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

1975: Gerald Ford Survives Assassination Attempt in Sacramento

On 5 September 1975, President Gerald Ford was leaving a meeting at the Senator Hotel in Sacramento, California, when Lynette ‘Squeaky’ Fromme, a follower of Charles Manson, pointed a loaded .45-calibre pistol at him from close range. A Secret Service agent grabbed the weapon before it could be fired, and Ford was unharmed.

Fromme was arrested on the spot. She was later tried and convicted of attempted assassination of the President, receiving a life sentence. It was the first of two attempts on Ford’s life within a single month, the second coming just 17 days later in San Francisco.

Gerald Ford portrait in the Michigan State Capitol at 100 N Capitol Avenue in Lansing, Michigan | ID 103716497 © Glenn Nagel | Dreamstime.com

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Assassination California Political Crime Sacramento Trial USA

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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.

Murder Incorporated

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Gang Murder Organised Crime USA

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1946: The Lipstick Killer Pleads Guilty, Then Tries to Cheat the Verdict

On September 4, 1946, William Heirens stood before a Chicago court with his parents and the victims’ families watching, and admitted guilt on burglary and murder charges spanning three killings. The prosecution had already staged a public reenactment of the Degnan murder in August, ensuring the case was tried in the press long before sentencing.

That night, Heirens attempted to hang himself in his cell, timing the attempt to coincide with a guard shift change. He was discovered before he died. He later said: ‘Everyone believed I was guilty … If I weren’t alive, I felt I could avoid being adjudged guilty by the law and thereby gain some victory. Before I walked into the courtroom my counsel told me to just enter a plea of guilty and keep my mouth shut afterward. I didn’t even have a trial.’

Red lipstick with blood splatter on white background, close up

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Murder Prison Serial Killer Trial USA

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1873: A Husband Killed by Mercury in Moonta, South Australia

Thomas Woolcock died at 3 am on 4 September 1873 in Moonta, Adelaide having suffered weeks of stomach pains, nausea, and prolonged vomiting. His death was initially attributed to exhaustion, but suspicion quickly fell on his wife Elizabeth Woolcock, a woman whose own life had been marked by hardship, abuse, and desperation.

Elizabeth had endured years of violence at the hands of Woolcock, a heavy-drinking wife-beater who had repeatedly prevented her from leaving. In the weeks before his death, she had made increasingly frantic attempts to obtain morphine and other substances from local chemists, and her behaviour had become talk of the community. Charged with murder by mercury poisoning, Elizabeth was tried, convicted, and hanged at Adelaide Gaol on 30 December 1873. She remains the only woman ever executed in South Australia.

Elizabeth Lillian Woolcock with her husband Thomas and their son Tom, c.1865. State Library of South Australia, B 12311. Public domain.

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Adelaide Australia Domestic Abuse Execution Moonta Murder Poisoning SA Trial

1975: Gerald Ford Survives Assassination Attempt in Sacramento

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

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1946: The Lipstick Killer Pleads Guilty, Then Tries to Cheat the Verdict

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1873: A Husband Killed by Mercury in Moonta, South Australia

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