Category Archives: Names and Namesakes

1896: Wealthy bachelor Ed Sheeran found gassed

In 1896, New York papers reported that Edward Sheeran had been found dead, suffocated by gas. Sheeran, a wealthy bachelor, owned a house in Brooklyn, which he shared with his sister, Sarah, and her husband, Michael Sheehan.

Late on the morning of October 4th, Sheeran’s sister went to his bedroom to rouse him. She found the door locked and noticed a distinctive smell of gas. Another relative was summoned to force Sheeran’s bedroom window:

“On the floor was the body of Edward, while the gas was pouring from the burner, which was turned on. The body was lying face downward, and in the dead man’s hand was his trousers.”

The coroner arrived to inspect the scene and speak to witnesses. Believing he may have turned the gas on intentionally, the coroner ordered that Sheeran’s brother-in-law be taken into custody. There is no record of Michael Sheehan ever being charged or tried, however, so it seems that Ed Sheeran’s sad demise – gassed to death while clutching his trousers – was a tragic accident.

Source: New York Tribune, October 5th 1896. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.

1862: Paul Keating jailed for voting as Ronald McDonald

In August 1861, a Ballarat man who shared his name with a future Australian prime minister was charged and remanded in custody for voter fraud. During a general election for the Victorian parliament, witnesses saw Paul Keating attempt to cast two votes using false names – including another famous name from the future:

keatingmcdonald

Problems with identification and record-keeping made personation (the criminal act of voting illegally under someone else’s name) an occasional problem in 19th century elections. When discovered it was dealt with harshly by the courts.

After a lengthy investigation by the police and the Victorian colonial government, Keating was convicted in April 1862 and sentenced to six months’ imprisonment. On release from prison he went into gold mining in Ballarat, though his subsequent fate is unknown.

The 20th century Paul Keating was elected to the Australian parliament in 1969, later serving as treasurer (1983-91) and prime minister (1991-96).

Source: The Star (Ballarat), August 14th 1861; April 16th 1862. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.

1897: Bill Gates offers tin of gold dust for teen wife

bill gates
A pen drawing of Bill Gates, the womanising Yukon version

Bill Gates, popularly known as ‘Swiftwater Bill’, was an Idaho-born pioneer and miner. Around 1896 Gates left his job as a dishwasher and joined the Klondike gold rush in remote western Canada. Gates purchased a claim along the Yukon River and chanced upon one of the richest deposits in the Klondike.

For a while, Gates was reportedly cashing in more than $10,000 of gold each week, making him one of the Yukon’s most successful prospectors. But Gates also spent money as fast as he made it: he was a notorious spendthrift, fond of fancy clothes, high living and gambling. He was also a ladies’ man – in the goldfields, something that could prove quite an expensive hobby:

“As a matrimonial market Dawson City [in the Yukon] has no equal on earth. Ladies are as scarce as gold dust… Any maiden, innocent or full of guile, can become a bride with a wedding present of thousands of dollars of gold dust within 30 minutes after arriving at Dawson City, if she will but whisper her consent.”

Bill Gates was particularly infatuated with the teenage girls employed as dancers and waitresses in Dawson. According to legend one of Gates’ favourite dancers was fond of eggs – a scarce commodity in the Yukon – so he bought up every egg in Dawson at a dollar apiece.

The main object of Gates’ affection was 19-year-old Gussie Lamore. In 1897, he tried securing her hand in marriage by giving Gussie her own weight in gold:

“…Bill was so smitten with her charms that he called on Miss LaMore the day of her arrival and wooed her with $50,000 of gold dust in a coal oil can.”

Bill and Gussie never married (some reports suggest she already had a husband). Gates continued to chase teenage girls, including Gussie’s younger sister Grace, Bera Beebe (whom he eventually married) and 17-year-old Kitty Brandon. His antics later led to a bigamy charge, though Gates managed to avoid trial, possibly with bribes.

In his lifetime, Bill Gates dug up and squandered at least four different fortunes. He was mining a large silver deposit in Peru when he died in 1935.

Source; The San Francisco Call, August 26th 1897. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.

1909: Tony Blair shot dead in the henhouse

From Nolan, West Virginia comes the sad story of Tony Blair, who in 1909 tried scaring his little sister – with fatal results:

tony blair

Source: The Planet (Richmond, Virginia) February 20th 1909. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.

1899: John F. Kennedy arrested, Tom Hanks claims reward

John F. Kennedy (c.1870-1922) was an American outlaw of the late 19th century. Like his famous presidential namesake, Kennedy was known to his friends as Jack. He started adulthood as a locomotive engineer but soon decided a much grander fortune could be made by robbing the railways rather than working on them.

With a gang of accomplices, Kennedy carried out a string of train robberies in the 1890s, robbing at least seven mail or goods trains. His experience as an engineer gave Kennedy considerable inside knowledge. He also carried out each robbery with his face covered.

Despite this, the identity of the ‘Quail Hunter’, as the serial bandit became known, was an open secret. Lawmen were well aware of Kennedy’s identity and did their utmost to put him behind bars, to no avail. He was sent to trial three times between 1896 and 1898 but escaped conviction each time, thanks to tricky lawyers, false alibis and bribed jury members.

In 1899, Kennedy and Jesse E. James (son of the infamous Jesse James) were charged with a botched hold up near Leeds, Missouri. Their trial generated a wave of press attention but public sympathy was with James, so both men were acquitted.

An interesting side story concerns a claim on the $500 reward for Kennedy’s arrest, made by:

“Tom Hanks, the barber, who was shaving the ‘Quail Hunter’ when Officer James O’Malley took him into custody… Hanks claimed that when Kennedy learned of the reward for his arrest, he surrendered himself [to Hanks] and that it was Hanks’ intention to take his prisoner to the county jail as soon as he had finished his tonsorial work.”

Kennedy himself supported Hanks’ claim, though probably only to deprive the arresting officer of the $500. After his acquittal in the James trial Kennedy was arrested for a yet another robbery. This time the evidence stuck and Kennedy found himself serving a 17-year stretch in prison.

The ‘Quail Hunter’ carried out his last robbery near Wittenberg, Missouri in 1922. After holding up a mail train, Kennedy and his accomplice attempted to make their getaway but were ambushed by several deputies. A gunfight ensued and both men were shot dead.

Source: The Kansas City Journal, January 14th 1899. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.

1846: James Brown finds John Kerry in bed with his wife

In October 1846, the Sunday Times reported that James Brown had appeared in court charged with assaulting John Kerry, after finding Kerry in bed with his wife. The Browns had been married for four years but often quarrelled.

According to James Brown he had left London on business – but returned after receiving an anonymous letter informing him of John Kerry’s dalliances with his wife:

“Determined to sift the matter he came to London, and on proceeding to the bedroom of his lodgings, he heard his wife and Kerry talking together in a loving and affectionate manner. Feeling satisfied that they were on the bed together, he burst open the door [and] commenced beating both of them, giving Kerry a sound drubbing.”

James Brown’s wife refused to press the charge of assault against her husband, however Brown was convicted of assaulting John Kerry and fined three pounds or two months’ imprisonment.

Source: The Sunday Times (London), October 25th 1846. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.

1827: Stephen King frightens himself to death

In the summer of 1827, a London coroner’s inquest heard evidence about the death of Stephen King. A married man aged 40, King had dropped dead the previous Monday. According to the Morning Chronicle, Mr King was suddenly awakened in the night by a loud clap of thunder. The noise terrified him and caused him to jump from his bed in an agitated manner. He immediately fell down next to his wife, which is where he died.

At the inquest, King’s doctor said that:

“…He was a man of good health and sober habits but was known to be superstitious, susceptible to visions and easily terrified.”

The attending physician suggested that King’s nervous disposition had contributed to his demise: the clap of thunder and King’s frightened response “caused the blood to flow too quickly to his head, producing apoplexy [stroke].” The coroner agreed but ultimately ruled that King had “died by the visitation of God”.

Sources: The Morning Chronicle, August 1st 1827; LMA coronial inquests, f.3, 1827. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.

1842: Masturbation kills, writes Dr Alfred Hitchcock

In 1842, a Boston medical journal published a short essay titled ‘Insanity and Death from Masturbation’. Its author, the appropriately named Doctor Alfred Hitchcock, claimed that:

“The mass of community remain profoundly ignorant on this subject and are ready to attribute diseases from this habit to any but their true cause. Within ten years a number of fatal cases have fallen under my observation, where death was clearly traceable to that cause alone. In each of these cases, friends and neighbours assigned ‘disappointed love’ as the fons et origo mali [source and origin of the evil].”

Dr Hitchcock described one particular case at length, a 23-year-old man who came to him in 1840. The patient suffered from nervousness, fatigue, anaemia, sleeplessness, poor posture, dry skin, body odour and bad breath. He eventually confessed to masturbating for six years and Dr Hitchcock immediately diagnosed this as the cause of his illness.

The patient refused to give up self-pleasure, however, and his condition deterioriated until his death five months later. Dr Hitchcock attended an autopsy on the corpse, noting in an I-told-you-so manner that the testicles were dried and shrivelled while the abdomen, intestines and lower spine were all infected and surrounded by pus.

Dr Hitchcock later headed the American Medical Association’s committee on insanity and worked as a battlefield surgeon in the US Civil War.

Source: Dr A. Hitchcock, “Insanity and Death from Masturbation” in The Boston Medical and Surgical Journal, vol. 26, June 1842. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.

1884: Joe Quimby shoots his wife, gets a governor’s pardon

In March 1884, several newspapers reported that a West Virginia man, Joe Quimby, had shot dead his wife while drunk:

joe quimby

Quimby was duly charged with murder. In September, he appeared before a Mason County judge and was sentenced to 15 years’ hard labour. But in October 1891 Quimby, then less than halfway into his sentence, was given a governor’s pardon that generated considerable controversy at the time.

According to the papers of West Virginia governor Aretas B. Fleming, Quimby was pardoned on vague medical grounds because he “only hobbles about the place [the prison] doing nothing”. Quimby’s pardon was granted against the express wishes of the prison superintendent.

Source: Jamestown Weekly Alert, March 14th 1884; Public Papers of A. B. Fleming, October 23rd 1891. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.

1900: Harry Potter – bully, thief, hobby horse rider

In January 1900, a Chester Castle magistrate heard a charge of theft laid against Harry Potter, described as “a respectable boy of eleven”. According to the prosecution, Harry Potter had accosted and robbed a much smaller boy named Joseph Goodwin:

“Goodwin, who was only seven years of age, was sent on Thursday by his mother to buy some groceries, and was given [three shillings and sixpence] to pay for them… Potter asked him if he had any money [and] without further parley put his hand in Goodwin’s pocket, bringing out two shillings in silver. With his plunder Potter then took his departure… spending the money upon bottles of ginger beer and trips on hobby horses, etc.”

Harry Potter pleaded guilty to the charge and the magistrate sentenced him to “six strokes of the birch rod”, expressing his hope that this would “have a salutary effect upon him.”

Source: The Cheshire Observer, January 13th 1900. Content on this page is © Alpha History 2019-23. Content may not be republished without our express permission. For more information please refer to our Terms of Use or contact Alpha History.