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Name: Murder at Asheville's Battery Park Hotel
Brand: Anne Chesky Smith
SKU: 9781467145602
Price: 21.99 USD
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Murder at Asheville's Battery Park Hotel

$21.99

The Murder of Geneva Hardman and Lexington's Mob Riot of 1920

$23.99 $12.00 Save 50%

Chicago's First Crime King

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Murder in Hamtramck

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

The True Story of Notorious Arizona Outlaw Augustine Chacón

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Murder of Oscar Chitwood in Hot Springs, Arkansas, The

$23.99 $12.00 Save 50%

The San Francisco Doodler Murders

$23.99

The Parchman Ordeal

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

The Hoyt-Wallis Murder Mystery in Herkimer County

$23.99

Murder in Roanoke County

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Napa Valley Lawmen and Outlaws

$21.99

Francis "Two Gun" Crowley’s Killings in New York City and Long Island

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Murder in Chisago County

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Solving the West Palm Beach Murder of Jeffrey Heagerty

$21.99

Most Wanted in Brunswick County

$23.99

Boston Gentlemen's Mob, The

$21.99

Rio Grande Sniper Killings, The

$23.99

Justice in the Midlands

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

Murder at Asheville's Battery Park Hotel

9781467145602

$21.99

Did the phrase "That's what I was wondering…" solve a murder?

In the morning hours of July 16, 1936, Helen Clevenger's uncle discovered her bloodied body crumpled on the floor of her small room in Asheville's grand Battery Park Hotel. She had been shot through the chest. Buncombe County Sheriff Laurence Brown, up for reelection, desperately searched for the teenager's killer as the public clamored for answers. Though witnesses reported seeing a white man leave the scene, Brown's focus turned instead to the hotel's Black employees and on August 9 he arrested bell hop Martin Moore. After a frenzied four-day trial that captured the nation's attention, Moore was convicted of Helen's murder on August 22. Though Moore confessed to Sherriff Brown, doubt of his guilt lingers and many Southerners feared that justice had not, in fact, been served.

Author Anne Chesky Smith weaves together varying accounts of the murder and investigation to expose a complex and disturbing chapter in Asheville's history.

The Murder of Geneva Hardman and Lexington's Mob Riot of 1920

9781467143967

$23.99 $12.00 Save 50%

In 1920, ten-year-old Geneva Hardman was murdered on her way to school, just outside Lexington. Both civil authorities and a growing lynch mob sought Will Lockett, a black army veteran, as the suspect. The vigilantes remained one step behind the lawmen, and a grieving family erred on the side of justice versus vengeance. During the short trial, tensions spilled over and shots were fired outside the courthouse, leading to a declaration of martial law. Six people died in what civil rights leader W.E.B. Du Bois described as the "Second Battle of Lexington." Join author Peter Brackney and delve into this century-old story of murder and mayhem.

Chicago's First Crime King

9781467140553

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Michael Cassius McDonald arrived in Chicago as a teenage scam artist who quickly sketched a blueprint for running the city through its criminal underworld. Chicago's original mob boss, he procured presidential pardons, stuffed mayoral ballot boxes and operated the town's plushest gambling parlor. But he was also a philanthropist who befriended Clarence Darrow, employed Theodore Dreiser, promoted the World's Fair and funded the Lake Street L. His scandalous private life mirrored the tumult of his career, with more than one marriage mired in a love triangle and a murder trial. Kelly Pucci charts the rise of Chicago's first kingpin.

Murder in Hamtramck

9781467147101

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Founded in 1798, Hamtramck shrank in size even as it grew in population. Stuffing tens of thousands of people in 2.1 square miles is bound to breed conflict, and many of those conflicts boiled over into murder. Sunday, September 7, 1884, was supposed to be a day of joy for Fritz Krum, whose child was being christened. Instead, it ended in a fatal stabbing. The 1930 killing of police officer Barney Roth in a reputed mob hit drew national attention. The murder of Hamtramck teen Bernice Onisko remains an open case today, more than eighty years after it occurred. Gathering cases from the late nineteenth century to more recent times, prolific local historian Greg Kowalski takes readers on a journey through Hamtramck homicide.

The True Story of Notorious Arizona Outlaw Augustine Chacón

9781467147965

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

By the time he was hanged in 1903, Augustine Chacón had become the most notorious Mexican outlaw in the Arizona Territory. His alleged crimes had made him a virtual legend, but the facts show that Chacón wasn't the bloodthirsty fiend he was made out to be. Journalists of the era chased sensationalist stories, pandering to a readership that longed for excitement. Each retelling of Chacón's exploits added outlandish details, painting the escaped prisoner as a brutal gunman responsible for as many as fifty-two murders. In reality, Augustine Chacón may not even have killed the man he was hanged for shooting. Join author David Grassé as he uncovers the true story of Arizona's most enduring criminal legend.

Murder of Oscar Chitwood in Hot Springs, Arkansas, The

9781467153270

$23.99 $12.00 Save 50%

The Line between Lawmen and Lawless

On December 26, 1910, Oscar Chitwood lay lifeless on the courthouse lawn in Hot Springs, his wrists shackled together, and his body torn by bullets. The deputies on the scene claimed that masked men had lynched their prisoner and that the lawmen were innocent bystanders to the carnage. Newspapers everywhere proclaimed this killing another example of vigilantism run rampant. Within days, however, the official story fell apart, and these deputies were charged with cold-blooded murder. Authors Guy Lancaster and Christopher Thrasher tell the little-known story of accused outlaw Oscar Chitwood, the authorities he dared defy, and the mysterious resort town of Hot Springs, a place where the Wild West met the epitome of civilization, and where the boundaries between lawman and outlaw were never all that clear.

The San Francisco Doodler Murders

9781467149877

$23.99

In 1974, one of San Francisco's most horrific unsolved serial murder cases began.

In less than two years, the man police called "The Doodler'? took at least five lives, terrorized the LGBTQ community, and left three survivors forever changed. Initial reports claimed the murderer didn't approach his victims with the knife he used to kill them, but that the suspect shared skilled drawings--sketches of faces and animals--before leaving several gay men to bleed out in the sands of Ocean Beach. Police investigations and activist efforts to uncover the killer led to several suspects, but no definitive identification of the artist of death.

Author Kate Zaliznock shines a light on this riveting cold case.

The Parchman Ordeal

9781467140645

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

In October 1965, nearly 800 young people attempted to march from their churches in Natchez to protest segregation, discrimination and mistreatment by white leaders and elements of the Ku Klux Klan. As they exited the churches, local authorities forced the would-be marchers onto buses and charged them with "parading without a permit," a local ordinance later ruled unconstitutional. For approximately 150 of these young men and women, this was only the beginning. They were taken to the Mississippi State Penitentiary in Parchman, where prison authorities subjected them to days of abuse, humiliation and punishment under horrific conditions. Most were African Americans in their teens and early twenties. Authors G. Mark LaFrancis, Robert Morgan and Darrell White reveal the injustice of this overlooked dramatic episode in civil rights history.

The Hoyt-Wallis Murder Mystery in Herkimer County

9781467154888

$23.99

Warren township in the southern portion of Herkimer County has been the scene of more than one gruesome event.
In January 1885, locals reeled in horror when disgruntled wife Roxalana Druse shot her husband and dismembered his corpse to incinerate it in a farm house stove. Her trial and hanging was followed up in May of 1901 with two murders in yet another farm house kitchen. John C. Wallis had allowed his ex-wife Arvilla to return home, one year after running off with hired farm hand Ben Hoyt. Wallis then rehired Hoyt and within months both Ben Hoyt and Arvilla Wallis were dead. Did Ben Hoyt murder Arvilla in cold blood or did John C. Wallis kill both of them?
Author James M. Greiner investigates a mysterious case of marriage, infidelity and multiple murders in turn of the century Herkimer County.

Murder in Roanoke County

9781467144100

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

Did her rival for a man's love get away with murder? It was a story of violence, bigamy, race and a quest for justice. The strange but true story of James and Susan Watkins.

A drama played out in the mountains of southwestern Virginia in 1891 that attracted nationwide attention and held the citizens of the Roanoke Valley spellbound. The tale of the trial of Charles Watkins for the murder of his wife was marked by threats of lynching, a fugitive manhunt, a disappearing witness, mistaken identities, claims of insanity and finally a secret letter to break the case wide open. In its day, the story was as closely followed as a modern televised murder trial. Despite the rapt attention of the public then, it has entirely faded from the history books - until now. Historian John Long resurrects the truth of who killed Susan Watkins.

Napa Valley Lawmen and Outlaws

9781467142366

$21.99

Law enforcement in Napa County traces its roots back to the days of Spanish rule and was formalized when California became a state in 1850. Since then, those who wear the badge have pursued the lawless in search of justice. Chuck Hansen, who started as a patrol officer, pioneered the use of forensic science at the Napa Police Department, collecting DNA evidence in 1974 that would become key in solving a murder decades later. And the killer known as "Willy the Woodcutter" was caught thanks to the expertise of Hal Snook of the Napa County Sheriff's Department. Napa police sergeant Todd Shulman brings to life the stories of those who played a part in solving some of wine country's most infamous crimes.

Francis "Two Gun" Crowley’s Killings in New York City and Long Island

9781467144353

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

On a May morning in 1931, Nassau County police officer Fred Hirsch was gunned down by the notorious New York City gangster Francis Crowley. Nicknamed "Two Gun" for tricking and murdering cops with a second loaded firearm, Crowley left a bloody trail from the Bronx to Long Island. He shot and wounded two men at a local dance hall and a New York City police detective and murdered one of Nassau County's finest. Eventually, he was tracked to a hideout in Manhattan, where a two-hour gun battle, including more than two hundred cops and ten thousand spectators, led to his capture. His murder spree involved thousands of law enforcement personnel, stole national media attention and cut across the New York metropolitan area. Author Jerry Aylward presents the murderous life of Francis "Two Gun" Crowley from the streets of New York to the electric chair in Sing Sing.

Murder in Chisago County

9781467142335

$21.99 $11.00 Save 50%

At 3:30 a.m. on April 11, 1933, neighbors and firefighters arrived at the farmhouse of Albin and Alvira Johnson to find a smoldering heap where a seemingly happy home once stood. Beneath the ruins, investigators found the bodies of Alvira and her seven children, but Albin's remains were nowhere to be seen. The authorities determined that Alvira and the children were dead before the fire, and fingers immediately pointed to Albin. Hundreds of searchers, including the illustrious Pinkerton Agency, combed the area and even crossed into Canada in pursuit of Johnson, who was indicted in absentia for murder. But he was never found, dead or alive. What happened to the Johnson family and what part, if any, Albin played in the tragedy remain a mystery. Twin Cities journalist Brian Johnson tells the story that has beguiled the community for generations.

Solving the West Palm Beach Murder of Jeffrey Heagerty

9781467142564

$21.99

A gay love triangle, drug deals, and a murder. Just another night in West Palm Beach in 1984?

Jeffrey Heagerty was like most young gay nineteen-year-olds in South Florida in the 1980s, commonly finding himself and his friends at the popular Kevin's Cabaret in West Palm Beach on Saturday nights. On one of those Saturday nights in 1984, Jeff vanished from the club, leaving his friends behind even though he was their ride home. His body was found in a canal the next morning and his car was missing, only to be found a month later, abandoned on the other side of town. Rumors of a love triangle, drug dealings and sexual encounters snarled police efforts at solving the case. The investigation stagnated and the case grew cold until the solution came from two unexpected sources: overlooked details in police photographs of Jeff's car and a mysterious letter from an inmate in the Palm Beach County Jail.

Most Wanted in Brunswick County

9781467154222

$23.99

"A roving, shiftless fellow…" That's how the newspapers described Jesse C. Walker, who in 1908 was served with an arrest warrant by Brunswick County sheriff Jackson Stanland, with tragic results. Little did Walker know that he was about to set off on twenty-five years of headline-grabbing exploits. Two murders, two wives, three prison escapes, and thousands of miles of travel across eight states are only the surface of the adventures of this North Carolina desperado. Local author Mark W. Koenig relates the untold saga of a man who rocketed to notoriety in the first years of the twentieth century and found atonement decades later.

Boston Gentlemen's Mob, The

9781467150910

$21.99

Violent mobs, racial unrest, attacks on the press--it's the fall of 1835 and the streets of Boston are filled with bankers, merchants and other "gentlemen of property and standing" angered by an emergent antislavery movement. They break up a women's abolitionist meeting and seize newspaper publisher William Lloyd Garrison. While city leaders stand by silently, a small group of women had the courage to speak out. Author Josh Cutler tells the story of the Gentlemen's Mob through the eyes of four key participants: antislavery reformer Maria Chapman; pioneering schoolteacher Susan Paul; the city's establishment mayor, Theodore Lyman; and Wendell Phillips, a young attorney who wanders out of his office to watch the spectacle. The day's events forever changed the course of the abolitionist movement.

Rio Grande Sniper Killings, The

9781467153430

$23.99

Untangle the complex conspiracy that led to the tragic deaths of Charlotte Kay Elliott and Kevin Edwin Frase on the banks of the Rio Grande. On the night of July 13, 1980, a hitman fired a high-powered rifle into the crowd at Pepe's On the River, an outdoor bar in Mission, Texas. He missed his target, a witness in the Loop 360 drug case, but killed two young bystanders. While state court prosecutions for capital murder inexplicably faltered, a federal court gave the assassin a life sentence for attempted murder of a grand jury witness. A member of the judge's staff who was present throughout the trial, author John W. Primomo revisits the dramatic twists and turns surrounding this murder on the Rio Grande.

Justice in the Midlands

9781467145428

$24.99 $12.50 Save 50%

The murder of Ron "Little Red'? Beasley is one of the most bizarre murder cases in Midlands history solved after 30 years. Beasley's murder was originally ruled a suicide, but his family and his friend Herman Young refused to believe. This mystery, with a background of macabre events and colorful characters, remained unsolved since 1967. Beasley's murder was originally ruled a suicide, but his family and his friend Herman Young refused to believe. And when Beasley's wife was convicted of murdering her second husband, they grew even more suspicious. Young went on to become sheriff of Fairfield County and made it his mission to find the truth. Join author Lou Sahadi as he details the gruesome details of a murder, two dramatic court trials and the untiring work of a lawman to find justice for his friend.