Lizzie Borden, 1860—1927

Lizzie Borden is known worldwide through a poem which was written about her. It goes:

Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her father forty whacks. When she saw what she had done, She gave her mother forty-one.

This cruel verse refers to the fact that Lizzie Borden was accused of having killed her father and stepmother by chopping them to pieces with an axe at their home in Fall River, Massachusetts, in 1892. She was tried for the two murders and acquitted, but the trial has become a legend, and many books have been written about it.

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Just English. Английский для юристов

Reader. Part III

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Dr. Hawley Harvey Crippen, 1882—1910

Crippen is famous as a murderer mainly because he was the first one to be caught by the use of wireless telegraphy. He was an American-born doctor who settled in London in 1900 with his wife Cora who had theatrical ambitions and used the stage name Belle Elmore. In 1910 Crippen's wife vanished in suspicious circumstances and when the house was searched her dismembered body was discovered buried in a cellar. She had been poisoned. Meanwhile Crippen had fled with his girlfriend Ethel Le Neve, who was disguised as a boy. They thought that they were safe once they boarded the liner Mantrose for America, but the authorities used the newly invented wireless to pass on a warning to the ship's captain. Shortly afterwards 'Mr. Robinson' and his 'son' were recognised and Crippen and Le Neve were arrested in New York and returned to Britain. Largely due to Crippen's insistence that she knew nothing of the crime, Ethel Le Neve was freed, but the mild, inoffensive looking little man was hanged at Pentonville prison on 23^rd November 1910.

Bonnie and Clyde (Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow), d. 1934

In the days of the Depression in America after 1929, these two young people made a great name for themselves robbing stores and committing murders quite casually and often for the sheer fun of it. Bonnie Parker was a waitress when she met Clyde Barrow, and she ended up a legendary figure known for her love of red dresses, cigars and firearms. Working in the southern states of the USA they left behind a trail of destruction. On several occasions they were trapped by the police, but seemed to bear a charmed life and escaped even through a hail of bullets. On one occasion they held up a prison farm killing a guard and helping a friend to escape. Huge rewards were by then offered for their capture. Following a tip-off, the police finally ambushed Bonnie and Clyde at a crossroads and killed them in the gunfight that followed. In 1967 a film was made of their exploits, which resulted in the two becoming almost cult figures, and a pop song was written about them, which became a best-selling record.

'Ma' Barker, d. 1935

'Ma' Barker's gang was mostly composed of her own four sons, and she led them to criminal fame. She was never arrested, but

her sons often were. Ma would appear in court and protest their

innocence or raise bail. By the time the gang was cleared up by

the FBI it had been responsible for the deaths of four policemen, a

civilian and one of

their own number

who talked too much.

The Barkers hit the

big time when they

started kidnapping

rich men for ransom,

but this increased the

pressure by police and

the FBI on the gang

and its members had -

to split up. When Arthur Barker was captured, Ma's hideout in

Florida was revealed. The FBI's G-men surrounded the house and

called on Ma Barker and her son Fred to surrender. "To hell with

all of you", she replied and opened fire. The FBI used tear gas, but

the gunfight continued until both Ma Barker and her son were dead.