Historical True Crime

Louis Le Prince created some of the earliest motion pictures in the 1880s, years before Edison or the Lumière brothers. In 1890, just as he was preparing to present his work publicly, he boarded a train in France and disappeared. He was neverseen again.Source MaterialsPaul Fischer, The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures: A True Tale of Obsession, Murder, and the MoviesNat Segnit, “Who Killed Louis Le Prince? On the Forgotten Father of Film,” Harper’s Magazine (April 2022)“100 Years Ago, the Father of Movies Disappeared,” The New York Times, September 16, 1990Christopher Rawlence, The Missing Reel: The Untold Story of the Lost Inventor of Moving PicturesStephen Herbert, “Louis Le Prince,” Who’s Who of Victorian CinemaNational Science and Media Museum (UK), archival materials on Louis Le PrinceLeeds City Council / Leeds Museums & Galleries, local historical materials on Roundhay Garden Scene and Leeds Bridge footagePaulFischer, The Man Who Invented Motion Pictures: A True Tale of Obsession,Murder, and the MoviesNat Segnit,“Who Killed Louis Le Prince? On the Forgotten Father of Film,” Harper’sMagazine (April 2022)“100 YearsAgo, the Father of Movies Disappeared,” The New York Times, September16, 1990ChristopherRawlence, The Missing Reel: The Untold Story of the Lost Inventor of MovingPicturesStephenHerbert, “Louis Le Prince,” Who’s Who of Victorian CinemaNationalScience and Media Museum (UK), archival materials on Louis Le PrinceLeeds CityCouncil / Leeds Museums & Galleries, local historical materials on RoundhayGarden Scene and Leeds Bridge footage

A routine Post Office investigation in 1889 led to the discovery of a male brothel on Cleveland Street, involving telegraph boys and high-profile clients linked to the royal household. As the case unfolded, key figures escaped prosecution—raising questions about power and accountability.Source MaterialsH. Montgomery Hyde, The Cleveland Street ScandalH. Montgomery Hyde, The Love That Dared Not Speak Its Name: A Candid History of Homosexuality in BritainKatie Hindmarch-Watson, “Male Prostitution and the London Telegraph Boys,”Theo Aronson, Prince Eddy and the Homosexual UnderworldBritish Newspaper Archive, “Unlock the Story of the Cleveland Street Scandal” https://blog.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/2023/08/01/unlock-the-story-of-the-cleveland-street-scandal/Rictor Norton, “The Cleveland Street Scandal (1889)”https://rictornorton.co.uk/eighteen/1889clev.htmContemporary newspaper reports from The Times (1889–1890)Contemporary newspaper reports from The North London Press (1889–1890)

Anna Marie Hahn was a German immigrant living in Cincinnati in the 1930s. She cooked for people, spent time with them, and became part of their daily lives. And over time, the men she grew close to began to die.Source MaterialFranklin, Diana Britt. The Good-bye Door: The Incredible True Story of America’s First Female Serial Killer to Die in the Electric Chair. Kent State University Press, 2006. Hunt, Amber. “Queen City Crime: How serial killer Anna Hahn rocked Cincinnati, made Ohio history.” The Cincinnati Enquirer, February 6, 2024. Contemporary newspaper coverage, including:The Cincinnati Enquirer (1937–1938) The Cincinnati Post (1937) The Pittsburgh Press (execution coverage, 1938) Telfer, Tori. Lady Killers: Deadly Women Throughout History. HarperCollins, 2017. Vronsky, Peter. Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women Become Monsters. Berkley Books, 2007. Queen, Chelsea. “Anna Marie Hahn: The Deadly ‘Arsenic Widow.’” Medium, 2024

In 1893, Sicilian banker and former mayor Emanuele Notarbartolo was murdered on a train traveling along the northern coast of Sicily. What followed was a case that moved through multiple trials, convictions, and acquittals, raising questions about political influence, financial power, and the limits of the legal system.Source materialsJohn Dickie, Cosa Nostra: A History of the Sicilian Mafia (Hodder & Stoughton, 2004)https://www.hodder.co.uk/titles/john-dickie/cosa nostra/9780340935262/ Salvatore Lupo, History of the Mafia (Columbia University Press, 2009) https://cup.columbia.edu/book/history-of-the mafia/9780231131346“Raffaele Palizzolo Describes the Mafia,” The New YorkTimes, July 12, 1908 https://www.nytimes.com/1908/07/12/archives/raffaele-palizzolo-describes-the-mafia-the-noted-sicilian.html“Emanuele Notarbartolo: Banker and Politician,” Italy OnThis Day https://www.italyonthisday.com/2023/02/emanuele-notarbartolo-banker-and.htmlChelsea Queen, “Emanuele Notarbartolo: The Sicilian Mafia’sFirst Victim in 1893,” Medium, December 31, 2024 https://medium.com/@chelseaqueen/emanuele-notarbartolo-the-sicilian-mafias-first-victim-in-1893

In December 1811, two households on London’s Ratcliffe Highway were brutally murdered within days of each other. As panic spread through the East End, investigators searched for a killer moving through the dockside streets. A sailor named John Williams soon became the prime suspect but his death would leave the truth uncertain.Source MaterialsP. D. James and T. A. Critchley. The Maul and the Pear Tree: The Ratcliffe Highway Murders, 1811. Faber & Faber, 1971.Judith Flanders. The Invention of Murder: How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime. Thomas Dunne Books, 2011.John Fairburn. Fairburn’s Account of the Dreadful Murder of Mr. Marr and Family, Who Were Barbarously Murdered in Their House on Ratcliffe Highway. London, 1811.Peter Ackroyd. London: The Biography. Nan A. Talese / Doubleday, 2000.The Proceedings of the Coroner’s Inquest on the Marr and Williamson Murders, London, December 1811. The OldBailey Proceedings Online. https://www.oldbaileyonline.org Radzinowicz, L. “The Ratcliffe Murders.” The Cambridge Law Journal 14, no. 1 (1956): 39–66. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4504366