Browsing: Crime

A Brief History On July 28, 1914, the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia, starting World War I.  When a Serbian nationalist assassinated the Archduke (heir to the throne) of the Austrian empire to protest Austro-Hungarian occupation of Serbian territory, he never could have seen the incredible consequences of the worst war in human history (until World War II).  Sometimes assassinations or attempted assassinations result in events unfolding differently than those anticipated by the assassin.  Here we list 10 such incidents, in no particular order.   Digging Deeper 10. Franz Ferdinand, 1914. As described above, all that was accomplished was the anger Austria-Hungary…

A Brief History On July 23, 1943, an English lad of 19 had enough of his disabled dad’s abuse and blew up the 47 year old in his bath chair.  The incident, famous in Britain as the Rayleigh Bath Chair Murder, has to be one of the first and perhaps only incident where someone killed their dad with an anti-tank bomb, thereby arguably meriting a ranking on our list of unusual deaths! Digging Deeper Archibald Brown lost the use of his legs at age 24 due to a motorcycle wreck and was confined to a wheeled “bath chair.”  Although he was…

A Brief History On July 22, 2011, a deranged Norwegian right-wing Islamophobic paranoid schizophrenic conducted a bombing and a mass shooting, Norway’s worst attacks since World War II.  A total of 77 people were killed, and over 300 wounded. Digging Deeper Anders Breivik, a 32 year old extremist had been plotting a terrorist event for years, and was a regular visitor on right wing extreme websites, notably some emanating from the US.  He had gone to Prague to buy guns, even though he already owned a shot gun and a rifle, but failed to purchase any there.  He returned to…

A Brief History On June 4, 2010, attorney Brittney Horstman was prevented from meeting with a client while he was incarcerated at the Miami Federal Detention Center because her underwire bra had set off a metal detector. It was feared that the metal in the bras could be used as a tool to help prisoners hurt themselves or escape or even as a weapon against guards. Ms. Horstman removed her bra in a bathroom but was still barred from entering the Florida prison because she was now braless, a violation of the prison’s dress code. During an investigation of the…

A Brief History On May 23, 1934, bank robbers Bonnie and Clyde were gunned down by law enforcement officers.  For a change, the lawmen had the upper hand as far as firepower goes.  In the 1920’s and 1930’s gangsters had been arming themselves with automatic and semi-automatic weapons and out-gunning the police, with the police mostly armed with .38 caliber revolvers and sometimes 12 gauge pump action shotguns. On numerous occasions then and even in the 1970’s and 1980’s the police were woefully under-armed, but that is changing now.  Here is a list of some of the favorite gangster guns…