Category:
Crime

Won’t happen again


Sources: The Daily Standard (Sikeston, Missouri) - Feb 11, 1956; Bridgeport Telegram (Connecticut) - Apr 4, 1955.

More in extended >>

Posted By: Alex - Sun Jul 19, 2015 - Comments (5)
Category: Crime, Prisons, 1950s

How the Bank Sneak Works

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After a lifetime of crime, Harry Schindler was thoughtful enough to divulge all his tricks for the edification of bankers and other monied types.

Read the whole thing here.

Posted By: Paul - Tue Jul 07, 2015 - Comments (6)
Category: Crime, Books, 1910s

Sparkling Nibbler

Mrs. Marie Marks Schor, wealthy Miamian, charged with shoplifting because she liked to eat stuff from the shelves as she did her grocery shopping. Sounds like she was having quite a meal: ham, candy, strawberries, bananas, and string beans.


Source: The Bristol Daily Courier - Dec 19, 1959

Posted By: Alex - Sun Jun 14, 2015 - Comments (4)
Category: Crime, 1950s

Robert Baudin, Aerial Counterfeiter

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Although he seems generally forgotten today, counterfeiter and pilot Robert Baudin was quite notorious while alive, and seems to have had quite a remarkable career, as detailed in the review of his autobiography Fake (see sidebar) quoted below.

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Kirkus review.

More details of his life here.

Posted By: Paul - Sat May 16, 2015 - Comments (2)
Category: Crime, Money, 1960s, 1970s, Australia

Impregnable U.S. Mint

Back in 1938, the new U.S. mint building in San Francisco was widely advertised as being impregnable and "invasion proof." But, of course, as two teenage boys quickly proved, all the fancy anti-robbery gadgets in the world are useless if you forget to close the windows.


Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - Dec 30, 1938


The Record-Argus - Dec 31, 1938

Posted By: Alex - Fri Feb 06, 2015 - Comments (7)
Category: Crime, 1930s

Santa still at large

A man dressed as Santa (or was it Santa himself?) recently robbed a Wells Fargo bank in downtown San Francisco. There have been Santa-dressed criminals before, but what made this one slightly different was that the robbery occurred just as SantaCon was taking place in the city, which meant that there were hundreds of people dressed as Santa celebrating right outside the bank. So after the robbery, the perpetrator simply stepped out the door, blended in with all the other Santas, and got away. [KBCW, lowering the bar]

Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 20, 2014 - Comments (9)
Category: Crime

Criminals Named Christmas

There was Christmas Jones, sent to prison for debt in January 1815.

Christmas Allen (father and son), both charged with larceny.

And Christmas Crisp, who did six months for larceny in 1837. His son, Christmas Crisp Junior, appears to have been an honest man.

Perhaps being named Christmas was the 19th Century equivalent of having the middle name Wayne. [via Criminal Historian]

Posted By: Alex - Sat Dec 13, 2014 - Comments (3)
Category: Crime, Holidays, Odd Names, Nineteenth Century

Real or Fake?

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Would you drive by the above and keep going thinking it was fake? A man beheaded his mother and kicked her head around before stepping in front of a train. Passers-by said they thought it was a Halloween prank.

Posted By: Alex - Thu Oct 30, 2014 - Comments (6)
Category: Crime, Evil, Dismemberment, Nausea, Revulsion and Disgust

Orange Is the Old Black

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To investigate the conditions in the New York State prison system for women circa 1916, socialist reformer Madeleine Zabriskie Doty arranges to have herself incarcerated, masquerading as a real criminal, under the name "Maggie Martin."

Read her experiences here, in SOCIETY'S MISFITS.

Posted By: Paul - Sat Sep 20, 2014 - Comments (6)
Category: Crime, Daredevils, Stuntpeople and Thrillseekers, Reformers, Do-gooders, Agitators and SJWs, Performance Art, Books, 1910s

The Coldest Case

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It appears that the 126 year old cold case of Jack the Ripper has been solved by DNA testing. A shawl that was alleged to have been found next to Catherine Eddowes, one of the Ripper's victims, carries mitochondrial DNA profiles from both Eddowes' line and the familial line of one of the Ripper suspects. Polish immigrant Aaron Kosminski, who subsequently spent his later years in mental asylums, lived in the area of the killings, and was a suspect, left his DNA behind on a bloody shawl. That shawl turned out to be a time capsule for justice.

Posted By: Alex - Fri Sep 19, 2014 - Comments (9)
Category: Crime, Death, Evil, Science, Historical Figure, Seventeenth Century, Blood

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Who We Are
Alex Boese
Alex is the creator and curator of the Museum of Hoaxes. He's also the author of various weird, non-fiction, science-themed books such as Elephants on Acid and Psychedelic Apes.

Paul Di Filippo
Paul has been paid to put weird ideas into fictional form for over thirty years, in his career as a noted science fiction writer. He has recently begun blogging on many curious topics with three fellow writers at The Inferior 4+1.

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