Erwin, TN . My hometown, small and wholly unremarkable. Unremarkable, of course, except for our history of elephant hanging. In 1916, after Mighty Mary killed one of her handlers, the circus had to put her down. The problem: they couldn't poison her and they couldn't shoot her. The solution: hang her from a railroad crane. The story has become one of local folklore. Any of your hometowns have strange histories worth sharing? (inspired by MoFi)
posted by ruddhist on Nov 30, 2004 - 62 comments

Woman prisoner hangs self, then sues prison Suicide note found near body tells her lawyer to sue the prison for not preventing her suicide.
posted by Lanternjmk on Apr 4, 2002 - 16 comments

So you read the "Madman and the Professor" and thought it interesting. Edward Ruloff is another murdering philologist with the extra cachet that his 1871 trial for killing a dry-goods clerk was one of the first to test the admissability of photographs as evidence. The Supreme Court agreed with lower rulings that they could be allowed; Ruloff was hanged. In 1845, he had been accused of murdering his wife and child and was imprisoned for ten years for the abduction of his wife, but without a corpus delecti, he could not be convicted for the murder of his child. This man is writing a biography of Ruloff; a publisher could do a lot worse.
posted by Mo Nickels on Sep 26, 2001 - 3 comments

Long, closely-argued explanation of how America went back to the death penalty.
posted by Mocata on Oct 2, 2000 - 2 comments