I'm a sucker for a well crafted true crime essay with an historical subject or historical slant, have had the pleasure of coming across several recently in my web wanderings, and share them here with you for some weekend reading.
Steve Huff of The Dark Side crime blog posted an elegant essay yesterday titled "Mataviejitas." In it, he discusses an ongoing serial killer case in Mexico City with some interesting historical parallels culled from his encyclopedic knowledge of serial killers. His interpretation of the few clues in the case will shiver your spine.
Just when you think there's no more ink left in Lizzie Borden's well, a writer with a fresh and interesting perspective pens something on the case that makes you think. An anonymous website has an essay, "She's Famous But Is She New England?" that you don't have to be a Borden-phile to enjoy.
The unsolved murder of Jennie Cramer in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1881 sparked intense public interest and led to a sensational murder trial -- but no firm answers. An essay in The New Journal, a publication managed by students at Yale, has a succinct view of the fascinating case (scroll to the bottom for "The Lady Vanishes").
The website for the Stanford Journal of Legal Studies has posted a fascinating academic paper, Yellow Justice: Media Portrayal of Criminal Trials in the Progressive Era by law student Shannen Petersen, which posits that yellow journalism led to "yellow justice." But, oh, the headlines!
And from The Olden Times:
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