis agreed, and even invited him to move into the Blandy home.
However, Cranstoun was already married. When Francis Blandy found out, he was naturally enraged. However, Cranstoun managed to persuade Mary and her mother that his marriage was invalid and would soon be annulled by the Scottish courts.
Cranstoun moved to London to await the court's decision. However, the Scottish court ruled that his marriage was legal.
Cranstoun persuaded Mary that he had a 'love powder' that, if she mixed it with her father's food and drink, it would change his attitude. He would start to like Cranstoun. The 'love powder' was actually arsenic. It's not clear if Mary naively believed Cranstoun or if she realised what the powder actually was. In any case, her father fell ill and gradually worsened. He died on 14 August 1751.
Nevertheless, Mary was not arrested till the following year, 1752. Cranstoun heard of the arrest, and he fled to France. Mary Blandy was convicted of murder, and she was hanged on 6 April 1752.
On 16 August 1819 the Peterloo Massacre took place. A big crowd held a peaceful political meeting at St Peters Fields in Manchester, England. The magistrates sent in troops who killed 11 and injured about 400.
The last person to be executed in the Tower of London was German spy Josef Jakobs on 15 August 1941. He was shot by a firing squad. This is a video about the case.
On 13 August 1964 Gwynne Evans and Peter Allen were hanged in separate prisons. They were the last people to be hanged in Britain for murder. The death sentence for murder was abolished for a trial period of 5 years in 1965. It was permanently abolished for murder in 1969. This is a YouTube video about the case.
I found an interesting video about two evil rapists and murderers, John Duffy and David Mulcahy. They were known as the Railway Killers. They struck near railway stations or railway lines in London and Surrey during the 1980s. It's a horrific case. Duffy was convicted of murder in 1988. Mulcahy was convicted in 2001.
I found this interesting video about a charming individual who killed his parents.
Derek Bentley was hanged in 1953. The unfortunate man was granted a posthumous pardon in 1998. It was a tragic case. This YouTube video forensically examines the statement supposedly made by Mr Bentley to the police.
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On 10 August the murderer John George Haigh was hanged in Wandsworth prison in London. Haigh killed 6 people and dissolved the bodies in acid. Haigh asked for a trial hanging, to make sure everything went OK. The request was refused but Haigh need not have worried, his execution proceeded without fault.
The Great Train Robbery took place on 8 August 1963. It was a notorious crime where the robbers held up a train and stole a vast amount of money. This YouTube video explains it all.
On 7 August 1888 Martha Tabram was murdered in the East End of London. The unfortunate woman was stabbed repeatedly. Some people think she was the first victim of the notorious serial killer Jack the Ripper.
On 7 August 1890, Anna Mansdotter became the last woman to be executed in Sweden. She was convicted of killing her daughter-in-law. She was beheaded with an axe.
On 6 August 1890, William Kemmler became the first man to be executed in the electric chair. The first woman executed in the electric chair was Martha Place in 1899.
The famous Staffordshire poisoner William Palmer was born on 6 August 1824. In 1856 Palmer was convicted of poisoning his friend with strychnine and sentenced to death. On the gallows, he is supposed to have said 'are you sure this damn thing's safe?' (a very doubtful story!) Palmer was dubbed 'The Prince of Poisoners' and is believed to have poisoned up to 15 people.
I found a good video about the infamous child killer Colin Pitchfork. It's a horrific case.
On 31 July 1910 Dr Crippen was arrested when arrived by ship in Canada. Hawley Harvey Crippen was believed to have murdered his wife, Cora Crippen by poisoning her with hyoscine. Police became suspicious when she disappeared and Crippen fled with his lover, Ethlel le Neve to Canada. A human torso was found in his cellar, but the head and limbs were never found. The captain of the ship Crippen and le Neve were on became suspicious of the pair, who were, of course travelling under false identities. Ethel le Neve was dressed as a boy and they supposed to be father and son. However, the captain was not fooled. He radioed London. Police sailed for Canada on a faster ship and arrived before Crippen. Dr Crippen and Ethel le Neve were returned to Britain for trial.
Hawley Harvey Crippen was convicted of murder and he was hanged on 23 November 1910. Ethel le Neve was tried separately and she was acquitted. Dr Crippen became famous as he was the first murderer caught by radio. However, some people now question if Dr Crippen really murdered his wife. Was the torso in the cellar really that of his wife? Was Dr Crippen innocent of his wife's murder? - BBC News
Elizabeth Short was born on 29 July 1924. In 1947 she became the victim of an unsolved murder in Los Angeles. She became known as the Black Dahlia.
