By Chris Bunton I have been traveling sections of The Great River Road for many years now. It is a road that goes along the Mississippi River on both sides, and is full of beautiful sites of history and culture. I recently went to Alton, Illinois which is on the Great River Road, in theContinue reading “The First Prison in Illinois”
Category Archives: Historical Crime
Last Meal
By Matthew Senn I sit down to the smell of steak and skunk beer. There’s a greying woman behind the saloon bar flipping meals and meat with a rusty fork. She turns and smiles holding out a finger for me to wait. “Take your time. There’s no hurry.” “Cold out there?” “Yes, ma’am.” I adjustContinue reading “Last Meal”
Murder and Mayhem
Murder and Mayhem on the Main Street of America: Tales from Bloody 66 By Jim Hinckley. “Families on vacation. Serial Killers. Truck drivers. Vagabonds. Celebrities. Gangsters. The weary and the wicked of all types and stripes traveled the Mother Road. And not all of them made it. Some ended up in jail, others ended upContinue reading “Murder and Mayhem”
You got Faith. I got Works.
By Matthew Senn Marshal’d come back on a wagon that wasn’t his, pulled by a horse that sure as hell wasn’t his either. Coming to a crawl outside Farrell’s’, a group of us gathered to greet ‘im. He didn’t smile. His face & the cross onnis neck covered with dust. A fresh bullet graze satContinue reading “You got Faith. I got Works.”
Spit for Luck
By Matthew Senn “If it’s so goddamn cold in here, how come I’m sweatin’ my ass off?” The three other men who stood with Rhys ‘Luck’ Cain in the small abandoned homestead, all gave him their fair share of looks as they watched him stand next to the small wood stove wearing a buffalo coat,Continue reading “Spit for Luck”
T.V. Series Review: Boardwalk Empire
By Chris Bunton Boardwalk Empire is a great T.V. Series that centers on the building of Atlantic City, Prohibition, the Depression and a man named Enoch “Nucky” Thompson. “Nucky” Thompson, played by Steve Buscemi is a fictional character based loosely on the real life person, of Enoch “Nucky” Johnson. And that’s part of the funContinue reading “T.V. Series Review: Boardwalk Empire”
Shots Ring Out
By Matthew Senn My daddy was a paranoid man. Had every right to be too, ‘course. He’d always figgered someone would come lookin’ for ‘im one day. Never went into much more detail than that. One mornin’, he hears some shots ring out. He was a corn farmer then, our patch a land went fromContinue reading “Shots Ring Out”
Book Release: “I’m a Dead Man”
By Chris Bunton If you are interested in conspiracy theories, and most especially the theories surrounding the John F. Kennedy assassination, then this is a book for you to check out. It is written by author and police historian, Sgt. Mike Simmons. The press release says: “PENSACOLA, Fla. _ Delving into a decades-old mystery involvingContinue reading “Book Release: “I’m a Dead Man””
Gang Shooting in Dowell, Illinois
Dowell, Illinois is a small town of about 200 people. It sits in Southern Illinois, which is a rural area about 6 hours south of Chicago, and an hour or 2 east of St. Louis. It’s mostly a quiet area, but in the 20’s it was full of bootlegging, speakeasies, and gang war. The gangContinue reading “Gang Shooting in Dowell, Illinois”
About Historical Crime
These are non-fiction, accounts of historical crimes. Historical would be defined as something that occurred long enough ago, that virtually all the people involved are dead or almost dead. Stories from the 1800’s, the Civil War, the 1920’s 30’s, Prohibition era. 1950’s-1960’s might even fit. Research thoroughly and teach us something. Follow Submission Guidelines