by Hank Nuwer | Mar 29, 2025 | Alaska Tales, True Crime
McNeil Island prisoner William Dempsey was one of three convicts on a road gang who escaped the Washington State prison in 1940. Dempsey and two other road-gang prisoners took advantage of dense fog conditions on January 30, 1940 to attempt a getaway from the...
by Hank Nuwer | Mar 8, 2025 | Alaska Tales, True Crime
Daredevil of the Skies, Floyd Andrew DeHay, aka Frank Dorbrandt By Hank Nuwer Alaska’s wide spaces, upper-level win currents, and landing fields in questionable condition made flying in pioneer days before World War Two required pilots with uncommon skill, guts and...
by Hank Nuwer | Jan 22, 2025 | Alaska Tales, True Crime
By Hank Nuwer The nation’s newspapers carried a two-paragraph story after President Warren G. Harding issued a pardon to an Alaskan murderer on Thanksgiving Day, 1921. The details were scarce. The San Francisco Bulletin said the newly free man was George Pestriakoff,...
by Hank Nuwer | Sep 5, 2024 | Hank Nuwer Indiana & Ohio Stories, True Crime
Timothy K. Rodeheffer. by Hank Nuwer On February 21, 1998, a 19-year-old gentle soul named Lynn Top from North Star, Ohio, walked for exercise on a less-traveled road off Ohio 49. A student at Wright State University’s Lake Campus in Celina, she had thick, abundant...
by Hank Nuwer | Aug 30, 2024 | Hank Nuwer Indiana & Ohio Stories, True Crime
When Fight Night Led to Mob Mayhem. By Hank Nuwer Randolph and Shelby County served as home to many distinguished citizens in the 1890s. However, rowdies also roamed the area. A custom on weekends in both counties for a time was...
by Hank Nuwer | Jul 23, 2024 | Sports, True Crime
Last Frontier Tales A cup of coffee in the Big Leagues Hank Nuwer The date was June 14, 1925. The Rheinlanders of Cincinnati showed up this Flag day to cheer their Reds against the Brooklyn Robins. This was the first game for new Brooklyn player-manager Zack (Buck)...
