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

1900: The Last Escape of Moondyne Joe, Western Australia's Most Famous Bushranger

Joseph Bolitho Johns, born in Wales around 1826 and transported to Fremantle in 1853 as convict 1790, became the most celebrated escape artist in Western Australian history. Known as Moondyne Joe, the Cornish-Welsh convict turned bushranger broke out of custody so many times that his repeated escapes became legend.

He made his final escape on 13 August 1900, dying at the Fremantle Lunatic Asylum after years of confinement and declining health. He was buried two days later in a pauper’s grave at Fremantle Cemetery.

moondyne joe

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Australia Bushranger Convict History Escape Fremantle Prison WA

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1964: The Last Two Men Hanged in Britain, Executed Simultaneously 50 Kilometres Apart

At 8:00 a.m. on 13 August 1964, two gallows traps opened in unison across England. Peter Anthony Allen dropped at Walton Prison in Liverpool; Gwynne Owen Evans dropped at Strangeways Prison in Manchester. Both had been convicted of the capital murder of John Alan West, a 53-year-old laundry van driver from Workington, Cumbria, stabbed and beaten to death during a robbery at his home in the early hours of 7 April 1964.

Police traced the men within 48 hours through a medallion left at the scene, inscribed with Evans’ name. Tried together at Manchester Crown Court in June 1964, the jury found both equally guilty of capital murder committed in the course of theft. The judge, executioners Harry Allen and Robert Leslie Stewart, and the clock itself were all synchronised. When the traps fell, Britain’s era of capital punishment fell with them. No one has been executed in the United Kingdom since.

Silhouetted hangmans noose rope on orange backlit background

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Cumbria England Europe Execution Liverpool Manchester Murder Robbery Trial UK

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1896: Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch Rob the Montpelier Bank

On August 13, 1896, Butch Cassidy rode into Montpelier, Idaho, with Elzy Lay and Bob Meeks, stopping at a saloon before walking into the state’s number one chartered bank. Cassidy and Lay forced teller A. N. Mackintosh to hand over gold, silver, and currency worth between $5,000 and $15,000, then ordered everyone to wait ten minutes before leaving. The local sheriff gave chase on a bicycle. Cassidy and his crew escaped easily on horseback.

It was one of the first robberies carried out by the newly formed Wild Bunch gang. Cassidy may have needed the money to cover court and attorney fees for former associate Matt Warner, convicted of killing two men in a gunfight. Kid Curry Logan also rode with the gang. The Montpelier bank has since been converted into a museum dedicated to the robbery.

Wanted Robert Leroy Parker known as Cassidy, was an American train, bank robber, and leader of the Wild Bunch Gang in the American Old West. On april 24 2014 in Tucson AZ | ID 176287673 © Meunierd | Dreamstime.com

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Gang Organised Crime Robbery USA

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1915: Brides in the Bath Killer Hanged at Maidstone Prison

George Joseph Smith, operating under aliases including Henry Williams and John Lloyd, was convicted of drowning three women in their baths after marrying them bigamously and insuring their lives. His victims were Bessie Mundy, found dead at Herne Bay in 1912; Alice Burnham, drowned at Blackpool in December 1913; and Margaret Lofty, found dead in her bath at Highgate in December 1914. Each death was initially recorded as accidental, but Divisional Detective Inspector Neil and pathologist Dr Bernard Spilsbury determined that accidental drowning in any of those baths was effectively impossible.

Smith was tried in 1915, convicted of all three murders, and hanged at Maidstone Prison by executioner John Ellis on 13 August 1915.

Smith protested his innocence to the end.

George Joseph Smith Brides in the Bath murderer in the dock

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Blackpool England Europe Execution Fraud London Maidstone Murder Poisoning Serial Killer Trial UK

1900: The Last Escape of Moondyne Joe, Western Australia's Most Famous Bushranger

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1964: The Last Two Men Hanged in Britain, Executed Simultaneously 50 Kilometres Apart

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1896: Butch Cassidy and the Wild Bunch Rob the Montpelier Bank

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1915: Brides in the Bath Killer Hanged at Maidstone Prison

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