WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.639 --> 00:00:11.039 You are now listening to True Murder, The most shocking 2 00:00:11.160 --> 00:00:14.199 killers in true crime history and the authors that have 3 00:00:14.240 --> 00:00:21.519 written about them Gaesy Bundy, Dahmer, The Nightstalker VTK. Every 4 00:00:21.559 --> 00:00:25.280 week another fascinating author talking about the most shocking and 5 00:00:25.359 --> 00:00:29.879 infamous killers in true crime history. True Murder with your host, 6 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:32.719 journalist and author Dan Zufanski. 7 00:00:39.600 --> 00:00:40.159 Good Evening. 8 00:00:41.280 --> 00:00:45.560 This latest collection from true crime master Michael Benson looks 9 00:00:45.600 --> 00:00:49.520 at some of the ghastliest murders in Rochester, New York's history. 10 00:00:50.679 --> 00:00:54.000 One of them takes place in Genesee County, but it's 11 00:00:54.000 --> 00:00:58.479 a good one. Stories include the Davis Street Fiend, the 12 00:00:58.600 --> 00:01:03.679 murder of Tesse Keating Shallow Grave at Holy Sepulcher, the 13 00:01:03.759 --> 00:01:08.879 murder of Anna Schumacher, the Lyndon Lunatic, the murders of 14 00:01:08.959 --> 00:01:14.480 Ruth Francis Kimball, George and Hattie Walley, and Benjamin Phillips, 15 00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:20.280 of Bondage and Bullets, the murder of Gertrude Smith, Trail 16 00:01:20.439 --> 00:01:24.319 of Blood, the murder of George Hickey and the j 17 00:01:24.560 --> 00:01:30.079 Street Axe Man, The murders of Millie Marcucci and Francesca Kotogno, 18 00:01:31.319 --> 00:01:34.799 plus updates on three cases. Benson has written about in 19 00:01:34.840 --> 00:01:40.480 the past cold cases that are cold no More. Kathleen Krauzneck, 20 00:01:41.200 --> 00:01:45.920 Wendy Jerome, and Victoria Johnson. The book that we're featuring 21 00:01:45.959 --> 00:01:51.439 this evening is Shallow Graves, Ghastly Murders, Rochester, New York, 22 00:01:52.000 --> 00:01:58.200 with my special guest, best selling author Michael Benson. Welcome 23 00:01:58.239 --> 00:02:00.239 back to the program, and thank you very much for 24 00:02:00.280 --> 00:02:01.920 this interview. Michael Benson. 25 00:02:03.319 --> 00:02:04.879 Thank you, Dan, thanks for having me. 26 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:09.120 Thank you so much, and congratulations on this latest book, 27 00:02:09.240 --> 00:02:12.759 Shallow Graves, Ghastly Murders, Rochester, New York. 28 00:02:14.120 --> 00:02:14.319 Well. 29 00:02:14.360 --> 00:02:19.319 Thanks, it's a good one. It'll keep you awake in 30 00:02:19.360 --> 00:02:20.120 the middle of the night. 31 00:02:21.000 --> 00:02:23.800 Tell us about just a little bit about the origins 32 00:02:23.879 --> 00:02:26.400 of this book and the stories that you chose for 33 00:02:26.479 --> 00:02:28.080 this Well, sure. 34 00:02:28.360 --> 00:02:31.919 I think one of the sad things about this book 35 00:02:32.800 --> 00:02:35.159 is that it takes place some of the stories at 36 00:02:35.240 --> 00:02:38.400 least take place at the beginning of the twentieth century, 37 00:02:38.960 --> 00:02:45.000 when the naivete of Rochester citizens was such that they 38 00:02:45.039 --> 00:02:47.719 didn't really know that danger was out there. We have 39 00:02:48.199 --> 00:02:50.520 one of the first murders of a young woman ever 40 00:02:51.120 --> 00:02:55.120 in the city of Rochester. She walks alone into a 41 00:02:55.240 --> 00:02:58.960 dark area in the inner city after you know there 42 00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:03.000 are no street lights, has no sense that she's walking 43 00:03:03.520 --> 00:03:07.520 to a dangerous situation because nothing bad had ever happened 44 00:03:07.560 --> 00:03:10.479 to a woman walking alone at night before. Another story 45 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:15.120 takes place in a cemetery during broad daylight on a Sunday. 46 00:03:16.000 --> 00:03:19.360 You know, bad things could happen anywhere at any time. 47 00:03:20.319 --> 00:03:25.680 And these were all hard, hard lessons for citizens, for 48 00:03:25.800 --> 00:03:29.120 civilized people to learn. Today. Of course we take it 49 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:32.479 off for granted. Back then you had to learn one 50 00:03:32.560 --> 00:03:34.280 murder at a time, what not to do. 51 00:03:35.479 --> 00:03:39.240 We spoke earlier, and we're going to discuss three particular 52 00:03:39.319 --> 00:03:43.560 stories in this book and then also talk about something 53 00:03:43.599 --> 00:03:47.280 you call the updates. Let's talk about the first story 54 00:03:47.280 --> 00:03:51.840 that we want to discuss, the David Street fiend, the 55 00:03:51.919 --> 00:03:56.800 murder of Tessie Keating, and also your connection to Davis 56 00:03:56.840 --> 00:04:00.639 Street in Rochester. Tell us about that fascinating connection. 57 00:04:01.400 --> 00:04:05.159 Yeah, Well, when I was a kid, my paternal grandmother, 58 00:04:05.879 --> 00:04:08.960 Naomi Lopez, owned a bar in the inner city of 59 00:04:09.080 --> 00:04:13.680 Rochester with her then husband, Gregory Lopez, and it was 60 00:04:13.879 --> 00:04:17.879 on a seedy little street called Davis Street, which had 61 00:04:17.920 --> 00:04:21.759 no major outlets on either end. It dead ended at 62 00:04:21.759 --> 00:04:23.879 one end and at the other end it ran into 63 00:04:23.879 --> 00:04:28.040 another side street, so it was a back back street, 64 00:04:28.519 --> 00:04:31.480 and to have a bar that functioned there meant that 65 00:04:31.519 --> 00:04:34.560 you were going to get some sketchy clientele. And when 66 00:04:34.560 --> 00:04:36.439 I visited as a little kid, there was always the 67 00:04:36.480 --> 00:04:39.639 worry that I would see or hear something I shouldn't. 68 00:04:39.720 --> 00:04:42.240 I remember that feeling, although I don't remember seeing and 69 00:04:42.279 --> 00:04:45.519 hearing anything I shouldn't, just the worry that that would happen, 70 00:04:45.639 --> 00:04:49.120 and the clientele worked kind of bummy. So when I 71 00:04:49.279 --> 00:04:51.519 was doing research for this book and I found out 72 00:04:51.560 --> 00:04:56.000 that really the first spectacular murder in Rochester history took 73 00:04:56.079 --> 00:04:58.480 place on Davis Street, I said, you know that kind 74 00:04:58.519 --> 00:05:01.839 of figures. It didn't prize me at all. It had 75 00:05:01.879 --> 00:05:04.399 never been a nice section of town, and back at 76 00:05:04.399 --> 00:05:07.279 the turn of the century it was known as a 77 00:05:07.319 --> 00:05:09.000 place where gangs hung out. 78 00:05:10.240 --> 00:05:13.639 Tell us about this huge billboard at the corner of 79 00:05:13.720 --> 00:05:18.360 Smith Street and Union Street and what that board was 80 00:05:18.639 --> 00:05:19.759 conveying at that time. 81 00:05:20.839 --> 00:05:24.639 Well, if you go there today, there's a building there, 82 00:05:24.680 --> 00:05:28.439 so it confuses the issue. And plus the railroad tracks 83 00:05:28.439 --> 00:05:32.079 that run alongside Davis Street now are on a bridge 84 00:05:32.120 --> 00:05:34.519 that goes over Union Street. But at the time there 85 00:05:34.639 --> 00:05:39.879 was a railroad crossing there. They didn't have electronic railroad gates. 86 00:05:39.920 --> 00:05:42.160 They would clang klang, klang, klang. So there was a 87 00:05:42.160 --> 00:05:45.839 guy there with a flag. And at the corner of 88 00:05:46.040 --> 00:05:48.720 Smith and Union Union was a main drag. There was 89 00:05:48.759 --> 00:05:53.759 a huge billboard that advertised whatever it was advertising at 90 00:05:53.800 --> 00:05:58.240 the time. But there was an area behind the billboard, 91 00:05:58.680 --> 00:06:02.079 away from the main street, where it was pitch black, 92 00:06:02.160 --> 00:06:06.439 dark and possibly the most secluded and dangerous spot in 93 00:06:06.480 --> 00:06:07.360 the entire city. 94 00:06:09.319 --> 00:06:13.079 What was this little vacant lot known for a haven 95 00:06:13.199 --> 00:06:13.680 for who? 96 00:06:14.240 --> 00:06:18.319 I mean? There were ruffians I guess that that was 97 00:06:18.360 --> 00:06:21.639 the word for teenage gangs. There was a gang called 98 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:25.000 the Goat Hill Gang that was in charge there. They 99 00:06:25.040 --> 00:06:28.360 weren't serial killers or anything like that, but they would 100 00:06:28.439 --> 00:06:32.120 rob you and beat people up and have fights with 101 00:06:32.199 --> 00:06:35.560 other gangs. And it was certainly if it had been 102 00:06:35.759 --> 00:06:39.639 even nineteen fifty, a young lady would have known not 103 00:06:39.800 --> 00:06:44.399 to go there after dark. But our heroine here, Theresa 104 00:06:44.560 --> 00:06:47.759 tesse Keating, she's twenty six years old. She's not a kid, 105 00:06:48.399 --> 00:06:51.600 but she has no clue that she's running an errand 106 00:06:51.639 --> 00:06:55.480 for her sister, has no sense that this is probably 107 00:06:55.519 --> 00:06:57.360 something they would best wait till morning. 108 00:06:59.279 --> 00:07:03.600 You described a stretch of Dava Street as especially dark 109 00:07:04.120 --> 00:07:04.879 for some reason. 110 00:07:05.480 --> 00:07:09.800 Well, they had just started putting in electric street lights 111 00:07:10.639 --> 00:07:14.199 and they had not gotten around to Dava Street. In fact, 112 00:07:14.199 --> 00:07:17.079 I would wager that Dava Street would want to It 113 00:07:17.199 --> 00:07:19.000 would have been one of the last streets to get 114 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:23.240 street lights. I'm guessing that that was moved up after 115 00:07:23.279 --> 00:07:26.560 the murder. Generally that you know, these things are done 116 00:07:26.319 --> 00:07:30.480 one life too late. They were switching from kerosene to 117 00:07:30.639 --> 00:07:34.000 electric and the guys who lit the kerosene lamps were 118 00:07:34.000 --> 00:07:37.120 being laid off because there were electric lights coming in 119 00:07:37.600 --> 00:07:40.319 and the electric lights hadn't got to Dava Street yet, 120 00:07:40.399 --> 00:07:42.439 So Dava Street was completely dark. 121 00:07:44.600 --> 00:07:49.560 What was the reason for Tessie Teresa venturing into this 122 00:07:49.680 --> 00:07:50.920 area in the first place. 123 00:07:51.439 --> 00:07:55.000 Well, she was She worked at a camera works manufacturer 124 00:07:55.279 --> 00:07:58.480 for Rochesterians. The place was at the current side of 125 00:07:58.519 --> 00:08:02.040 the Kodak Tower. Everybody knows where that is. And she 126 00:08:02.160 --> 00:08:06.040 lived in a quiet residential neighborhood. And she lived with 127 00:08:06.079 --> 00:08:10.199 her widowed father and two sisters, and a third sister 128 00:08:10.240 --> 00:08:13.800 had recently moved to Rochester and was looking for a housekeeper. 129 00:08:14.360 --> 00:08:16.879 TESSI read an ad in the paper on her own 130 00:08:17.439 --> 00:08:19.199 and to do her sister a favor, she went to 131 00:08:19.279 --> 00:08:23.879 visit the prospective servant of missus Alice Herbert at her 132 00:08:23.879 --> 00:08:27.759 home in her rooming house on Davia Street. It was drizzling. 133 00:08:27.920 --> 00:08:31.120 She put on her rubbers and grabbed an umbrella on 134 00:08:31.120 --> 00:08:33.600 her way out the door. She left the house at 135 00:08:34.039 --> 00:08:37.559 seven ten or seven fifteen, somewhere in that neighborhood. It's 136 00:08:37.600 --> 00:08:43.120 November twentieth, nineteen hundred, technically nineteenth century, I guess, and 137 00:08:43.600 --> 00:08:47.879 unaware that her destination was dangerous. The walk should have 138 00:08:47.960 --> 00:08:53.519 taken seven to ten minutes, but at first everybody thought 139 00:08:53.519 --> 00:08:57.080 that that witnesses were lying because they said she arrived 140 00:08:57.080 --> 00:08:59.480 at eight thirty, which left a missing hour. And we 141 00:08:59.559 --> 00:09:02.360 never get a good answer for why there's an hour 142 00:09:02.440 --> 00:09:05.720 missing in the story. I was talking to my cousin 143 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:07.559 over the weekend, and she had read the book, and 144 00:09:07.600 --> 00:09:10.080 she said she thinks that she just stood on Union 145 00:09:10.080 --> 00:09:13.000 Street and looked down Davis Street and spent a good 146 00:09:13.039 --> 00:09:14.960 forty five minutes saying do I really want to go 147 00:09:15.039 --> 00:09:16.879 down there? Do I really want to go down there? 148 00:09:17.159 --> 00:09:19.679 And eventually decided that she shouldn't be scared of the dark. 149 00:09:19.759 --> 00:09:22.240 She was an adult and decided to go down there, 150 00:09:22.960 --> 00:09:25.960 and that's that would explain that the missing time. 151 00:09:27.559 --> 00:09:30.399 This missing time. One of the people that says that 152 00:09:30.679 --> 00:09:35.480 the time that she sees Tessie was eight thirty and 153 00:09:35.559 --> 00:09:38.759 that's the owner of this, oh, the landlady at this 154 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:42.120 at one twenty seven Davis Street, and that's a Missus 155 00:09:42.120 --> 00:09:47.960 Norah Crowe. So tell us about this landlady and the 156 00:09:48.080 --> 00:09:50.559 house that she controls. 157 00:09:50.480 --> 00:09:54.720 Well, Missus Crow as a rooming house, she doesn't she 158 00:09:54.720 --> 00:09:58.440 has new background checks on her clients, and there are 159 00:09:58.440 --> 00:10:02.159 a lot of ne'er do wells living there, and I 160 00:10:02.200 --> 00:10:06.320 think the idea was to protect them from a police 161 00:10:06.360 --> 00:10:10.240 interrogation because who knows what they'd done recently or what 162 00:10:10.279 --> 00:10:14.200 the police were looking for. As it turned out, nobody 163 00:10:14.240 --> 00:10:16.559 who lived in her house had anything to do with 164 00:10:16.600 --> 00:10:20.000 the murder. But the instinct to not talk to the 165 00:10:20.039 --> 00:10:25.639 police and to maybe lie to help her tenants was automatic, 166 00:10:26.240 --> 00:10:27.879 and I think she got herself in a little bit 167 00:10:27.879 --> 00:10:32.080 of trouble for that. But it was the house where 168 00:10:32.200 --> 00:10:37.960 the prospective housekeeper lived, and Tessy did make it there. 169 00:10:38.519 --> 00:10:42.559 She was told that Missus Herbert was not in, so 170 00:10:42.799 --> 00:10:47.000 she turned around and started walking home. And she never 171 00:10:47.000 --> 00:10:48.399 made it back to Union Street. 172 00:10:50.559 --> 00:10:54.200 So who was first alerted to her disappearance and what 173 00:10:54.279 --> 00:10:56.919 do they do and who do they speak to? 174 00:10:57.159 --> 00:11:00.360 Well, at ten thirty the next morning, seven year old 175 00:11:00.360 --> 00:11:03.919 Philip Spuck of Union Street. He's looking for scrap metal 176 00:11:03.960 --> 00:11:07.200 in the abandoned yard behind the billboard. Tends to be 177 00:11:07.240 --> 00:11:09.840 a little bit of a dumping ground, so he's scavenging 178 00:11:09.840 --> 00:11:13.519 around there. He ran across a woman's hat, and then 179 00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:18.080 an umbrella, and then a woman's rubber overshoe. She picked 180 00:11:18.120 --> 00:11:20.120 up the He picked up the items and took them 181 00:11:20.120 --> 00:11:23.120 home and showed him to his mom, and she was 182 00:11:23.159 --> 00:11:27.039 most impressed by the rubber, so she sent him back 183 00:11:27.399 --> 00:11:29.799 to see if he could find the other one and 184 00:11:29.879 --> 00:11:33.279 instructed him to take his older brother, Edward with him. Now, 185 00:11:33.279 --> 00:11:37.120 they waited out a brief downpour, which which turns out 186 00:11:37.120 --> 00:11:40.320 to be a little bit important. There's a huge downpour. 187 00:11:40.360 --> 00:11:42.879 They wait for the rain to stop, and then they 188 00:11:42.919 --> 00:11:46.639 returned to the spot behind the billboard. And once they 189 00:11:46.679 --> 00:11:49.519 get there, Edward, the older brother, who's nineteen, I think 190 00:11:49.600 --> 00:11:52.600 something like that, he sees something in the weeds and 191 00:11:52.639 --> 00:11:55.240 he immediately sends his brother home, you know, go home 192 00:11:55.279 --> 00:11:57.879 to mom. Now he could tell it's a young woman, 193 00:11:58.039 --> 00:12:01.320 and he's hoping, against hope that she's only so it 194 00:12:01.360 --> 00:12:03.440 goes over there to see if she's okay. He sees 195 00:12:03.519 --> 00:12:05.919 blood in white froth coming from her nose and mouth. 196 00:12:06.279 --> 00:12:10.919 Her tongue's protruding, so he knows her. Her face is bruised, 197 00:12:11.240 --> 00:12:14.679 her thighs are open, there's finger marks on her throat. 198 00:12:15.240 --> 00:12:19.399 She's dressed in a brown bicycle skirt, a pink shirtwaist, 199 00:12:19.399 --> 00:12:24.080 and a brown fedora hat. Registering the horror, he starts 200 00:12:24.080 --> 00:12:29.200 to scream and runs down Smith Street, runs until he 201 00:12:29.240 --> 00:12:32.840 finds a cop walking the beat. It turns out its 202 00:12:32.879 --> 00:12:37.399 detective William Maguire from nearby Hartford Street, and together they 203 00:12:37.399 --> 00:12:41.639 returned to the body. Police combed the area. Body's taken 204 00:12:41.679 --> 00:12:45.799 to the Morgan autopsy. She had been raped, a word 205 00:12:46.480 --> 00:12:49.200 that didn't appear in the newspapers back then. They said 206 00:12:49.200 --> 00:12:54.120 she was outraged. Cause of death with strangulation, and it 207 00:12:54.200 --> 00:12:58.360 was the twenty ninth murder in Monroe County history, but 208 00:12:58.720 --> 00:13:03.679 the first to be a woman killed by a stranger. 209 00:13:05.320 --> 00:13:08.120 Most of your murders were guys working on the Erie 210 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:11.720 Canal who got drunk and somebody hit somebody, they fell 211 00:13:11.759 --> 00:13:13.919 in the water, that kind of thing. So the previous 212 00:13:13.960 --> 00:13:19.000 twenty eight murders are less newsworthy. This one's shocking. This 213 00:13:19.039 --> 00:13:25.320 one just shocks the city, the surrounding area. That probably 214 00:13:25.879 --> 00:13:28.679 it made the news around the country because this was 215 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:32.960 just too awful to even think about Chris today. I mean, 216 00:13:32.960 --> 00:13:38.679 it's still considered really awful, but it's not it's not 217 00:13:39.200 --> 00:13:44.039 mind boggling anymore. Police rapidly identified the body. Tessie's family 218 00:13:44.039 --> 00:13:48.039 had reported her missing at one am. Police wanted to 219 00:13:48.039 --> 00:13:51.480 know what type of girl tests he was, and they 220 00:13:51.519 --> 00:13:53.720 said she was never the kind to cause any worry, 221 00:13:53.720 --> 00:13:56.360 which meant she was a good girl. Police went to 222 00:13:56.399 --> 00:14:00.279 the roaming house and they talked to Missus Crowe. Missus 223 00:14:00.360 --> 00:14:05.240 Crow told some resemblance of the truth. She said that 224 00:14:05.240 --> 00:14:09.159 that tess He'd arrived and been sent away. Missus Crow 225 00:14:09.200 --> 00:14:11.799 could not answer the questions without seeming like she was 226 00:14:12.080 --> 00:14:15.519 hinky as the as the cops like to say now. 227 00:14:16.200 --> 00:14:19.399 It took police many man hours to sort it out, 228 00:14:20.240 --> 00:14:23.200 but they eventually figured out that all of the people 229 00:14:23.279 --> 00:14:26.399 Missus Crow was lying to protect had nothing to do 230 00:14:26.600 --> 00:14:30.879 with the murder. Their whereabouts, once pieced together, was just 231 00:14:30.919 --> 00:14:34.080 a mad jumble of I went to one bar, had 232 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:35.600 a couple of drinks, went to another bar, had a 233 00:14:35.600 --> 00:14:37.120 couple of drinks. I got to fight with this guy 234 00:14:37.159 --> 00:14:38.279 and that I want to do another bar, had a 235 00:14:38.320 --> 00:14:40.440 couple of drinks and it was like and that. Came 236 00:14:40.440 --> 00:14:44.159 home and I fell asleep. Nobody was in any condition 237 00:14:44.279 --> 00:14:49.120 to rape and murder a woman down by Union Street. Now, 238 00:14:49.480 --> 00:14:52.200 the case was sensational, and it brought out the loonies, 239 00:14:53.080 --> 00:14:55.519 oddballs confessed to things they didn't do. And that was 240 00:14:55.559 --> 00:14:57.919 another thing I think we take for granted today that 241 00:14:58.039 --> 00:15:04.600 a if a murder is horrible enough, people will confess 242 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:06.279 to it even though they had nothing to do with it. 243 00:15:06.559 --> 00:15:10.159 For reasons that escape me. It's a form of mental illness. 244 00:15:10.600 --> 00:15:13.320 It was very, very frustrating. And to give you an 245 00:15:13.360 --> 00:15:16.759 idea of how sensational, I guess is the word. The 246 00:15:16.879 --> 00:15:20.279 murder was the first attempt at a requiem mass for 247 00:15:20.360 --> 00:15:23.440 Tessie at Corpus Christi Church on East Main Street, still there, 248 00:15:24.039 --> 00:15:28.559 big church in downtown Rochester. It had to be canceled 249 00:15:29.240 --> 00:15:34.039 because of an inability to control the crowds, so Tessie's 250 00:15:34.080 --> 00:15:37.399 remains were buried in Holy Sepachal Cemetery, which we're going 251 00:15:37.440 --> 00:15:41.080 to be talking more about later, without a ceremony, and 252 00:15:41.120 --> 00:15:45.480 the mass was not offered until December fourth. Enough time 253 00:15:45.519 --> 00:15:47.960 had passed that the funeral was peaceful, but there were 254 00:15:48.000 --> 00:15:51.399 still one hundred strangers there quietly paying their respects to 255 00:15:51.440 --> 00:15:54.639 a young woman they only knew because of her notorious death. 256 00:15:55.120 --> 00:15:57.440 And as it turns out, it was two and a 257 00:15:57.480 --> 00:16:02.480 half years before police figured out what had happened to Tessie. 258 00:16:03.879 --> 00:16:06.639 But there were arrests along the way, and there was 259 00:16:06.679 --> 00:16:11.320 a suspect named Fuller, and they believed that one of 260 00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:16.279 the crucial principal clues that was found in among the 261 00:16:16.320 --> 00:16:22.279 body and other items was this silver Bengal. As you 262 00:16:22.320 --> 00:16:26.279 explained later, it was not such an important clue. 263 00:16:26.440 --> 00:16:29.200 No, No, As it turns out, it was one of 264 00:16:29.240 --> 00:16:31.840 the first responders to the scene had dropped it there 265 00:16:32.480 --> 00:16:35.879 and it didn't have anything to do with the crime whatsoever. Yeah, 266 00:16:36.720 --> 00:16:39.080 for two and a half years, it's nothing but frustration. 267 00:16:39.840 --> 00:16:43.960 But on June ninth, nineteen oh three, a fellow named 268 00:16:44.000 --> 00:16:47.720 August Russell, forty year old guy lived on Henrietta Street 269 00:16:47.759 --> 00:16:51.279 in the city, was arrested on a tip from his wife. 270 00:16:52.440 --> 00:16:55.720 And this is another quote. It strikes me as something 271 00:16:55.720 --> 00:16:59.320 that you wouldn't find today. She said he was beating 272 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:02.240 me one day, and I said, you must be the 273 00:17:02.279 --> 00:17:05.680 man who killed the Keating girl. And he stopped hitting me, 274 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:08.039 and he thought him at it, and he said, yes 275 00:17:08.200 --> 00:17:11.440 I am. After that, I wormed the whole story out 276 00:17:11.440 --> 00:17:14.759 of him, bit by bit. Missus Russell said, this is casual. 277 00:17:14.799 --> 00:17:18.519 He was beating me one day. There's a certain amount 278 00:17:18.559 --> 00:17:22.079 of wife beating was socially acceptable back then. Killing your 279 00:17:22.119 --> 00:17:24.559 wife that was crossing the line. But they were supposed 280 00:17:24.559 --> 00:17:27.920 to obey like dogs. It said so right in the ceremony, 281 00:17:28.279 --> 00:17:30.799 so it was okay to whack him every once in 282 00:17:30.839 --> 00:17:34.000 a while. Anyway. Russell was arrested at the corner Broadway 283 00:17:34.039 --> 00:17:38.000 in Monroe Avenue, and as one policeman engaged Russell on conversation, 284 00:17:38.119 --> 00:17:40.079 pretending he could get him work on a farm mountain 285 00:17:40.079 --> 00:17:42.920 in the country, the other sneaked up behind Russell and 286 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:45.519 clapped a heavy hand on his shoulder. I arrest you 287 00:17:45.599 --> 00:17:49.400 for the murder of Teresa Heating, and Russell bowed his 288 00:17:49.480 --> 00:17:53.039 head and said I didn't mean to kill her. As 289 00:17:53.039 --> 00:17:57.039 it turned out, Russell was a physically peculiar man. The 290 00:17:57.119 --> 00:18:00.440 upper portion of his skull was perfectly round, a fact 291 00:18:00.519 --> 00:18:03.920 later confirmed by a doctor's calipers, and he loved to 292 00:18:03.960 --> 00:18:07.640 adorn that billiard ball head with ladies hats. He was 293 00:18:07.759 --> 00:18:11.279 five to five slight, with deep creases in his forehead, 294 00:18:11.279 --> 00:18:16.680 a nervous, fidgety disposition, and freakishly long arms that hung 295 00:18:16.720 --> 00:18:19.240 to with an inch of his knees. He had one 296 00:18:19.319 --> 00:18:21.960 light blue eye and white dark brown eye, one dark 297 00:18:22.000 --> 00:18:25.519 brown eye, and walked through life with a perpetual squint. 298 00:18:26.759 --> 00:18:30.200 Of course, they suspected this guy is another false confessor. 299 00:18:30.319 --> 00:18:34.799 This guy's he even looks like a screwball. So Chief 300 00:18:34.839 --> 00:18:38.759 Hayden of the Rochester Police introduced erroneous details about the crime, 301 00:18:39.039 --> 00:18:43.240 but Russell always corrected him. Russell led the policeman to 302 00:18:43.720 --> 00:18:47.079 the billboard on Davis Street, pointed out the different spots 303 00:18:47.119 --> 00:18:50.119 with unfailing accuracy, and he showed them the place on 304 00:18:50.160 --> 00:18:53.680 the sidewalk where he confronted the victim. He made the 305 00:18:53.720 --> 00:18:58.119 young woman he said an indecent proposal, and according to Russell, 306 00:18:58.240 --> 00:19:03.839 she replied, go away, you dirty loafer. That's a strong 307 00:19:03.920 --> 00:19:05.119 language from a young lady. 308 00:19:05.119 --> 00:19:07.319 Back then, Absolutely, he. 309 00:19:07.240 --> 00:19:10.319 Lost his temper, hit her on the temple and choked her, 310 00:19:10.640 --> 00:19:12.759 and when she was unconscious, he dragged her off the 311 00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:16.319 sidewalking into the vacant lot, and he said he remained 312 00:19:16.319 --> 00:19:18.880 in the lot with Tessi for three hours and left 313 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:23.440 her around midnight. He was indicted day before Halloween nineteen 314 00:19:23.440 --> 00:19:28.200 oh three, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. A 315 00:19:28.240 --> 00:19:31.160 commission was appointed to doctors and a lawyer to inquire 316 00:19:31.200 --> 00:19:34.759 about whether or not he understood the quality and the 317 00:19:35.240 --> 00:19:39.720 wrongness of his crime. The hearings involved calling witnesses. Some 318 00:19:39.839 --> 00:19:43.119 men who knew Russell thought he was demented. Others, especially 319 00:19:43.200 --> 00:19:46.480 when discussing Russell's handling of money, thought him as sane. 320 00:19:46.480 --> 00:19:49.480 As the day was long, all agreed that Russell was 321 00:19:49.599 --> 00:19:52.880 at his weirdest, went around women. On New Year's Eve 322 00:19:53.000 --> 00:19:56.640 nineteen oh three, the insanity panel declared Russell insane. He 323 00:19:56.759 --> 00:20:01.119 was taken to Madijuan State Insane Asylum, then new Facility, 324 00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:06.039 where he was confined until he would be confined until declared, saying, 325 00:20:06.519 --> 00:20:08.839 of course, there was no guarantee that that would ever happen. 326 00:20:09.480 --> 00:20:13.640 He said, Well, in Madiwan, he said, I am the 327 00:20:13.720 --> 00:20:17.680 magic man. I hear music when you do not some 328 00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:20.480 guy screamed in terror all night or yelled angrily in 329 00:20:20.519 --> 00:20:24.039 that place. But Russell was a laugher. He would laugh 330 00:20:24.119 --> 00:20:27.759 all night, and he did eventually get out, and some 331 00:20:27.799 --> 00:20:31.640 say he relocated to the Catskills and died in Ulster County. 332 00:20:33.119 --> 00:20:38.160 That Jesus has an opportunity to stop to hear these messages. Now, 333 00:20:38.200 --> 00:20:42.000 the next story we were going to discuss is shallow 334 00:20:42.039 --> 00:20:46.799 grave at Holy Sepulture. If that's the right pronounciation, A 335 00:20:46.839 --> 00:20:51.640 sepulchercur yes for me. This is August nineteen oh nine, 336 00:20:51.880 --> 00:20:57.640 Anna Catherine Shoemaker, sixteen years old, found in a crudely 337 00:20:57.759 --> 00:21:05.359 constructed graview right at the Holy Sulfitture Cemetery. And tell 338 00:21:05.440 --> 00:21:08.319 us the reason why she went to the cemetery in 339 00:21:08.359 --> 00:21:12.200 the first place, and how she was found eventually there. 340 00:21:12.960 --> 00:21:17.480 You know this case as the most the richest and 341 00:21:17.519 --> 00:21:21.960 yet most horrible ironies. Here's a story of a young 342 00:21:22.000 --> 00:21:26.400 woman who is murdered in a cemetery. She's buried in 343 00:21:26.400 --> 00:21:30.000 the cemetery by her killer in a shallow grave, and 344 00:21:30.039 --> 00:21:32.880 then she's dug up from her shallow grave, and when 345 00:21:32.920 --> 00:21:37.599 she's finally buried for real, she's buried in the same cemetery, 346 00:21:39.039 --> 00:21:43.240 not only hundreds of yards from the scene of her murder. 347 00:21:43.839 --> 00:21:46.279 And I cannot think of another case like that. I'm 348 00:21:46.279 --> 00:21:48.960 sure that there are may be others out there. I 349 00:21:48.960 --> 00:21:50.920 can't even think of another case of the murder in 350 00:21:50.960 --> 00:21:54.039 a cemetery at the moment, but certainly not in a 351 00:21:54.119 --> 00:21:57.799 murder in a c in which the victim was then 352 00:21:58.519 --> 00:22:02.400 buried at the same spot. It's Saturday, August seventh, nineteen 353 00:22:02.400 --> 00:22:05.559 oh nine. It's one o'clock in the afternoon. The temperature 354 00:22:05.640 --> 00:22:11.319 is ninety two degrees. Humidity is uncomfortable and as preps. 355 00:22:11.319 --> 00:22:14.200 Everybody knows by now ninety two degrees is the temperature 356 00:22:14.200 --> 00:22:18.200 at which most murders are committed. Ninety one degrees, everybody's 357 00:22:18.200 --> 00:22:20.960 a little bit calmer. Ninety three degrees, everybody gets a 358 00:22:21.000 --> 00:22:25.519 little bit too hot to do anything physical. Sixteen year 359 00:22:25.519 --> 00:22:29.279 old Anna Catherine Schumacher she leaves her home on Katie Street. 360 00:22:29.920 --> 00:22:32.200 Her mission is to groom and place sweet peas and 361 00:22:32.279 --> 00:22:35.960 asterniums from the flower garden behind her family home upon 362 00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:40.039 the graves of her father and sister. Her father recently 363 00:22:40.039 --> 00:22:42.759 passed away. She had a sister who died as a baby. 364 00:22:42.799 --> 00:22:46.200 As babies often did back then. And its Holy Sepago's 365 00:22:46.480 --> 00:22:50.240 Sepulcher Cemetery. They've got me doing it. Anna walked to 366 00:22:50.279 --> 00:22:53.799 a streetcar stop from her house. She caught a car 367 00:22:53.880 --> 00:22:57.519 downtown at the four Corners. She transferred to a shalot 368 00:22:57.599 --> 00:23:00.319 car that took her to the cemetery. And we know 369 00:23:00.359 --> 00:23:02.880 that she did this because a family friend and Missus Graham, 370 00:23:03.200 --> 00:23:06.240 saw Anna get off at the cemetery. And after that 371 00:23:06.599 --> 00:23:10.640 we don't know when she didn't return. On Saturday night, 372 00:23:11.079 --> 00:23:15.359 her mother called police reported or missing, but very little 373 00:23:15.359 --> 00:23:18.559 attention was paid to the report. And his mother and 374 00:23:18.599 --> 00:23:21.079 sister went to the sixth Precinct and told the officer 375 00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:25.400 Anna's missing, but they didn't take her seriously. They said, 376 00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:28.319 a lot of sixteen year old girls are out that 377 00:23:28.480 --> 00:23:32.440 late time was ten forty pm and Anna had been 378 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:35.720 gone for less than ten hours. Cop wanted to know 379 00:23:35.759 --> 00:23:38.599 if Anna was in the habit of staying out late. Now. 380 00:23:38.759 --> 00:23:42.119 The question greatly upset the women. He was questioning the 381 00:23:42.200 --> 00:23:49.759 reputation the chastity of their baby. Anna. Sure, so they 382 00:23:49.799 --> 00:23:55.000 storm out. They get lanterns, get a carriage to drive 383 00:23:55.039 --> 00:23:57.119 them to the cemetery and they go looking for Anna. 384 00:23:58.279 --> 00:24:01.759 They found fresh flowers at her father and sister's graves, 385 00:24:02.480 --> 00:24:06.079 tufts of unsightly grass trimmed with the scissors she brought along. 386 00:24:07.119 --> 00:24:11.759 Another unsuccessful scouring in the cemetery occurred and they split up. 387 00:24:12.000 --> 00:24:14.519 They canvassed the neighborhood, and then they got a lucky break. 388 00:24:15.599 --> 00:24:18.759 One man, a stranger, answered the door, said he hadn't 389 00:24:18.759 --> 00:24:21.880 seen Anna, but he offered a word of advice. If 390 00:24:21.880 --> 00:24:25.640 I were in your place, I'd get Constable stall Hand 391 00:24:25.920 --> 00:24:30.400 Baker of the Greece Police town of Greece next to Rochester. Today, 392 00:24:30.519 --> 00:24:32.720 the cemetery's in the city that back then it was 393 00:24:32.720 --> 00:24:34.920 in the town. He won't give up the search if 394 00:24:34.920 --> 00:24:37.720 he dies in the attempt. If you can't find her, 395 00:24:37.720 --> 00:24:39.440 you might as well give up. If he can't find her, 396 00:24:39.480 --> 00:24:41.680 you might as well give up. The advice turned out 397 00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:44.880 to be very good, and Baker's first question was how 398 00:24:44.920 --> 00:24:48.920 many times had Anna gone to that cemetery alone. It's 399 00:24:48.960 --> 00:24:51.799 considering the possibility that she might have been using flowers 400 00:24:51.799 --> 00:24:54.079 on the grave as an excuse to meet a boy. 401 00:24:54.559 --> 00:24:57.920