This week (January 19-25) in crime history – President Ford pardoned Tokyo Rose (January 19, 1977); Klaus Barbie, “The Butcher of Lyons” was arrested in Bolivia (January 19, 1983); Iran Hostage Crisis ended (January 20, 1981); Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer was shot and killed (January 21, 1959); Alger Hiss was convicted of perjury (January 21, 1950); Ted Kaczynski pleaded guilty to the Unabomber crimes (January 22, 1998); Look magazine published the confessions of Emmett Till’s murderers (January 24, 1956); BTK Killer sends chilling message to Kansas TV station (January 25, 2005); Charles Manson and three followers were convicted of the Tate-LaBianca murders (January 25, 1971).

Highlighted crime story of the week – 

On January 25, 1971, Charles Manson was convicted, along with followers Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, and Patricia Krenwinkel, of the brutal 1969 Tate-LaBianca murders. In 1967, Manson, a lifetime criminal, was released from a federal penitentiary in Washington State and traveled to San Francisco, where he attracted a following among rebellious young women with troubled emotional lives. Manson established a cult based on his concept of “Helter Skelter,” an apocalyptic philosophy predicting that out of an imminent racial war in America would emerge five ruling angels: Manson, who would take on the role of Jesus Christ, and the four members of the Beatles. Manson convinced his followers that it would be necessary to murder celebrities in order to attract attention to the cult.

On the night of August 9, 1969, with detailed instructions from Manson, four of his followers drove up to Hollywood Hills home of director Roman Polanski and his wife, actress Sharon Tate. Polanski was not home at the time but several friends of Tate’s were staying the night. During the next few hours, Manson’s followers engaged in a murderous rampage that left five dead, including a very pregnant Sharon Tate, three of her friends, and the 18-year-old son of the caretaker of the estate. The next night, Manson followers murdered Leno and Rosemary LaBianca in their home in the Los Feliz section of Los Angeles; this time, Manson went along to make sure the killings were carried out correctly. The cases went unsolved for over a year before the Los Angeles Police Department discovered the Manson connection. Various members of his cult confessed, and Manson and five others were indicted on charges of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.

In January 1972, Manson and three others were found guilty, and on March 29 all four were sentenced to death. The trial of another defendant, Charles “Tex” Watson, was delayed by extradition proceedings, but he was likewise found guilty and sentenced to death. In 1972, the California Supreme Court abolished the death penalty in California, and Manson and his followers’ death sentences were reduced to life imprisonment.

Check back every Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of six nonfiction books that includes the award winning Murder and Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949.

This week (January 16-11) in English literary history – Anne Bronte was born (January 17, 1820); Benjamin Franklin was born (January 17, 1706); A.A. Milne was born (January 18, 1882); Rudyard Kipling married Carrie Balestier (January 18, 1893); Rudyard Kipling died (January 18, 1936); Edgar Allan Poe was born (January 19, 1809); Robert Frost read a poem at John F. Kennedy’s inauguration (January 20, 1961); George Orwell died (January 21, 1950); George Lord Byron was born (January 22, 1788); Francis Bacon was born (January 22, 1561).

Highlighted story of the week – 

On January 19, 1809, Edgar Allan Poe was born in Boston, Massachusetts. Poe’s father and mother, both professional actors, died before the poet was three years old, and John and Frances Allan raised him as a foster child in Richmond, Virginia. John Allan, a prosperous tobacco exporter, sent Poe to the best boarding schools and later to the University of Virginia, where, after less than one year of school, he was forced to leave the university when Allan refused to pay Poe’s gambling debts.

Poe then returned briefly to Richmond, but his relationship with Allan deteriorated. In 1827, he moved to Boston and enlisted in the United States Army. His first collection of poems, Tamerlane and Other Poems, was published that same year. In 1829, he published a second collection entitled Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane, and Minor Poems. Neither volume received significant critical acclaim. Following his Army service, Poe was admitted to the United States Military Academy, but he was again forced to leave for lack of financial support. He then moved into the home of his aunt Maria Clemm and her daughter Virginia in Baltimore, Maryland.

Poe began to sell short stories to magazines around this time, and, in 1835, he became the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond. In 1836, he married his cousin, Virginia, who was fourteen years old at the time. Over the next ten years, Poe would edit a number of literary journals and it was during these years that he established himself as a poet, and short story writer. He published some of his best-known stories and poems, including “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” “The Murders in the Rue Morgue,” and “The Raven.” After his wife’s death from tuberculosis in 1847, Poe’s lifelong struggle with depression and alcoholism worsened. He returned briefly to Richmond in 1849 and then set out for an editing job in Philadelphia. For unknown reasons, he stopped in Baltimore. On October 3, 1849, he was found in a state of semi-consciousness. Poe died four days later of “acute congestion of the brain.” He was buried at Westminster Burial Ground in Baltimore.

Check back every Friday for a new installment of “This Week in English Literary History.”

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of six nonfiction books that includes the award winning Literary Legends of the British Isles and soon to be released America’s Literary Legends.

This week (January14-20) in Hollywood History – Marilyn Monroe married Joe DiMaggio (January 14, 1954); Hal Roach was born (January 14, 1892); Ray Bolger died (January 15, 1987); Carole Lombard died in plane crash (January 16, 1942); John Wayne married Esperanza Baur (January 17, 1946); Oliver Hardy was born (January 18, 1892); Cary Grant was born (January 18, 1904); Danny Kaye was born (January 18, 1913); Hedy Lamarr died (January 19, 2000); Audrey Hepburn died (January 20, 1993); Sharon Tate married Roman Polanski (January 20, 1968).

Highlighted Story of the Week –

On January 16, 1942, actress Carole Lombard and wife of Clark Gable was killed in a plane crash. Gable and Lombard met in 1932 during the filming of No Man of Her Own. He was just starting out on his trajectory as one of Hollywood’s top leading men and she was a talented comedic actress trying to prove herself in more serious roles. Both were married at the time, Gable to a wealthy Texas widow 10 years his senior and Lombard to actor William Powell and neither showed much interest in the other. When they met again, three years later, Lombard had divorced Powell and Gable was separated from his wife, and things proceeded quite differently. Much to the media’s delight, the new couple was open with their affection. In early 1939, Gable’s wife finally granted him a divorce, and he married Lombard that April.

In January 1942, shortly after America’s entrance into World War II, Howard Dietz, the publicity director of the MGM film studio, recruited Lombard for a tour to sell war bonds in her home state of Indiana. Gable, who had been asked to serve as the head of the actors’ branch of the wartime Hollywood Victory Committee, stayed in Los Angeles, where he was set to begin filming Somewhere I’ll Find You with Lana Turner. Dietz advised Lombard to avoid airplane travel, because he feared for its reliability and safety, and she did most of the trip by train, stopping at various locations on the way to Indianapolis and raising some $2 million for the war effort.

On the way home, however, Lombard didn’t want to wait for the train, and instead boarded a TWA DC-3 in Las Vegas with her mother, Elizabeth Peters, and a group that included MGM publicity agent Otto Winkler and 15 others. Shortly after takeoff, the plane veered off course. Warning beacons that might have helped guide the pilot had been blacked out because of fears about Japanese bombers, and the plane smashed into a cliff near the top of Potosi Mountain. Search parties were able to retrieve Lombard’s body, and she was interred in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Hysterical with grief and adrift in the empty house he had shared with Lombard, Gable drank heavily and struggled to complete his work on Somewhere I’ll Find You. He was comforted by worried friends, including actress Joan Crawford. That August, Gable decided to enlist in the U.S. Army Air Corp. He spent most of the war in the United Kingdom, and flew several combat missions (including one to Germany), earning several decorations for his efforts. He would remarry twice more, but when he died in 1960 Gable was interred at Forest Lawn, next to Lombard.

Check back every Wednesday for a new installment of “This Week in Hollywood History.”

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of six nonfiction books that includes Fade to Black Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats, 1927-1950.

This week (January 12-18) in crime history – Malcolm X’s daughter was arrested for conspiracy to kill Louis Farrakhan (January 12, 1995); Doc Barker was killed while attempting to escape prison (January 13, 1939); Old West lawman Wyatt Earp died (January 13, 1929); Notorious traitor Benedict Arnold was born (January 14, 1741); Bill Cosby’s son was murdered (January 16, 1997); Moon Maniac, Albert Fish was executed (January 16, 1936); The Great Brinks Robbery (January 17, 1950); Washington, D.C. Mayor Marion Barry was arrested in drug sting (January 18, 1990).

Highlighted Crime Story of the Week – 

On January 13, 1939, Arthur “Doc” Barker was killed while trying to escape from Alcatraz Prison in San Francisco Bay. Barker, of the notorious “Bloody Barkers” gang, was spotted on the rock-strewn shore of the island after climbing over the walls. Despite the fact that guards were ordering him to surrender, Barker continued tying pieces of wood together into a makeshift raft. As he waded into the water, the guards shot and killed him. Doc Barker, along with his brothers Herman, Lloyd, and Fred, and their mother, the infamous Ma Barker, formed one of the more formidable criminal gangs of the 1920s and 1930s. Carrying out a series of bank robberies and kidnappings throughout the Midwest, Ma shrewdly paid off officials in towns all over the region, allowing the gang to avoid the law for long stretches of time.

In 1934, with their pictures in all of the newspapers, Doc and Fred Barker tried to change their appearance through plastic surgery. They enlisted Dr. Joseph Moran to conduct the operations, including removing their fingerprints. But the plan was a disaster, and each ended up with terrible scars and infected fingers. Dr. Moran was adopted into the gang as a matter of necessity, but when he started to talk about their activities to a prostitute, the Barkers killed him. On January 8, 1935, FBI agents, led by Melvin Purvis, captured Doc Barker in Chicago, Illinois. As he searched Barker, Purvis reportedly asked, “Where’s your gun?” Barker replied, “Home—and ain’t that a place for it?” Eight days later, Fred and Ma Barker were pinned down at their hideout in Florida. A massive gun battle left both of them dead.

Check back every Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of Murder & Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949.

This week (January 9-15) in English literary history – Virginia Woolf bought home in the Bloomsbury section of London (January 9, 1924); Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett began corresponding (January 10, 1845); Sinclair Lewis died (January 10, 1951); Edmund Burke was born (January 12, 1729); Jack London was born (January 12, 1876); Agatha Christie died (January 12, 1976); James Joyce died (January 13, 1941); Jonathan Swift was ordained a priest (January 13, 1695); Edmund Spenser died (January 13, 1599); John Steinbeck married Carol Henning (January 14, 1930); Lewis Carroll died (January 14, 1898); Margery Fleming died (January 15, 1803).

Highlighted Story of the Week – 

On January 12, 1876, Jack London, the illegitimate son of astrologer William Chaney and Flora Wellman was born in San Francisco. His father abandoned the family, and Jack, whose last name at birth was Chaney, later assumed his stepfather’s surname, London. From an early age, London struggled to make a living, working in a cannery and as a sailor, oyster pirate, and fish patroller. He also spent time as a hobo, riding trains. During the national economic crisis of 1893, he joined a march of unemployed workers and later spent a month in jail for vagrancy. After his prison term, the 17-year-old London resolved to further his education. He completed an entire high school equivalency course in one year and enrolled at the University of California at Berkeley, where he read voraciously for a year. He dropped out to join the 1897 gold rush in the Alaskan Klondike.

While in Alaska, London began writing stories about the region. In 1900, his first collection of stories, The Son of the Wolf, was published. Three years later, his story The Call of the Wild made him famous around the country. London continued to write stories of adventure amid the harsh natural elements. During his 17-year career, he wrote 50 fiction and nonfiction books. He settled in Northern California about 1911, having already written most of his best work. London, a heavy drinker, died on November 22, 1916 at his home from an apparent over dose of morphine. Whether this was intentional or not has been debated by scholars for years. His ashes were interred at his home now known as the Jack London State Historic Park in Glen Ellen, California.

Check back every Friday for a new installment of “This Week in English Literary History.”

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of six nonfiction books that includes the award winning Literary Legends of the British Isles and the soon to be released America’s Literary Legends.

This week (January 7-13) in Hollywood history – Mary Pickford married Owen Moore (January 7, 1911); William Randolph Hearst bans all advertising for Citizen Kane (January 8, 1941); Arthur Lake died (January 9, 1987); Ray Bolger was born (January 10, 1904); Ava Gardner married Mickey Rooney (January 10, 1942); Charlie Chaplin’s assets were frozen during bitter divorce from Lita Grey (January 11, 1927); Luise Rainer was born (January 12, 1910).

Highlighted Story of the Week –

On January 7, 1911, silent film icon Mary Pickford, married fellow actor Owen Moore. Known as “America’s Sweetheart,” Pickford was the first true movie star. Before Pickford, movie studios avoided identifying individual actors by name, for fear they would demand higher wages. Pickford was born Gladys Smith on April 8, 1892 in Toronto, Canada. Her father, a laborer, was killed in a work-related accident when she was five. She helped support her mother and two younger siblings with her vaudeville act as “Baby Gladys.” At age 14, she won a lead role on Broadway and adopted her stage name, Mary Pickford. Two years later, she signed with Biograph Pictures for $40 a week.

Pickford appeared in many silent films, starting with The Violin Maker of Cremona, Her First Biscuits, and more than a dozen other films in 1909, working at a similar clip over the next few years. Pickford’s golden curls soon won attention from movie audiences, even though they didn’t know the actress’s name. A shrewd negotiator, Pickford hopped from studio to studio, boosting her salary each time, and was soon billed by name. At age 18, she married Moore, her first husband. By 1912, she was earning $500 a week at Adolph Zukor’s Famous Players Company. Four years later, her salary had grown to $10,000 a week, with a $300,000 bonus, plus her own production company, The Mary Pickford Co. Pickford exercised veto power over her films and had her pick of scripts, directors, and co-stars. She typically played young, innocent girls but occasionally branched out: In 1929, she shaved her trademark curls and played a flapper in the talkie Coquette, for which she won an Oscar.

Pickford divorced Moore in 1920 over his alleged alcoholism and, just three weeks later, married Hollywood star Douglas Fairbanks. Fairbanks had been her partner, along with Charlie Chaplin and director D.W. Griffith in United Artists Corp. since the previous year. As a wedding present for Pickford, Fairbanks bought an estate boasting 22 rooms on 18 acres and Beverly Hills’ first swimming pool. The couple dubbed the property “Pickfair.” Pickford retired from acting in 1933, but continued to be a powerful movie producer and influential Hollywood force for many years. She and Fairbanks divorced in 1936, and she married actor Charles “Buddy” Rogers the following year. She remained a partner in United Artists until 1953. In 1975, she received a special Oscar for her contributions to American film. She died on May 29, 1979 in Santa Monica, California from a stroke and was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.

Check back every Wednesday for a new installment of “This Week in Hollywood History.”

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of six nonfiction books that includes the award winning Fade to Black Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats, 1927-1950.

This week (January 5-11) in crime history – United Mine Worker’s murders (January 5, 1970); Ice skater Nancy Kerrigan was attacked (January 6, 994); Suzanne Degnan was kidnapped from her Chicago area home (January 7, 1946); Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot (January 8, 2011); Hillside Strangler Angelo Buono was sentenced to life in prison (January 9, 1984); Old west outlaw Frank James was born (January 10, 1843); Joran Van der Sloot admits to Peru murder (January 11, 2012).

Highlighted crime story of the week – 

On January 9, 1984, Angelo Buono, one of the Hillside Stranglers, was sentenced to life in prison for his role in the rape, torture, and murder of 10 young women in Los Angeles. Buono’s cousin and partner in crime, Kenneth Bianchi, testified against Buono to escape the death penalty. Buono, a successful auto upholsterer, and Bianchi began their serial crime spree in 1977 when Bianchi moved from New York to live with his cousin. They started talking about how the prostitutes that Buono often brought home would hardly be missed by anyone if they disappeared. Idle speculation quickly led to action and the pair raped and strangled their first victim, Yolanda Washington, on October 17.

Within a month Buono and Bianchi had attacked three other women and developed a trademark method of operation. They picked up the women in their van, drove them back to Buono’s house where they were sexually assaulted in all manners, tortured, and strangled to death. The duo then thoroughly cleaned the bodies before taking and posing them in lascivious positions on hillsides in the Los Angeles area, often near police stations. Thus, they earned the nickname the “Hillside Strangler.” The press assumed that it was the work of one man.

Following the death of the 10th victim in February 1978, the murders suddenly stopped. Buono and Bianchi were no longer getting along, even with their common hobby. Bianchi moved to Washington and applied for a job at the Bellingham Police Department. He didn’t get the job, but became a security guard instead. However, he couldn’t keep his murderous impulses in check and killed two college students. A witness who had seen the two girls with Bianchi came forward and the case was solved.

Bianchi, who had seen the movies Sybil and The Three Faces of Eve many times, suddenly claimed to have multiple personalities. He blamed the murders on “Steve,” one of his alternate personalities. Psychiatrists examining Bianchi quickly dismissed his ruse and Bianchi then confessed to the Hillside Strangler murders, testifying against Buono to avoid the death penalty in Washington. During his trial, Buono fiercely insisted on his innocence, pointing to the fact that there was no physical evidence tying him to the crimes. Buono’s house was so clean that investigators couldn’t even find Buono’s own fingerprints in the home. But after more than 400 witnesses testified, Buono was convicted and sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole. Angelo Buono died from a heart attack on September 21, 2002 at the age of 67. Kenneth Bianchi was denied parole in September 2005 and remains in prison.

Check back every Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of six nonfiction books that include the award winning Murder & Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949.

This week (January 2-8) in English literary history – Stephen Crane survived shipwreck (January 2, 1897); Herman Melville set sail for the South Pacific (January 3, 1841); J.R.R. Tolkien was born (January 3, 1892); T.S. Eliot died (January 4, 1965); John Gardner won the National Critics Circle Award (January 5, 1977); Harriet Beecher married Calvin Ellis Stowe (January 6, 1836); Zora Neale Hurston was born (January 7, 1891); E.L. Doctorow won the National Book Critics Circle Award for Ragtime (January 8, 1976).

Highlighted Story of the Week –

On January 2, 1897, Stephen Crane survived the sinking of The Commodore off the coast of Florida. He turned the event into his classic short story “The Open Boat” (1897). The 25-year-old writer had gained international fame with the publication of his novel The Red Badge of Courage in 1896. A Civil War story told from the soldier’s point of view, the novel originally appeared as a syndicated newspaper series.

Crane, the youngest of 14 children, was born in 1871 and grew up in New York and New Jersey. He became a journalist in New York, working short stints for various newspapers and living in near poverty. Immersed in the hand-to-mouth life of poor New York, Crane closely observed the characters around him, and in 1893, at age 23, he self-published Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, about a poor girl’s decline into prostitution and suicide. The book was a critical success but failed to sell well. He turned his attention to more popular topics and began writing The Red Badge of Courage.

After the book’s success, the same newspaper syndicate dispatched Crane to write about the West and Mexico, and in 1897 Crane headed to Cuba to cover the insurrection against Spain. On the way there, he met his future lifelong companion, Cora Howard Taylor, the proprietress of a rundown hotel where he was staying. After The Commodore sank, Crane and four of his shipmates spent a day in a 10-foot lifeboat before they reached Daytona Beach. Crane published an account in a New York newspaper five days later, and “The Open Boat” was published in Scribner’s magazine the following June. Crane later covered the war between Greece and Turkey, and settled in England, where he befriended Joseph Conrad, H.G. Wells, and Henry James. Crane contracted tuberculosis in his late 20s. Cora Howard Taylor nursed him while he wrote furiously in an attempt to pay off his debts. He exhausted himself and exacerbated his condition. He died on June 5, 1900 at the age of 28, in Germany and was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Newark, New Jersey.

Check back every Friday for a new installment of “This Week in English Literary History.”

Michael Thomas Barry is the author of six nonfiction books that includes Literary Legends of the British Isles and America’s Literary Legends.

December 30, 2014 – London Book Festival named Literary Legends of the British Isles as the (2014 runner-up finalist) in the biography/ autobiography/ memoir category

Purchase the book from Amazon through the following link –

http://www.amazon.com/Literary-Legends-British-Isles-Writers/dp/0764344382/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1419962964&sr=8-1&keywords=michael+thomas+barry

This week (December 29-January 4) in crime history – London’s “Railway Rapists” commits first murder (December 29, 1985); Rasputin was murdered (December 30, 1916); John Salvi goes on murderous rampage at two Massachusetts abortion clinics (December 30, 1994); Subway Vigilante Bernie Goetz surrendered to police (December 31, 1984); Real “Looking for Mr. Goodbar” murder (January 1, 1973); Yorkshire Ripper was captured (January 2, 1981); Jack Ruby died (January 3, 1967); Boston Strangler committed his last murder (January 4, 1964).

Highlighted story of the week – 

On January 4, 1964, Mary Sullivan was raped and strangled to death at her Boston apartment. The killer left a card reading “Happy New Year” leaning against her foot. Sullivan would turn out to be the last woman killed by the notorious Boston Strangler, Albert DeSalvo, who terrorized the city between 1962 and 1964, raping and killing over a dozen women.

DeSalvo’s serial-killing career was shaped at an early age. His father would bring home prostitutes and have sex with them in front of the family, before brutally beating his wife and children. On one occasion, DeSalvo’s father knocked out his mother’s teeth and then broke her fingers one by one while she lay unconscious on the floor. DeSalvo himself was sold by his father to work as a farm laborer, along with two of his sisters. In the late 1950s, as a young man, DeSalvo acquired the first of his criminal nicknames. He knocked on the doors of young women, claiming to represent a modeling agency. He told the women that he needed to take their measurements and proceeded to crudely fondle the women as he used his tape measure. His stint as the “Measuring Man” came to an end with his arrest on March 17, 1960, and he spent nearly a year in prison. When DeSalvo was released, his next series of crimes were far worse. For nearly two years, he broke into hundreds of apartments in New England, tied up the women and sexually assaulted them. He always wore green handyman clothes during his assaults and became known as the “Green Man.”

In 1962, DeSalvo started killing his victims. He strangled Anna Slesers with her own housecoat and tied the ends in a bow, which would become his trademark. Throughout the summer of 1962, DeSalvo raped and killed elderly women in Boston. However, by winter he began attacking younger women, always leaving the rope or cord used to strangle the victim in a bow. Police, who were thwarted in their attempts to stop the newly dubbed “Boston Strangler,” even brought in a psychic to inspect the clothes of the victims. However, it was DeSalvo himself who enabled the police to close the case. On October 27, 1964, after raping another young woman, he suddenly stopped before killing her. When the victim called police and gave a description of her attacker, police arrested DeSalvo. DeSalvo confessed the murders to his cellmate George Nasser. Nasser told his attorney, F. Lee Bailey, about DeSalvo, and Bailey took on DeSalvo as a client. Under a deal with prosecutors, DeSalvo was never charged with the Boston Strangler crimes, getting a life sentence instead for the Green Man rapes. Still, DeSalvo’s life term was short. He was stabbed to death by an unidentified fellow inmate at Walpole State Prison on November 26, 1973.

Check back every Monday for a new installment of “This Week in Crime History.”

Michael Thomas Barry is a columnist for www.crimemagazine.com and is the author of six nonfiction books that includes the award winning Murder & Mayhem 52 Crimes that Shocked Early California, 1849-1949.