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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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

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1917: Tilly Devine Marries an Australian Soldier in London, Sealing a Turbulent Union

Matilda Twiss, born in Camberwell, London in 1900, married James Edward Devine, an Australian soldier serving in World War I, on 12 August 1917. Jim Devine, known as ‘Big Jim’, was a Victorian-born digger with a reputation for being sour and quick-tempered; Tilly was vivacious and already working as a prostitute. The pair were opposites in almost every way.

Tilly followed Jim to Sydney after the war, arriving in February 1920 and quickly building a criminal empire centred on Darlinghurst and Kings Cross. As the self-styled Queen of Woolloomooloo, she became one of the most notorious figures in the razor gang wars of the late 1920s and early 1930s. The marriage lasted 25 years before ending in divorce in 1943.

Portrait of Tilly Devine in 1925

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Australia Darlinghurst Gang Kings Cross London Murder NSW Organised Crime Prostitution Scandal Sydney UK VIC Woolloomooloo

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

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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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1917: Tilly Devine Marries an Australian Soldier in London, Sealing a Turbulent Union

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