Download or read book Minnesota s Oldest Murder Mystery written by Gary John Brueggemann and published by Bookhouse Fulfillment. This book was released on 2012-11 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On September 27, 1839, the battered body of a middle-aged Irishman was found by some Dakota Indian boys. The corpse washed up along the Mississippi River shore, about seven miles downstream from Fort Snelling near the ancient Indian landmark the non-Indians called Carver's Cave. It was the body of Sgt. John Hays, a popular former soldier, who, prior to his disappearance twenty-one days earlier, had been sharing a log shanty a few miles upriver from the cave with his friend and business partner, Edward Phelan (or Phalen). Before the year was over, Phelan was arrested and charged with the murder of his friend. This is the first book to focus on this historic murder and the first thorough biography of Phelan, a notorious pioneer intimately involved in the making of St. Paul and founding of Minnesota. Was he guilty? All investigative reports and records of Phelan's trial were mysteriously lost and no newspapers covered the story. However, in 1994, St. Paul historian Gary Brueggemann made an amazing discovery in the Minnesota Historical Society archives: hidden in the papers of Joseph R. Brown was Brown's original Justice of the Peace casebook which included his handwritten transcription of the Hay's murder hearing. Using this record, other primary sources, and drawing from decades of studying Minnesota and St. Paul history, the author theorizes a logical solution to Minnesota's oldest unsolved murder. Book jacket.

Download or read book Murder in Chisago County written by Brian Johnson and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2018-09-03 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A Minnesota journalist breaks down the cold case that has beguiled a community and haunted his family for generations. At 3:30 a.m. on April 11, 1933, neighbors and firefighters arrived at the farmhouse of Albin and Alvira Johnson to find a smoldering heap where a seemingly happy home once stood. Beneath the ruins, investigators found the bodies of Alvira and her seven children, but Albin's remains were nowhere to be seen. The authorities determined that Alvira and the children were dead before the fire, and fingers immediately pointed to Albin. Hundreds of searchers, including the illustrious Pinkerton Agency, combed the area and even crossed into Canada in pursuit of Johnson, who was indicted in absentia for murder. But he was never found, dead or alive. What happened to the Johnson family and what part, if any, Albin played in the tragedy remain a mystery . . .

Download or read book Murder in Minnesota written by Walter N. Trenerry and published by Minnesota Historical Society Press. This book was released on 1985 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This treasury of vintage crime offers a vivid picture of Minnesota from the time it achieved statehood in 1858 through 1917. It also traces the gradual changes in social attitudes from the days of frontier justice to the abolishment of capital punishment in 1911.

Download or read book Dial M written by William Swanson and published by Minnesota Historical Society. This book was released on 2008-10-14 with total page 228 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A haunting recreation of the brutal death of an American housewife, the conviction of her husband, and the family trial at which their children determined for themselves how their father should be charged.

Download or read book MURDER MYST MAYHEM IN MINNES written by Patricia Lubeck and published by . This book was released on 2016-12-02 with total page 160 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Murder and Misfortune in Minnesota This book contains stories of early crimes of disturbing proportions -- the weapons used to commit these dastardly deeds, the proceedings of the justice system at the time, early prison conditions and treatment of prisoners during their incarceration, and the judge's sentencing of the convicted. Most slayings in the 19th century started as disagreements among farmers in the field. They struggled to make a better life and many times took the law into their own hands. Insults to one's honor were taken seriously and violence was the method of settling disputes. The knife or a bludgeoning tool were the common weapons of choice, but later on, a good pistol could do a quick job in an unfortunate situation. Farm tools could also be used as weapons -- the ax, the pitchfork, the rope, the potato masher, the bolting pin, and even strychnine, which was used to poison vermin -- these were all at the ready and highly effective when needed. This book reveals how various types of lethal weapons were used to commit murder and misfortune in rural Redwood County in the early years. Eventually, official justice was established by the courts, replacing private vengeance committed as a result of feuds, fights or fraud. After reading these stories though, one might wonder -- is there truly any justice in this world!

Download or read book Ordinary Grace written by William Kent Krueger and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-03-04 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looking back at a tragic event that occurred during his thirteenth year, Frank Drum explores how a complicated web of secrets, adultery, and betrayal shattered his Methodist family and their small 1961 Minnesota community.

Download or read book The Man from the Train written by Bill James and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-09-19 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An Edgar Award finalist for Best Fact Crime, this “impressive…open-eyed investigative inquiry wrapped within a cultural history of rural America” (The Wall Street Journal) shows legendary statistician and baseball writer Bill James applying his analytical acumen to crack an unsolved century-old mystery surrounding one of the deadliest serial killers in American history. Between 1898 and 1912, families across the country were bludgeoned in their sleep with the blunt side of an axe. Some of these cases—like the infamous Villisca, Iowa, murders—received national attention. But most incidents went almost unnoticed outside the communities in which they occurred. Few people believed the crimes were related. And fewer still would realize that all of these families lived within walking distance to a train station. When celebrated true crime expert Bill James first learned about these horrors, he began to investigate others that might fit the same pattern. Applying the same know-how he brings to his legendary baseball analysis, he empirically determined which crimes were committed by the same person. Then after sifting through thousands of local newspapers, court transcripts, and public records, he and his daughter Rachel made an astonishing discovery: they learned the true identity of this monstrous criminal and uncovered one of the deadliest serial killers in America. “A suspenseful historical account” (Publishers Weekly, starred review), The Man from the Train paints a vivid, psychologically perceptive portrait of America at the dawn of the twentieth century, when crime was regarded as a local problem, and opportunistic private detectives exploited a dysfunctional judicial system. James shows how these cultural factors enabled such an unspeakable series of crimes to occur, and his groundbreaking approach to true crime will convince skeptics, amaze aficionados, and change the way we view criminal history. “A beautifully written and extraordinarily researched narrative…This is no pure whodunit, but rather a how-many-did-he-do” (Buffalo News).

Download or read book Murders Mysteries and Misfortune in Rice County written by Elsie Slinger and published by . This book was released on 2020-07 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book is about crimes (murders, mysteries and misfortune) in Rice County Minnesota.

Download or read book Fifteen Tales of Murder Mayhem and Malice from the Land of Minnesota Nice written by Minnesota Crime Wave (Group) and published by . This book was released on 2012 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Minnesota Crime Wave presents stories of mayhem by Minnesota’s finest mystery writers. Some will scare you. Some will make you cringe. All will put to rest the myth of Minnesota Nice! If you read these before bed, don’t expect sweet dreams.

Download or read book Dear John written by Shirlee and published by America Star Books. This book was released on 2014-09-22 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: He was the topic of some of the most intense talk in 1882. Perham and its surrounding area was swept up by the most dangerous criminal of their time. But who was John Trivett? Where did he come from? And why was he the one to make Steve Butler the most famous lawman in Otter Tail County? Cross the border of time and land to discover the true identity of John Trivett and relive a dark piece of Perham, Minnesota, history. Dear John... relives the past for the first time!

Download or read book Killers of the Flower Moon written by David Grann and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2018-04-03 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A twisting, haunting true-life murder mystery about one of the most monstrous crimes in American history, from the author of The Wager and The Lost City of Z, “one of the preeminent adventure and true-crime writers working today."—New York Magazine • NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST • NOW A MARTIN SCORSESE PICTURE “A shocking whodunit…What more could fans of true-crime thrillers ask?”—USA Today “A masterful work of literary journalism crafted with the urgency of a mystery.” —The Boston Globe In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe. Then, one by one, the Osage began to be killed off. The family of an Osage woman, Mollie Burkhart, became a prime target. One of her relatives was shot. Another was poisoned. And it was just the beginning, as more and more Osage were dying under mysterious circumstances, and many of those who dared to investigate the killings were themselves murdered. As the death toll rose, the newly created FBI took up the case, and the young director, J. Edgar Hoover, turned to a former Texas Ranger named Tom White to try to unravel the mystery. White put together an undercover team, including a Native American agent who infiltrated the region, and together with the Osage began to expose one of the most chilling conspiracies in American history. Look for David Grann’s latest bestselling book, The Wager!

Download or read book The Life We Bury written by Allen Eskens and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-10-14 with total page 303 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A USA Today bestseller and book club favorite! College student Joe Talbert has the modest goal of completing a writing assignment for an English class. His task is to interview a stranger and write a brief biography of the person. With deadlines looming, Joe heads to a nearby nursing home to find a willing subject. There he meets Carl Iverson, and soon nothing in Joe's life is ever the same. Carl is a dying Vietnam veteran--and a convicted murderer. With only a few months to live, he has been medically paroled to a nursing home, after spending thirty years in prison for the crimes of rape and murder. As Joe writes about Carl's life, especially Carl's valor in Vietnam, he cannot reconcile the heroism of the soldier with the despicable acts of the convict. Joe, along with his skeptical female neighbor, throws himself into uncovering the truth, but he is hamstrung in his efforts by having to deal with his dangerously dysfunctional mother, the guilt of leaving his autistic brother vulnerable, and a haunting childhood memory. Thread by thread, Joe unravels the tapestry of Carl’s conviction. But as he and Lila dig deeper into the circumstances of the crime, the stakes grow higher. Will Joe discover the truth before it’s too late to escape the fallout?

Download or read book A Death in White Bear Lake written by Barry Siegel and published by Open Road Media. This book was released on 2017-09-26 with total page 501 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A mother’s search for the son she gave up uncovers terrifying secrets in a Minnesota town in this “masterfully depicted true-crime tale” (Publishers Weekly). In 1962, Jerry Sherwood gave up her newborn son, Dennis, for adoption. Twenty years later, she set out to find him—only to discover he had died before his fourth birthday. The immediate cause was peritonitis, but the coroner had never decided the mode of death, writing “deferred” rather than indicate accident, natural causes, or homicide. This he did even though the autopsy photos showed Dennis covered from head to toe in ugly bruises, his clenched fists and twisted facial expression suggesting he had died writhing in pain. Harold and Lois Jurgens, a middle-class, churchgoing couple in picturesque White Bear Lake, Minnesota, had adopted Dennis and five other foster children. To all appearances, they were a normal midwestern family, but Jerry suspected that something sinister had happened in the Jurgens household. She demanded to know the truth about her son’s death. Why did authorities dismiss evidence that marked Dennis as an endangered child? Could Lois Jurgens’s brother, a local police lieutenant, have interfered in the investigation? And most disturbing of all, why had so many people who’d witnessed Lois’s brutal treatment of her children stay silent for so long? Determined to find answers, local detectives and prosecutors rebuilt the case brick by brick, finally exposing the shocking truth behind a nightmare in suburbia. A finalist for the Edgar Award, A Death in White Bear Lake is “a distinguished entry in the annals of crime documentary,” and a vivid portrait of the all-American town that harbored a sadistic killer (The Washington Post).

Download or read book Will to Murder written by Gail Feichtinger and published by Zenith City Press. This book was released on 2009-05 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On June 27, 1977, an intruder entered Glensheen, the stately manor built along the Lake Superior shore by Chester A. Congdon, patriarch of one of Duluth, Minnesota's, most generous and respected families. Before leaving with a basketful of stolen jewelry, the intruder used a satin pillow to smother Chester's last surviving daughter, Elisabeth Congdon, after killing the heiress's valiant nurse, Velma Pietila, by beating her with a candlestick -- crimes set in motion by a hastily hand-written will penned just days before the killings. For the first time the story of the Glensheen killings and the crimes and trials surrounding Marjorie Caldwell Hagen, Elisabeth Congdon's notorious adopted daughter, is told through the eyes of former Duluth Police Detective and St. Louis County Sheriff Gary Waller and St. Louis County Prosecutor John DeSanto, the men who led the investigation and prosecution of Marjorie and her husband, Roger Caldwell.

Download or read book August Moon written by Jess Lourey and published by Llewellyn Worldwide. This book was released on 2010-09-08 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Maybe it's time for me to leave this crazy town, hightail it back to Minneapolis, and become a cat-collecting, fist-shaking, asexual English professor... Furious after being stood up by local hottie Johnny Leeson, Mira decides to abandon Battle Lake, Minnesota, where the women are churchgoers, the men like to hunt, and the body count is above average. But when a cheerleader bites the dust, Mira loiters long enough to snoop. Mira is highly suspicious of the New Millennium Bible Camp, a disturbing place with a Stepford Wives meets Hee Haw vibe. Before ditching Battle Lake, Mira is hell-bent on confronting her own demons and catching a killer. Praise: "Lourey’s mystery is hilarious, fast paced, and madcap."—Booklist (starred review) "Hilarious, wonderfully funny cozy."—CrimeSpree Magazine "Entertaining."—Library Journal "Another amusing tale set in the town full of over-the-top zanies who've endeared themselves to the engaging Mira."—Kirkus Reviews "“A fun, fast-paced mystery with a heroine readers will enjoy, even if her foibles are not entirely believable...3 stars."—The Mystery Reader "Lourey has a gift for creating terrific characters. Her sly and witty take on small town USA is a sweet summer treat. Pull up a lawn chair, pour yourself a glass of lemonade, and enjoy."—Denise Swanson, author of The Srcumble River Mystery series.

Download or read book The Land of Dreams written by Vidar Sundstøl and published by U of Minnesota Press. This book was released on 2013-09-01 with total page 291 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the Riverton Prize for best Norwegian crime novel and named by Dagbladet as one of the top twenty-five Norwegian crime novels of all time, The Land of Dreams is the chilling first installment in Vidar Sundstøl’s critically acclaimed Minnesota Trilogy, set on the rugged north shore of Lake Superior and in the region’s small towns and deep forests. The grandson of Norwegian immigrants, Lance Hansen is a U.S. Forest Service officer and has a nearly all-consuming passion for local genealogy and history. But his quiet routines are shattered one morning when he comes upon a Norwegian tourist brutally murdered near a stone cross on the shore of Lake Superior. Another Norwegian man is nearby; covered in blood and staring out across the lake, he can only utter the word kjærlighet. Love. FBI agent Bob Lecuyer is assigned to the case, as is Norwegian detective Eirik Nyland, who is immediately flown in from Oslo. As the investigation progresses, Lance begins to make shocking discoveries—including one that involves the murder of an Ojibwe man on the very same site more than one hundred years ago. As Lance digs into two murders separated by a century, he finds the clues may in fact lead toward someone much closer to home than he could have imagined. The Land of Dreams is the opening chapter in a sweeping chronicle from one of Norway’s leading crime writers—a portrait of an extraordinary landscape, an exploration of hidden traumas and paths of silence that trouble history, and a haunting study in guilt and the bonds of blood.

Download or read book The Silence of the Loons written by Mary Logue and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Thirteen tales of mystery by Minnesota's premier crime writers.