Dark Stories: On This Day In True Crime History - Dark Stories True Crime Tours

1939: Bookmaker Irving Feinstein Strangled and Burned by Murder Inc.

In September 1939, New York bookmaker Irving Feinstein was strangled to death by members of Murder Inc., the enforcement arm of the American organised crime syndicate. His body was set alight and dumped in a vacant lot, a signature disposal method of the organisation.

The killing was ordered after Feinstein was accused of doublecrossing a criminal associate. He was one of dozens of victims claimed by Murder Inc. during its brutal reign as a contract killing operation for the mob.

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Gang Murder Organised Crime USA

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1928: Clifford Hulme Hanged at Perth for the Wubin Murder

In June 1928, Clifford Hulme shot and killed Harold Eaton Smith at Wubin, a remote farming district north of Perth. The two men had been working together that afternoon. When Smith’s children went to bring their father his usual tea, they found Hulme approaching the house carrying a rifle. What followed included further attacks on Smith’s widow and children, crimes that shocked the court and compelled the Chief Justice to clear the public gallery before Mrs Smith gave her testimony.

Hulme’s defence rested on a plea of insanity, but the jury declared him sane and guilty. He received the death sentence without a word. He was executed on 3 September 1928.

Clifford Hulme murderer hanged at Fremantle Gaol Monday morning

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Australia Execution Murder Perth Trial WA Wubin

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1981: Andrei Chikatilo Resumes Killing After a Three-Year Pause

Soviet serial killer Andrei Chikatilo had committed his first murder in 1978, preying on young victims lured from rail stations and bus depots around Rostov-na-Donu. By 1981, after a three-year hiatus that investigators could scarcely explain, he resumed killing. Poverty and the decay of Soviet society made his victims easy to isolate: young people drifting toward cities with no contacts, no money, and no one to report them missing.

Chikatilo would not be caught for nearly another decade. In 1984, police briefly detained him but a botched blood typing test cleared him. He was convicted of theft and served three months. By 1990, when he was finally arrested, he had murdered at least 50 people. Soviet authorities had actively suppressed public warnings during the investigation, maintaining that serial murder was ideologically incompatible with communist society.

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Europe Execution Murder Rostov-na-Donu Russia Serial Killer Soviet Union Trial

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1885: Charles Bushby Hanged at Ballarat for Shooting a Detective on the Gong Gong Road

In December 1884, plain-clothes Detective Sergeant Hyland was pursuing a suspect wanted as an accomplice in a wool-stealing robbery at Kyneton. Acting on a tip that the man had been seen asking questions near the Gong Gong hotel, Hyland and Senior Constable Hehir hired a cab and tracked him along the road near Brown Hill. When Hyland stepped out and approached, the man drew a revolver and shot him in the shoulder at close range. Hyland rushed him before he could fire again, and a fierce struggle followed, with two more shots discharged into the ground and air before the man was handcuffed and taken into Ballarat. Surgeons at the hospital extracted the bullet from the sergeant’s back.

The man, Charles Bushby, also known as Baker, was convicted of attempted murder at the Ballarat Court and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Ballarat on 3 September 1885.

Old abandoned Kyneton Hospital building in Victoria, Australia

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Australia Ballarat Execution Kyneton Murder Police Robbery Trial VIC

1939: Bookmaker Irving Feinstein Strangled and Burned by Murder Inc.

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1928: Clifford Hulme Hanged at Perth for the Wubin Murder

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1981: Andrei Chikatilo Resumes Killing After a Three-Year Pause

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1885: Charles Bushby Hanged at Ballarat for Shooting a Detective on the Gong Gong Road

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