A deadly shooting at London’s extravagant Savoy Hotel in 1923 prompted a murder trial that pitted East against West. Was the tragedy the result of a pharaoh’s curse or merely the consequence of a lover’s quarrel?

Sources:

Bland, Lucy. “Mme Fahmy’s Vindication: Orientalism, miscegenation fears, and female fantasy,” in Modern Women on Trial: Sexual Transgression in the Age of the Flapper (Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2013). Pp. 132-175

Leake, Natasha. “How a beguiling French courtesan captured the heart of a young British prince, in a love affair that scandalised the Royal Family.” The Tatler. 19 February 2023. https://www.tatler.com/article/prince-harrys-memoir-love-affair-edward-viii-and-french-courtesan

Rose, Andrew. The Woman Before Wallis: Prince Edward, the Parisian Courtesan, and the Perfect Murder (New York: Picador, 2013).

“The Perfect Murder.” Royalty Magazine. Vol. 23/01. https://www.royalty-magazine.com/books-film/the-perfect-murder-2.html

Verdict Press. Crimes of Passion (London: Verdict Press, 1975).

Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

Six nurses threatened to storm out of the Swope mansion in Missouri at the height of a 1909 typhoid epidemic, claiming that “people are being murdered in this house.” Was the Swope family dying of typhoid, or was it something more nefarious?

Sources:

Carus, W. Seth. Bioterrorism and Bicrimes: The Illicit Use of Biological Agents since 1900 (Amsterdam: Fredonia Books, 2002).

Deel, Karla. Storied & Scandalous Kansas City: A History of Corruption, Mischief and a Whole Lot of Booze.(Lanham, MD, Globe Pequot, 2019).

Duke, Thomas Samuel. Celebrated Criminal Cases of America (The James H Barry Company, 1910).

Fowler, Giles. Deaths on Pleasant Street (Kirksville: Truman State University Press, 2009).

Martin, Mackenzie. “The strange case of Mr. Swope and Dr. Hyde: Kansas City’s great unsolved murder mystery.” KCUR. https://www.kcur.org/history/2023-10-25/thomas-swope-park-murder-trial-bennett-hyde-kansas-city-mystery

“Medicine: Murders in Missouri.” TIME. 20 August, 1934. https://time.com/archive/6894959/medicine-murders-in-missouri/

Newspapers:

The Kansas City Star

St. Petersburg Times

St. Louis Globe Democrat

St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The Detroit Times

The Pittsburgh Press

The New York Times

Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com

Chicago crime reporters descended upon Ruth and Carl Wanderer’s Chicago home after the war hero’s wife was shot dead in a holdup at their front door. Who was the Ragged Stranger who assaulted them? And why did he have Carl Wanderer’s service weapon?

Sources:

Bigge, Lauren. “‘Shell Shock Treatments During World War I: A First Step Towards Modern Military Psychiatry.” National Museum of Health and Medicine. https://medicalmuseum.health.mil/index.cfm?p=media.news.article.2018.shell_shock_treatment

Eghigian, Greg. “ The First World War and the Legacy of Shellshock.” Vol. 31, No. 4. Psychiatric Times. 28 February, 2018.

Hecht, Ben. Charlie: The improbable Life & Times of Charles MacArthur (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1957).

Lesy, Michael. Murder City: The Bloody History of Chicago in the Twenties (New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2007)

Murray, George in The Chicago Crime Book Ed. Albert Halper. (New York: The World Publishing Company, 1967).

Nash, Jay Robert. Bloodletters and Badmen: A Narrative Encyclopedia of American Criminals from the Pilgrims to the Present (New York: M. Evans & Company, 1973).

Schechter, Harold. Murderabilia: A History of Crime in 100 Objects (New York: Workman Publishing Co., 2023).

As well as articles from the Washington Times, The Manning Times, Richmond TImes-dispatch, Chicago Tribune.

And the Chicago Homicide database entry https://homicide.northwestern.edu/database/5270/

Music: Credits to Holizna, Fesilyan Studios & Virginia Liston. Also featuring “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary” by Jack Judge and “Old Pal” by Henry Burr.

For more information, visit www.oldbloodpodcast.com