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

1877: Crazy Horse Fatally Bayoneted at Fort Robinson

Crazy Horse, the celebrated Lakota war leader who had helped defeat George Custer at the Battle of the Little Bighorn just a year earlier, was fatally stabbed with a bayonet at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, on 5 September 1877. He was 36 years old.

He had surrendered to U.S. Army forces earlier that year, ending years of armed resistance on the northern plains. Brought to the fort under the pretence of a meeting, he was seized and stabbed during a struggle, dying that night. The killing marked the end of one of the most formidable military careers in the history of the Lakota people.

Crazy Horse and his band of Indians on their way to surrender (1877)

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Assassination Military Political Crime USA War Crime

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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

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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.

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Gang Murder Organised Crime USA

1877: Crazy Horse Fatally Bayoneted at Fort Robinson

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

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