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

1803: Bribery Couldn’t Save Them: Two Men Hanged at Castle Hill for a Hawkesbury Robbery

On 27 September 1803, John Lynch and James Tracey were hanged at Castle Hill for a violent robbery at the Hawkesbury home of Samuel and Elizabeth Phelps. Five men had entered the house on the evening of 24 July, knocked Samuel down and bound both husband and wife before stealing money, watches, clothing and other property. Before leaving, they stripped two gold rings from Elizabeth’s fingers.

The following morning, Lynch gave a labourer a bundle of stolen papers to hold, warning him not to show anyone. When he delayed returning them, he was offered silver teaspoons and then a watch. He accepted the items but kept the papers, eventually informing the authorities and producing evidence that linked Lynch to the robbery.

Both men were convicted and sentenced to death. At the Castle Hill gallows in Sydney, Lynch admitted his guilt and urged the spectators to take warning from his fate. Tracey continued to deny involvement and interrupted Lynch’s final address before the two were hanged.

Vintage pocket watch, fountain pen and spoons on a table

⬅ See all events from 27 September

Australia Castle Hill Colonial Crime Execution Hawkesbury Home Invasion NSW Robbery Trial

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1869: Wild Bill Hickok Shoots Cowboy Dead During Saloon Disturbance

At about one o’clock on the morning of 27 September 1869, Sheriff “Wild Bill” Hickok and his deputy responded to a disturbance at John Bitter’s Beer Saloon in Hays City, Kansas. A cowboy named Samuel Strawhun and several drunken companions were reportedly damaging the saloon. During the confrontation, Strawhun made remarks against Hickok, who shot him through the head, killing him.

Hickok maintained that he had been trying to restore order. Despite conflicting witness accounts, a jury at the coroner’s inquest ruled the shooting justifiable. Strawhun was the second man Hickok had killed during his first month as sheriff.

⬅ See all events from 27 September

Kansas Law Enforcement Murder Old West Shooting Trial USA

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1969: The Zodiac Killer Leaves His Own Scorecard Written on a Victim’s Car Door

On September 27, 1969, at about 6.30 pm, the Zodiac Killer attacked Bryan Hartnell, 20, and Cecelia Shepard, 22, as they picnicked at Lake Berryessa in Napa County, California. He wore a black hooded costume marked with his crosshair symbol and, breaking from the shootings of his earlier attacks, stabbed both victims repeatedly. Hartnell survived; Shepard died two days later.

Before leaving, the killer used a black felt-tip pen to draw his crosshair signature on Hartnell’s car door, then listed beneath it the dates and locations of his previous attacks: Vallejo, 12-20-68, 7-4-69, and the day’s own assault, 6:30, by knife. The first date referred to the killing of David Faraday, 17, and Betty Lou Jensen, 16, on Lake Herman Road, and the second to the shooting of Michael Mageau, 19, and Darlene Ferrin, 22, in a Vallejo park, where Mageau survived and Ferrin died.

The note tied all three attacks together in the killer’s own hand at the scene, before any letter to police or press had been sent. He then drove roughly 27 miles to a car wash in downtown Napa and, from a payphone, calmly called the Napa County Sheriff’s Department himself at 7.40 pm to report the crime.

⬅ See all events from 27 September

California Cold Case Murder Serial Killer Unsolved USA

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1989: The Same Calendar Date, Six Years Apart: Harold Shipman Killed Two Elderly Patients in Hyde

Serial killer Dr Harold Shipman had a chilling habit of striking on the same date across different years. On 26 September 1989, he killed 82 year old Elizabeth Mary Burke in Hyde, the Greater Manchester town where his medical practice was based.

Exactly six years later, on the same date in 1995, he killed 87 year old Dora Elizabeth Ashton, another patient from Hyde. Despite the eerie coincidence, Shipman was never charged with either woman’s death; he was only later convicted for a separate group of murders, though he is suspected of killing far more patients over his career as a trusted family doctor.

⬅ See all events from 26 September

Cold Case England Medical Crime Murder Serial Killer UK

1803: Bribery Couldn’t Save Them: Two Men Hanged at Castle Hill for a Hawkesbury Robbery

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1869: Wild Bill Hickok Shoots Cowboy Dead During Saloon Disturbance

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1969: The Zodiac Killer Leaves His Own Scorecard Written on a Victim’s Car Door

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

1989: The Same Calendar Date, Six Years Apart: Harold Shipman Killed Two Elderly Patients in Hyde

Spread the word on your favourite platform!

Subscribe to Dark Stories