• Lizzie Borden-  Innocent Victim or Murderer

    “Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one.”   We’ve all heard the rhyme, but what of the story behind it?  Everyone thinks they know something about Lizzie Borden, but the events of that hot day in August will never truly be known. Lizzie Andrew Borden was born July 19, 1860 in Fall River, Massachusetts.  She was the daughter of a wealthy textile mill owner.  Her mother died when she was three leaving Lizzie and her older sister, Emma, alone with their father.  He married Abby Durfee Gray in 1865, and Lizzie was convinced the…

  • Nellie Bly- Intrepid Reporter

    Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864 in the town of Cochran Mills, no one thought that young Elizabeth would be famous for anything other than being the daughter of the man the town was named after. She was the third of five children, and her father had ten children from a previous marriage, so the Cochran house was crowded. Elizabeth grew up as the rebellious one and had dreams of being a writer. She even changed her name to Cochrane, giving it a silent e on the end to make it more fancy. Her father died when Elizabeth was six, and the family was turned out of their…

  • The Great Chicago Fire

    [threecol_one][/threecol_one] [threecol_one][/threecol_one] [threecol_one_last][/threecol_one_last] Everyone knows that Mrs. O’Leary’s cow kicked over a lantern and started the fire that destroyed a large portion of Chicago, Illinois. It even became a nursery rhyme: Late one night, when we were all in bed, Mrs. O’Leary lit a lantern in the shed. Her cow kicked it over, Then winked her eye and said, “There’ll be a hot time in the old town tonight!” Well, as is becoming a common theme, the true story is more complex. The summer of 1871 had been a hot one and a drought plagued the city. It was still dry coming into the fall months. Chicago at that time…

  • Evelyn Nesbit- Model, Muse, Witness, Victim

    She was born December 25 as Florence Evelyn Nesbit in Tarentum, Pennsylvania, a small village outside Pittsburgh. No one is exactly sure of the year as her mother added years to circumvent child labor laws. It is recorded as 1884, but may have been as late as 1886. Little Evelyn was so beautiful, that stories abound that neighbors came to simply gaze on the newborn. Evelyn grew into a thoughtful child, especially close to her father, who encouraged her in her love of reading. The family moved to Pittsburgh in 1893 and Evelyn’s father died soon after at the age of 40 leaving Evelyn and her mother and younger brother…

  • H.H. Holmes America’s first serial killer

    H.H. Holmes was born Herman Webster Mudgett on May 16, 1861, in Gilmanton, New Hampshire. Sometimes referred as the “Beast of Chicago,” H.H. Holmes killed many of the city’s inhabitants in his specially constructed home, which was later nicknamed the “Murder Castle.” He has also been linked to deaths in other parts of the United States and Canada. Holmes parents were Levi Horton Mudgett and Theodate Page Price, both of whom were descended from the first European settlers in the area. It has been said that he appeared to be unusually intelligent at an early age. Still there were haunting signs of what was to come. He expressed an interest…