Nan Patterson was an up-and-coming young actress and dancer in New York City. Her most widely known work are the accusations she received for the death of a young, married bookmaker by the name of Caesar Young. Nan Patterson and Caesar Young engaged in an affair with each other, both cheating on their respective spouses.
One night, Patterson and Young traveled to have Young meet up with his wife on the docks, where he would be shot dead by a firearm belonging to Nan Patterson. Patterson was soon arrested and stood in front of a jury that was unable to reach a verdict on whether or not Nan Patterson killed Caesar Young.
The state prosecuting Nan Patterson said she gave a “silly story.” The actress, giving divisive statements, lead to a rift between the State and the People. The State claimed “murder in her heart flamed” while the people outside the courtroom shouted “Free Nan Patterson!…She’s done nothing wrong!”
Florence Carman
Florence Carman was at the center of attention in the city of Freeport in New York. Florence Carman was married to Dr. Edwin Carman, a respected man in Freeport. Mrs. Florence had suspicions against her husband that he was having other ‘engagements’ with his female patients.
Florence Carman had left a Dictaphone on in Dr. Carmans office to record conversations that her husband was having with patients.
One night, after hours, Dr. Edwin Carman received a visitor in his office on July 1, 1914 by the name of Louise “Lulu” Bailey. The visit was precarious and Mrs. Carman had a similar thought. That evening, as Dr. Carman entered his office to meet Mrs. Bailey, someone shot her through the window. Witnesses claimed to have seen a ‘woman in white” standing on the porch at the time of the murder. Mrs. Carman was arrested one week after the murder.
A consensus could not be met regarding Mrs. Carman’s guilt. The New York Times wrote, “After deliberating for thirteen and a quarter hours, the jurors in the trial of Mrs. Florence C. Carman for the alleged murder of Mrs. Lulu D. Bailey filed wearily into the Supreme Court room at 10:58 o’clock this morning and the foreman announced that it was impossible for them to come to any agreement.”
Henry Howard Holmes, or H. H. Holmes, moved to Chicago in 1885, working at a pharmacy under the alias Dr. Henry H. Holmes. Soon after the death of the Pharmacy owner, Holmes bought the store from the store owner’s widow after some convincing. The widow quickly disappeared with Holmes claiming she moved to California.
H. H. Holmes purchased an empty lot across the street from where he owned the drugstore. Mr. Holes designed and built a 3-story hotel, nicknamed the “Castle” by surrounding residents. The work started in 1889 and during the construction of the “Murder Castle”, Mr. Holes hired and fired several construction crews so that no one would know what he was building. The building was completed in 1891 and Holmes began advertising in the newspaper, offering jobs to young women and a place of lodging. People in the neighborhood reported that they saw many women entering the hotel but would never seen them exit.
In 1893, the Chicago World’s Fair opened, giving Holmes an opportunity to lure more unsuspecting victims in his hotel to murder them.