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It's kind of a rule of thumb that if you commit a crime in front of witnesses and by some miracle beat the rap, you shouldn't start bragging about it. Especially not where a peace officer can hear you and do something about it. Jack McCall On the other hand, there's nothing in the history books that says Jack McCall was particularly bright. The summer of 1876, Wild Bill Hickok was in Deadwood to make money. He already had fame and a reputation as one of the deadliest shootists on the frontier. (The man even fought a bear to the death. The bear's death, not his.) He'd been a peace officer, responsible for taming cow towns in Kansas, until accidentally shooting and killing one of his deputies. His eyesight was starting to fail — perhaps glaucoma, perhaps something more social — and he had recently married for the first time. He came to Deadwood, a boomtown mining camp, to prospect, perhaps gamble — put together some cash for married life. That was the plan, anyway. Th...

A MICHIGAN man allegedly beat a toddler to death and critically injured his twin brother after pretending to be a child-loving family man. One of the children was found with "unspeakable injuries" and died, while the other had a broken hip, broken nose and bleeding on the brain, according to the twins' uncle. Twins Zyaire and Zion lived with their mother Lisa Reed Credit: Facebook / Jennifer Reed. Zyaire Reed, who was just one, was found unconscious on the hood of a car in Ecorse after police responded to a call at 4am in late July. For the previous three months, twins Zyaire and Zion lived with their mother Lisa Reed, and her boyfriend James Gibson at an apartment on 7th Street in Ecorse. Police said the boys' mom, Lisa Reed, was taken into custody. Her boyfriend James Gibson had fled the home, located 12 miles south of Detroit. "The live-in boyfriend decided to leave, took the family vehicle, and did not return," Inspector Timothy Sassak of Ecorse polic...

The teenage girl's boyfriend Alberto Vanmeter, 19, was also shot dead and was found lying dead with a pizza box, two drinks and cash beside him in Lafayette, Indiana. A 17-year-old girl shot dead a new father after luring him to an abandoned house with a fake pizza order, court documents show. Jaelynn Billups tried to rob Joshua Ungersma while he was delivering the pizza but shot him when he asked someone to call police in Lafayette, Indiana, a witness claims. Police found the 37-year-old dead on Monday, August 31 after there were reports of 'shots fired' at around 11.15pm. They also found the body of Billups's boyfriend Alberto Vanmeter, 19, nearby with a Domino's pizza box, two drinks and cash laying on the ground beside him. Mr Ungersma is believed to have shot Vanmeter in self-defence after the 19-year-old tried to rob him. Billups allegedly shot the delivery man at point blank range. Joshua Ungersma The Lafayette Journal & Courier ...

During the reign of Henry VIII , between 1509 and 1547, it is estimated that between 57,000 and 72,000 English subjects were executed, although this might be an exaggeration and we shall never know. The execution of Margaret Pole, 8th Countess of Salisbury (14 August 1473 – 27 May 1541), stands out as one of the most unjust as well as extremely grisly, totally unfit for a frail lady of 67 and relative of the king. Margaret de la Pole had the misfortune to be of English royalty with a strong Yorkist bloodline. She was the daughter of George, Duke of Clarence, the brother of Richard III and Edward IV, and one of the few surviving members of the Plantagenet dynasty after the Wars of the Roses. Her first cousin was Elizabeth of York, mother of Henry VIII. Margaret was godmother and governess of Henry’s daughter Mary. A famous son of Margaret was Reginald Pole (12 March 1500 – 17 November 1558), a cardinal of the Catholic Church and the last Catholic Archbishop of Canterbury, h...

The entertainment never lets the facts get in the way of a good story, especially when it comes to history. Whether it's movies, TV, or View-Master reels; whether it's interviews, photographs, or even oral history — some days, the Pacific Ocean itself doesn't contain enough grains of salt with which to take a narrative. It doesn't mean there isn't truth involved. Often enough, there's a divide between a truth and a fact. Take, for instance, the long-running TV series Little House on the Prairie, the brainchild (and cash cow) of Michael Landon, and said to be one of President Ronald Reagan's favorite shows (per The New Yorker). The books, and the series upon which they were based, didn't present a perpetually sunny vision of family life on the American frontier. But it wasn't nearly as dark as the reality of Laura's life. The woman behind the Little House books really was born in the time of westward expansion — February 7, 1867, outside Pepi...