Thief with a Gun at Our Walmart

My son works at our local Walmart. The other day, a man and a woman came into the store and tried to steal some television sets. When they tried to leave the store, security approached them and the man pulled a gun and my son was standing right there next to the crazy man. The crooks got away but there are photos of them from the store's surveillance cameras. I hope someone will recognize them and turn them in.

This is the female wanted in connection with this crime

 The get-away car--wannabe thieves Lincoln

Another view of the get-away car a Lincoln

My son in the vest. The "crook" is returning gun to back pocket, the female "crook" in pink and security in the front of her.

Here is the story from one of our local television stations. If anyone has any information on this, please call the Radcliff, KY police department at (270) 351- TIPS.

Thanks everyone!

On This Day 27 May in 1883, Oscar Wilde Imprisioned

On May 27th, 1883 Oscar Wilde was sent to prison and ordered to perform hard labor after being found guilty of sodomy (homosexuality) two days before.  This was such an embarrassment to his wife Constance that she moved with their two children to Switzerland and changed their last name to Holland.

Here is one poem written by Wilde:

Poem: Easter Day

The silver trumpets rang across the Dome:

The people knelt upon the ground with awe:
And borne upon the necks of men I saw,
Like some great God, the Holy Lord of Rome.
Priest-like, he wore a robe more white than foam,
And, king-like, swathed himself in royal red,
Three crowns of gold rose high upon his head:
In splendour and in light the Pope passed home.
My heart stole back across wide wastes of years
To One who wandered by a lonely sea,
And sought in vain for any place of rest:
‘Foxes have holes, and every bird its nest.
I, only I, must wander wearily,
And bruise my feet, and drink wine salt with tears.’


To learn more about Wilde you may visit these sites

• The Long Conversion of Oscar Wilde
• The Official Web Site of Oscar Wilde

To read more poetry by Wilde you may visit this page on Project Gutenberg and scroll down to Wilde's name.

15 January, 1947, Elizabeth Short's (aka Black Dahlia) Mutilated Body Found

Today I think we'll take a look at an unsolved crime from the 1940s.  

On this day, January 15th, 1947 the mutilated remains of 22-year-old Elizabeth Short, who came to be known as the "Black Dahlia" were found in a vacant lot in a residential area of Los Angeles, CA. Short was born on July 29, 1924, at Hyde Park, Massachusetts. She was murdered on January 14, 1947.  Numerous persons were questioned in the murder of Short, but her killer was never found despite investigations by the FBI and local authorities.  This murder has been the subject of numerous movies.

If you're interested in the 2006 movie The Black Dahlia, here's a trailer for it:


More information:
FBI Electronic Reading Room records

06-19-2008 History--Rosenbergs executed

On this day in history June 19, 1953--
Rosenbergs executed
On this day in 1953, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, who were convicted of conspiring to pass U.S. atomic secrets to the Soviets, are executed at Sing Sing Prison in Ossining, New York. Both refused to admit any wrongdoing and proclaimed their innocence right up to the time of their deaths, by the electric chair. The Rosenbergs were the first U.S. citizens to be convicted and executed for espionage during peacetime and their case remains controversial to this day.
Julius Rosenberg was an engineer for the U.S. Army Signal Corps who was born in New York on May 12, 1918. His wife, born Ethel Greenglass, also in New York, on September 28, 1915, worked as a secretary. The couple met as members of the Young Communist League, married in 1939 and had two sons. Julius Rosenberg was arrested on suspicion of espionage on June 17, 1950, and accused of heading a spy ring that passed top-secret information concerning the atomic bomb to the Soviet Union. Ethel was arrested two months later. The Rosenbergs were implicated by David Greenglass, Ethel's younger brother and a former army sergeant and machinist at Los Alamos, the secret atomic bomb lab in New Mexico. Greenglass, who himself had confessed to providing nuclear secrets to the Soviets through an intermediary, testified against his sister and brother-in-law in court. He later served 10 years in prison.
The Rosenbergs vigorously protested their innocence, but after a brief trial that began on March 6, 1951, and attracted much media attention, the couple was convicted. On April 5, 1951, a judge sentenced them to death and the pair was taken to Sing Sing to await execution.
During the next two years, the couple became the subject of both national and international debate. Some people believed that the Rosenbergs were the victims of a surge of hysterical anti-communist feeling in the United States, and protested that the death sentence handed down was cruel and unusual punishment. Many Americans, however, believed that the Rosenbergs had been dealt with justly. They agreed with President Dwight D. Eisenhower when he issued a statement declining to invoke executive clemency for the pair. He stated, "I can only say that, by immeasurably increasing the chances of atomic war, the Rosenbergs may have condemned to death tens of millions of innocent people all over the world. The execution of two human beings is a grave matter. But even graver is the thought of the millions of dead whose deaths may be directly attributable to what these spies have done.""Rosenbergs executed," The History Channel website, [ From: http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history.do?action=Article&id=52622 (accessed Jun 19, 2008).]

If you go to the CIAs website --> http://www.foia.cia.gov/search.asp?pageNumber=1&freqReqRecord=rosenberg.txt you can read many of the primary source documents associated with the crime and trial.

06-18-2008 History: Susan B. Anthony Arrested!!!

On this day in history 18 June 1873--Susan B. Anthony was arrested when she attempted to vote in an election. When she was arrested, she refused to pay her streetcar fare to the police station because she was "traveling under protest at the government's expense." If you go to -> http://www.susanbanthonyhouse.org/ you will be able to read a short biography about Ms Anthony and take a virtual tour of her home.

Entry for April 15, 2008

Entry for April 15, 2008

On this day in history 1920, a paymaster for a shoe company in South Braintree, Mass., and his guard were shot and killed by two men who escaped with over $15,000. On May 5, 1920, two Italians, Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were apprehended by the police. Both men were armed when apprehended and lied during questioning. It was common knowledge that both men were militant anarchists. On July 14,1921 both men were found guilty. The legal manuevering through the legal system lasted until April 9, 1927,when Sacco and Vanzetti were sentenced to death. They were executed on August 23, 1927. This case was well known during the 20th century because proof that they had murdered and robbed anyone was nonexistant. Their reputation as anarchists, and the fact that they were poor was believed by many to be the reason they were convicted and executed. To read more about this trial go to the following webpages
University of Pennsylvania
Court Tv

(Originally posted on my Yahoo 360 blog)

Entry for January 17, 2008

Entry for January 17, 2008


On this day in history 1977: Gary Gilmore was the first person executed by firing squad in Utah when the ban on the capital punishment was lifted. Gary Gilmore began a career of crime in his early teens. At the age of 14 he was sent to reform school on charges of auto theft. When he was 21 he was imprisoned for assault and robbery. After he was released from prison he murdered one person and most probably a 2nd person but there was a lack of hard evidence. Gilmore was given a sentence of execution; he chose to die by firing squad. Gary Gilmore's final words before being put to death on January 17, 1977, by a volunteer firing squad were -- "Let's do it!" An interesting book I read about this (years ago) was The Executioner's Song by Norman Mailer (ca 1979). A movie has also been made based on this book. Go to the online Crime Library to read more about this case and Gilmore.

Happy Anniversary to Ray and me. We're 21 and legal LOL!!!

(Originally posted on my Yahoo 360 blog)

Entry for August 02, 2007

Entry for August 02, 2007

On this day in history 1876, Wild Bill Hickok aka James Butler Hickok was murdered in Deadwood, S.D. He was only 39 years old. Eyewitness to History website has an interesting eyewitness account to one shootout Hickok was involved in. Suite101 has a short biography about him which may be interesting to you. (Originally published in my Yahoo 360 blog)

Entry for July 19, 2007

Entry for July 19, 2007

On this day in history 1860-- Lizzie Borden, the accused murderer was born. Who is Lizzie Borden? She was the woman made famous by the rhyme ...
Lizzie Borden took an axeGave her mother forty whacksWhen she saw what she had doneShe gave her father forty-one
Elizabeth Borden was acquitted at her trial of the murders of her father and step-mother. Go to this page to read about this crime, view the transcripts, read the autopsy results and more.
Interestingly enough, the Borden family home still stands today. It is a bed and breakfast and museum. Go to this page to visit it. (Originally posted on my Yahoo 360 blog)

Entries for February 25th and 23rd, 2007

Entry for February 25, 2007
As I was skipping across the Internet, I found some unusual crochet things. Here is an article complete with a picture on a "nude" crochet "sculpture." How cute! The whatnottocrochet website has pictures of really outrageous crocheted items. They do not include patterns though. Here's a page that has patterns--some free, some not; for unusual things such as bones, sausage link scarf and a few more. Gullum Hat is based on one of the Lord of the Rings characters.
St. Patricks Day Crochet Patterns
http://yarntothemax.blogspot.com/
http://www.crochetpatterncentral.com/directory/stpatricksday.php
http://www.crochetma1.com/SPcp1.html
http://www.allfiberarts.com/cs/crochet-stpats.htm
http://home.inreach.com/marthac/stpat.html
http://www.karpstyles.com/crochet/shamrock1.html
http://crochet.about.com/library/blshamrock.htm
http://www.e-patternscentral.com/list.html?cat_id=16 (These patterns aren't free but some cost as little as 99 cents. Just browse through these pages for St. Patrick's day patterns)
Go ahead and use your favorite search engine to find more.

Entry for February 23, 2007
Sometimes (or maybe I should say most of the time) when I substitute teach, the students try to think of ways to get out of the classroom. Yesterday a young man at the high school told me he had to go to the restroom really bad and if I didn't let him go he'd pee all over himself. That excuse is pretty lame, especially since he only had about 20 minutes left in class. I told him to wait until class was over. He said but I have a condition--irritable bowel syndrome. What do bowels have to do with peeing??? LOL!

Black History-- An online article tells the story of the Scottsboro boys. Nine young black men (13 - 21 yrs of age) were riding on a train when they were pulled off it and charged with the rape of 2 white women. One of the women said that she had NOT been raped by any of them. This article tells of the miscarriage of justice and illustrates the racism that was all to common back in the 1930s when this event occured. The article also gives links to newspaper stories written back then. Eventually, charges were dropped against 5 of them. The other four were retried and convicted; three were later paroled, and the fourth escaped.

(Originally posted on my Yahoo 360 blog)

Entry for December 12, 2006

On this day in history 1913-- The Mona Lisa was recovered in Florence after having been stolen in August 1911 from the Louvre in Paris, France. The Mona Lisa was painted by the famous artist Leonardo Da Vinci. To read about the theft, go to the Treasures of the World website and follow the links to learn about the theft and the thief.

(Originally posted on my Yahoo 360 blog)

Entry for October 7th, 2006

I've been slacking a bit. Totally spaced out putting a blog entry in for yesterday. Soooo, here's today's entry...

On this day in history 1949, Iva Toguri D'Aquino was sentenced to 10 years in prison for treason. Who, you may be asking yourself is this Iva person???? She is more commonly known as Tokyo Rose. A story written about her before her death may be read here http://weeklywire.com/ww/01-20-98/chicago_cover.html at the Weeklywire website. Another interesting article is found at the about.com website http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_toguri_iva.htm .

(Originally posted on my Yahoo 360 blog)

Entry for October 05, 2006

On this day in history 1892--The Dalton gang attempts their last robbery. The members of the gang included Grat Dalton, Emmett Dalton, Bob Dalton, Bill Power and Dick Broadwell. They attempted to rob 2 banks at once! Emmett Dalton was the only member of the gang to survive this robbery attempt. To read a local newspaper account visit Eyewitness to History.

(Originally posted on my Yahoo 360 blog)

Entry for September 30, 2006

On this day in history, 1630-- John Billington, one of the original pilgrims who sailed to the New World on the Mayflower, becomes the first man executed in the English colonies. He is hanged for having shot another man during a quarrel. For more information see The Colonial Gazette page at http://www.mayflowerfamilies.com/enquirer/billington.htm .

(Originally posted on my Yahoo 360 blog)