Download or read book The Kidnapping and Murder of Little Skeegie Cash written by Robert Alvin Waters and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2014-02-24 with total page 213 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Informed by thousands of pages of newly released FBI files, The Kidnapping and Murder of Little Skeegie Cash tells the gripping story of the only crime investigated by J. Edgar Hoover himself, the sensational 1938 murder of a five-year-old boy from the Florida Everglades. In his long and storied career, J. Edgar Hoover investigated only one case personally, the 1938 kidnapping and murder of five-year-old Floridian James “Skeegie” Cash. What prompted the director himself to fly from Washington, DC, to a rain-drenched hamlet on the edge of the Everglades? Congress had slashed FBI funding, forcing Hoover to lay off half his agents. The combative Hoover believed if he could bring Skeegie’s killer to justice, the halo of positive publicity would revive the fortunes of the embattled FBI. In The Kidnapping and Murder of Little Skeegie Cash, Robert A. Waters and Zack C. Waters bring to life the drama of the abduction, the payment of a $10,000 ransom, the heartbreaking manhunt for Skeegie and his kidnapper, the arrest and confession of Franklin Pierce McCall, and the killer’s trial and execution. Hordes of reporters swarmed into the little village south of Miami, and for thirteen days until McCall confessed, the case dominated national headlines. The authors capture the drama and the detail as well as the desperate and sometimes extralegal lengths to which Hoover went to crack the case. Using the Freedom of Information Act, the authors obtained more than four thousand pages of FBI files and court documents to reconstruct this important but forgotten case. The tragedy that played out in the swamps of Dade County constituted the backdrop for a political struggle that would involve J. Edgar Hoover, the United States Congress, and even president Franklin Delano Roosevelt. Hoover and the president prevailed, and within two years the FBI grew from 680 employees to more than 14,000. No books and few articles have been published about this historic case.

Download or read book This Day in Florida History written by Andrew K. Frank and published by University Press of Florida. This book was released on 2020-03-17 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On January 22, 1912, Henry Flagler rode on the first passenger train from South Florida to Key West. On April 2, 1513, Juan Ponce de León claimed Florida for Spain. On December 6, 1947, Everglades National Park held its opening ceremony. Featuring one entry per day of the year, this book is a fun and enlightening collection of moments from Florida history. Good and bad, famous and little-known, historical and contemporary, these events reveal the depth and complexity of the state’s past. They cover everything from revolts by Apalachee Indians to crashes at the Daytona 500, the establishment of Fort Mosé, and the recurrence of hurricanes. They involve cultural leaders like Stetson Kennedy and Zora Neale Hurston, iconic institutions like Disney and NASA, and important eras like Prohibition and the civil rights movement. Each entry includes a short description and is paired with a suggested reading for learning more about the event or topic of the day. This Day in Florida History is the perfect starting point for discovering the diversity of stories and themes that make up the Sunshine State.

Download or read book G Man Pulitzer Prize Winner written by Beverly Gage and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2023-11-14 with total page 897 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Now in paperback, the Pulitzer Prize-winning biography of J Edgar Hoover deemed "Masterful…an enduring, formidable accomplishment, a monument to the power of biography [that] now becomes the definitive work”by The Washington Post (and everywhere else) "Revelatory...an acknowledgment of the complexities that made Hoover who he was, while charging the turbulent currents that eventually swept him aside."—The New York Times G-Man is the groundbreaking portrait of a colossus who dominated half a century of American history and planted the seeds for much of today’s conservative political landscape. Hoover transformed a scandal-riddled law-enforcement backwater, into a modern machine—one just as oppressive as it was promising. He rose to power and then stayed there, decade after decade, using the tools of the state to create a personal fiefdom unrivaled in U.S. history. Beverly Gage’s monumental work explores the full sweep of Hoover’s life and career, from his birth in 1895 to a modest Washington civil-service family to a strongarm for white supremacists and the politicized Christian right, serving eight presidents. G-Man places Hoover back where he once stood in American political history--not at the fringes, but at the center--and uses his story to explain the trajectories of governance, policing, race, ideology, political culture, and federal power as they evolved over the course of the 20th century. “[A] crisply written, prodigiously researched, and frequently astonishing new biography”—The New Yorker “Gage’s penetrating account of Hoover’s career, especially his many long-eclipsed triumphs, offers a well-timed and sobering perspective as yet another institution in our fractured country struggles to maintain trust.” -The Atlantic “Gage’s triumph is her deft navigation through Hoover’s 'deep state,' while reminding us of the abuse of power that remains his enduring legacy.”—The Boston Globe

Download or read book Polly Klaas written by Barry Bortnick and published by Kensington Books. This book was released on 1995 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On October 1, 1993, Polly Klaas, 13, was kidnapped from a slumber party in her own home in Petaluma, California. After two months of an intensive blitz and manhunt, the police caught Richard Allen Davis, who led them to her murdered body. The trial of Davis is set to begin on June 1, 1995. Includes 16 pages of photos.

Download or read book 400 Hours written by Keith Benton Calhoun and published by Graystone Publishing Company. This book was released on 1998-10 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Keith Benton Calhoun has written a heart-wrenching and gripping account of a father's 400-hour search for his daughter, Hollie, who was kidnapped and murdered when she was twenty-one years old. He tells about the pain and despair he and his family went through from the day they learned that Hollie was missing until she was found, about how they were treated by the police and the FBI, and about how one small town came together to search for his daughter.

Download or read book Not Released Unharmed written by Donald L. Smith and published by . This book was released on 2007-12-01 with total page 84 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Rich with little-known details in the infamous Lindbergh kidnapping case, the day Machine-Gun Kelly coined the term "G-Men," and the events and trails-of-evidence in a variety of kidnappings, Not Released Unharmed- Kidnap Victims offers a fascinating look at historical highlights of American crime and investigation. Written by retired FBI Special Agent Donald L. Smith, the book is a survey of tragedy juxtaposed with rescue and relief; of pursuit and capture; of justice and injustice. In these stories, some kidnap victims survive, some do not. Some of the characters are scarred for life, others find forgiveness and redemption. But, just as Smith entitles his book, none are released unharmed. A preview of actual FBI cases covered in this book: Wood evidence (the ladder) in the Lindbergh case trial and some previously undisclosed evidence. Kidnap of a wealthy Oklahoma oil man, his captivity and release nine days later. Machine Gun Kelly captured unarmed and afraid, shouting the famous line "Don't shoot G-men! Don't shoot G-men." Kidnapping of a 9-year-old boy who was released after seven days. Years later he gave a job to one of his kidnappers because he credited him with saving his life. Also included is an account of a recent telephone interview between this victim (now over 80) and the author. A 72-year-old businessman who was kidnapped. A $50,000 ransom was paid but he was not released. About a week afterward, one of the kidnappers shot him, then turned and shot his own partner. He buried both in the same grave. A boy kidnapped from his school by a woman claiming to be his aunt. Ransom was paid, but the boy had been killed right after his abduction. The kidnappers were apprehended, tried and executed. The kicker-over half of the $600,000 was never found, though one vehemently claimed the money was in his possession when he was arrested by two police officers. The officers were tried and sent to prison. The m

Download or read book Forgotten Heroes written by William Wilbanks and published by Turner Publishing Company. This book was released on 1996-06-15 with total page 248 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The Lindbergh Baby Kidnapping written by Charles River Charles River Editors and published by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform. This book was released on 2015-11-10 with total page 54 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: *Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the crime and trial *Includes online resources and a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "I am writing this literally within the shadow of the electric chair. For upward to fourteen months I have been confined in the cell nearest to the execution chamber in the New Jersey penitentiary. The courts of New Jersey have now said that I shall die on the night of April 3, and that I shall die in the chair that is just beyond the door that faces me and has faced me every waking hour of my life these past fourteen months. The courts have said that on the night of April 3 I shall be prepared to leave the cell which has been my home; walk through the door which has been facing me these weary months; tread the few steps that lead from that door to the electric chair; that on that night I shall be led out on a walk from which I shall never return." - Bruno Richard Hauptmann Amelia Earhart once noted, "In my life I had come to realize that when things were going very well indeed it was just the time to anticipate trouble." And so it would be with America's other famous aviator. Charles Lindbergh had spent the first 30 years of his life escaping multiple plane crashes, becoming a hero across the world, and starting a family, but his luck ran out in an awful way in March of 1932. Tragically, the other major life event associated with Charles Lindbergh besides his historic transatlantic flight was "the crime of the century." On March 1, 1932, 20 month old Charles, Jr. was kidnapped right out of his crib from the family's home in rural East Amwell, New Jersey, and for 10 long weeks, the nation hoped and prayed in chorus with the distraught parents for his safe return. Both Charles and his pregnant wife Anne made frequent, public pleas for their son's safe return, while ransom negotiations took place between a self-identified kidnapper and Dr. John F. Condon, a volunteer intermediary. On April 2, the Lindbergh family paid a ransom of $50,000 in exchange for information about the child's whereabouts, but the information was false. The mystery continued until May 12, when a passing trucker found the corpse of a dead toddler by chance in the woods outside of Mount Rose, New Jersey. Through careful investigation, the police were able to arrest Bruno Richard Hauptmann for the crime about 30 months later, after they tracked some of the money paid through the ransom to a gas station in Manhattan. Hauptmann still had more than $13,000 of the ransom hidden in his garage when authorities closed in. Following his six-week long trial in for kidnapping and murder in early 1935, the jury found him guilty on all counts and Judge Thomas Trenchard sentenced him to death by electrocution, which was carried out on April 3, 1936 at Trenton State Penitentiary. Unfortunately, the kidnapping of his son became more than just a personal matter for Charles Lindbergh; over the next several years, it evolved in his mind to a dislike of America in general. It is almost as if, unable to accept the role that his personal popularity and fame played in the tragedy, Lindbergh chose instead to blame those who made him famous and popular. In an extremely emotional interview with his friend, reporter Lauren Lyman, he said, "We Americans are a primitive people. We do not have discipline. Our moral standards are low. It shows up in the private lives of people we know - their drinking and 'behavior with women.' It shows in the newspapers, the morbid curiosity over crimes and murder trials. Americans seem to have little respect for law, or the rights of others." In a perfect world, or even simply one not on the brink of war, his remarks might have been forgotten, or at the very least heard with a sympathetic ear as the rantings of a grieving father. However, they would be quoted again and again in future years, coming to epitomize the world's view of Lindbergh's politics and values.

Download or read book Knights of the Fourth Estate written by Nixon Smiley and published by E.A. Seemann Publishing. This book was released on 1974 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Season of Terror written by Charles F. Price and published by University Press of Colorado. This book was released on 2013-06-15 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Season of Terror is the first book-length treatment of the little-known true story of the Espinosas—serial murderers with a mission to kill every Anglo in Civil War–era Colorado Territory—and the men that brought them down. For eight months during the spring and fall of 1863, brothers Felipe Nerio and José Vivián Espinosa and their young nephew, José Vincente, New Mexico–born Hispanos, killed and mutilated an estimated thirty-two victims before their rampage came to a bloody end. Their motives were obscure, although they were members of the Penitentes, a lay Catholic brotherhood devoted to self-torture in emulation of the sufferings of Christ, and some suppose they believed themselves inspired by the Virgin Mary to commit their slaughters. Until now, the story of their rampage has been recounted as lurid melodrama or ignored by academic historians. Featuring a fascinating array of frontier characters, Season of Terror exposes this neglected truth about Colorado’s past and examines the ethnic, religious, political, military, and moral complexity of the controversy that began as a regional incident but eventually demanded the attention of President Lincoln.

Download or read book Deadly Charm written by McCay Vernon and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 282 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Born deaf and given to the state by his mother, Patrick McCullough faced a hard life with equal parts of charm and rage that eventually lead him to kill.

Download or read book Of Men and Monsters written by Richard Tithecott and published by Univ of Wisconsin Press. This book was released on 1997-11-01 with total page 207 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of Men and Monsters examines the serial killer as an American cultural icon, one that both attracts and repels. Richard Tithecott suggests that the stories we tell and the images we conjure of serial killers—real and fictional—reveal as much about mainstream culture and its values, desires, and anxieties as they do about the killers themselves.

Download or read book Kali s Child written by Jeffrey J. Kripal and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1998-10 with total page 421 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Scholar Jeffrey J. Kripal explores the life and teachings of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, a 19th-century Bengali saint who played a major role in the creation of modern Hinduism. The work is now marked by both critical acclaim and cross-cultural controversy. In a substantial new Preface to this second edition, Kripal answers his critics and addresses the controversy.

Download or read book Natural Born Celebrities written by David Schmid and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-15 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Jeffrey Dahmer. Ted Bundy. John Wayne Gacy. Over the past thirty years, serial killers have become iconic figures in America, the subject of made-for-TV movies and mass-market paperbacks alike. But why do we find such luridly transgressive and horrific individuals so fascinating? What compels us to look more closely at these figures when we really want to look away? Natural Born Celebrities considers how serial killers have become lionized in American culture and explores the consequences of their fame. David Schmid provides a historical account of how serial killers became famous and how that fame has been used in popular media and the corridors of the FBI alike. Ranging from H. H. Holmes, whose killing spree during the 1893 Chicago World's Fair inspired The Devil in the White City, right up to Aileen Wuornos, the lesbian prostitute whose vicious murder of seven men would serve as the basis for the hit film Monster, Schmid unveils a new understanding of serial killers by emphasizing both the social dimensions of their crimes and their susceptibility to multiple interpretations and uses. He also explores why serial killers have become endemic in popular culture, from their depiction in The Silence of the Lambs and The X-Files to their becoming the stuff of trading cards and even Web sites where you can buy their hair and nail clippings. Bringing his fascinating history right up to the present, Schmid ultimately argues that America needs the perversely familiar figure of the serial killer now more than ever to manage the fear posed by Osama bin Laden since September 11. "This is a persuasively argued, meticulously researched, and compelling examination of the media phenomenon of the 'celebrity criminal' in American culture. It is highly readable as well."—Joyce Carol Oates

Download or read book The Girls of Atomic City written by Denise Kiernan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-03-11 with total page 416 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Looks at the contributions of the thousands of women who worked at a secret uranium-enriching facility in Oak Ridge, Tennessee during World War II.

Download or read book Guns Save Lives written by Robert A. Waters and published by Loompanics Unlimited. This book was released on 2002-07-01 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Guns Saves Lives contains true stories of Americans who altered the course of their lives and others by their use of firearms. They stayed alive and, in many instances, saved the lives of loved ones. They saved the lives of untold others from violence their assailants were trying to commit. They changed the lives of the thugs significantly, at least temprorarily, by sending them to jail, or permanently by killing them outright. Robert Waters interviewed the citizen defenders in this book and makes their stories available in far greater detail that the local media cared to. The hidden side of the gun ownership story is seldom told, but Robert Waters does so in this book.

Download or read book A Small But Spartan Band written by Zack C. Waters and published by University of Alabama Press. This book was released on 2013-11-05 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A comprehensive study of the Florida Brigade, which served under Robert E. Lee in the famed Army of Northern Virginia.