Article by Thomas S. Duke, Celebrated Criminal Cases of America Alexander Crittenden was born in Lexington, Ky., on, January 14, 1816. Andrew Jackson was a close friend of his family, and it was through Jackson’s influence that Alexander was sent to West Point. He graduated from this military college with Sherman and remained in the […]

In 1912, forty-two-year-old Private James Stine was sentenced to life in prison for the first degree murder of Corporal David Austin who he shot and killed on the parade grounds of Fort George Wright in Spokane, Washington. Stine said he killed Austin because of his harsh methods of disciplining soldiers of the all black 25th […]

. In early July of 1921, West Palm Beach Postmistress Lena Clarke embezzled $41,000 from two registered money bags that were being sent to the Federal Reserve by a local bank. On July 26, the money was discovered missing and one week later, Miss Clarke appeared at an Orlando, Florida, police station and told officers […]

Clyde Edward Laws Clyde Edward Laws was placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted List on February 28, 1967, and was captured on May 20, 1967. The following article is from the FBI’s booklet, Ten Most Wanted 60th Anniversary, 1950-2010. Clyde Edward Laws and an associate, while escaping from the armed robbery of a supermarket in […]

Charlie Johnson was a career criminal who was arrested in Washington D.C. on January 11, 1949, for pick-pocketing. He was sentenced to one year in prison and fined $200. He was born in 1895 in Kansas City, Missouri, and his criminal record dates from 1917. His record states he was living in New York City […]

On August 3, 1950, Curtis Shedd stopped by the Walhalla, South Carolina, home of his trade school pal, John Boyter, to pick-up Boyter’s two daughters for an afternoon of cruising around the countryside. Earlier that day, Boyter was seen in Shedd’s car as the two drove around town. He was never seen alive after that […]

Carrie Sang Sing On August 1, 1911, seventeen-year-old Carrie Sang Sing was arrested near Nome, Alaska, for slashing an unnamed person with a knife. Since Alaska was a territory at the time, her case fell to federal court where she was tried, convicted, and sentenced to two years in prison—with the option of only serving […]