Browsing: Crime

A Brief (And we mean Brief!) History On February 22, 1983, the Eugene O’Neill Theater (230 West 49th St., New York, although considered a “Broadway” theater) was the scene of perhaps the biggest fiasco in the History of Broadway Plays, the opening and closing night of the Arthur Bicknell play, Moose Murders. Digging Deeper Not only did this miserable play only have the one night, its very name has become the archetype for lousy plays, those which open and close after only one show.  Moose Murders is the low standard by which crumby plays are compared.  Frank Rich, Broadway critic…

A Brief History On February 19, 1859, New York Congressman Daniel E. Sickles made history as the first person acquitted by reason of “temporary insanity.”  The charge of murdering his wife’s lover was all the more historically significant because the victim was the son of Francis Scott Key, author of our National Anthem! Digging Deeper The theory behind the temporary insanity plea is closely aligned with the idea that in the throes of extreme emotion (passion) a person cannot think clearly and may do something out of his or her realm of control.  While this condition certainly seems to be…

A Brief History On February 7, 1497, the followers of Dominican priest Girolamo Savonarola of Florence, Italy, gathered and burned a large quantity of objects they referred to as “vanities,” objects such as cosmetics, books, artwork, mirrors, fancy clothes, playing cards, and musical instruments, any objects these religious zealots thought could lead people to sin. Digging Deeper Misguided people have engaged in burning books and other articles that they have seen as contrary to their view of what is “proper,” “right,” or “moral” throughout history, and of course the Florence incident was not the first or largest of these burnings,…

A Brief History On January 31, 2017, we at History and Headlines recognize those people who, during this month, not necessarily in the past, have either done some disreputable thing or their disreputable past has come to light.  Whether you call them villains, jerks, creeps, idiots or whatever, these people have brought shame upon themselves, at least for this month if not for their lives or careers.  By including a person and their action in this list we do not condemn that person to a lifetime label as an idiot, just labeling them an idiot for this specific month. Digging…

A Brief History On January 24, 2017, we pick this date at random to celebrate a little explored aspect of police work, that of the dreaded nickname!  Most readers would be familiar with “Dirty Harry” Callahan of (fictional) movie fame, or perhaps “Prince of the City” (NYPD Det. Robert Leuci played by Treat Williams) of the 1981 film by that name.  Richard Cain of the Chicago PD was also known as Richard Scalzeti, perhaps because of his association with the Chicago Mob.  Who could forget fictional “Sperm” Whalen of the book and movie, The Choir Boys?  Even other countries get…