1909: The Bushranger Who Vanished: Larry Cummins Died in Wodonga Under a Stolen Name

Lawrence Cummins once rode as a bushranger across New South Wales, but by the time disease caught up with him he had spent decades as someone else entirely. Living quietly under the assumed name James Long, he settled far from his old haunts and let the past disappear.

He died at Wodonga, Victoria, aged 66, of hepatitis, cirrhosis and Bright’s disease, and was buried in the local cemetery under the name his neighbours knew. Few, if any, of them ever learned they had been living alongside a man with a bushranging past.

Bushranger Larry Cummins
Bushranger Larry Cummins

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1849: Edgar Allan Poe Found Delirious on the Streets of Baltimore, Maryland: His Final Days Remain a Mystery

Edgar Allan Poe vanished for nearly a week before he turned up outside a Baltimore, Maryland tavern being used as a polling place, incoherent and wearing clothes that were not his own. He was taken to Washington College Hospital, where he drifted in and out of consciousness for four days.

Witnesses said he repeatedly called out the name Reynolds in his final hours, a man no one has ever identified. Poe died on 3 October 1849 at age 40, and no doctor ever agreed on what killed him, leaving one of American literature’s most famous authors with one of its strangest unsolved endings.

Restored portrait photo of Edgar Allan Poe circa 1849
Restored portrait photo of Edgar Allan Poe circa 1849

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1978: The Vatican Cover-Up That Fuelled a Poisoning Legend: the Death of Pope John Paul I

Pope John Paul I was found dead in his bed after just 33 days in office, the shortest papacy since 1605, with a religious devotional still in his hands. The Vatican initially claimed a priest had discovered the body; in truth it was a nun, Sister Vincenza, who found him, and officials lied about it out of embarrassment that a woman had entered the private papal quarters.

No autopsy was performed and the body was embalmed with unusual speed, feeding decades of speculation that he had been poisoned to stop him exposing corruption at the Vatican Bank. One theory even produced a mobster who claimed to have helped administer the poison. Later research drawing on confidential Vatican archives instead found a simpler explanation: a history of heart trouble, chest pains the night before his death, and no doctor ever called.

Castel Gandolfo Lazio Italy. Portrait of Pope John Paul I, albino luciani in the museum of the pontifical villas 11 Sep 2022 Castel Gandolfo Italy | ID 259284583 © Maudanros | Dreamstime.com
ID 259284583 © Maudanros | Dreamstime.com

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1846: Explorer John Horrocks Shot Dead by His Own Camel in South Australia

On 1 September 1846, explorer John Horrocks was shot near Lake Dutton in the far north-west of South Australia. While reloading his shotgun during the expedition, a kneeling camel named Harry shifted its packload and tripped the weapon’s trigger.

Harry, the camel responsible for the accident and reputedly the first camel to arrive in Australia, was shot dead on Horrocks’s own orders before he died of his wounds on 23 September.

Camel commits murder?
Camel commits murder?

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On This Day in True Crime History
1829·Beaten Unconscious Within Sight of the Gaol Wall: Hanged in Sydney for a Brutal Robbery
1894·Caught Serving Poisoned Tea: Martha Needle Hanged in Melbourne for a Family Poisoning Spree
More Crime On This Day →

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