Overview
""Heroes and rogues fill the pages of this book. The stories will hold your attention and chill you to the bone."" -- Crime Shadow News Cleveland's master of historical crime and disaster returns with 15 more true tales in this sixth volume of his popular series, including ... West Park sisters Helen, 11, and Marguerite, 10, who died after eating Rough-on-Rats brand poison in their grandmother's basement--victims of a genetic ""suicide mania,"" or driven to death by the cruelest caretaker since Hansel and Gretel's stepmom? Joseph ""Specs"" Russell, who vaulted to fame in the summer of 1927 by staging as many as 52 stick-ups and making fools of Cleveland lawmen with his ""impossible"" escapes from their dragnets; Jeanette McAdams--just unlucky, or the Lucretia Borgia of Ashtabula County? After the suspiciously similar deaths of her five siblings, neighbors began to take note of the crowded family graveyard; Salty and ageless George Wallace, who served the city as a fireman for 62 years, 30 of them as chief, and endured to become the oldest fire chief in the world--with a mastery of incessant profanity that could be heard for four city blocks and made mule skinners blush; And more true stories of courage, fear, deception, and villainy--including a disaster caused by the author himself! Sometimes gruesome, often surprising, John Stark Bellamy's tales are meticulously researched and delivered in a literate and entertaining style.
Full Product Details
Author: John Bellamy (University of Cambridge)
Publisher: Gray & Company Publishers
Imprint: Gray & Company Publishers
Dimensions:
Width: 14.10cm
, Height: 1.20cm
, Length: 21.60cm
Weight: 0.304kg
ISBN: 9781598510676
ISBN 10: 1598510673
Pages: 254
Publication Date: 13 October 2010
Audience:
General/trade
,
General
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Availability: In Print
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Reviews
A must for fans of local crime and disaster stories. . . The stories are at times amusing, at other times heart-wrenching . . . and always engaging. -- Book Reviewer Hudson Hub-Times Heroes and rogues fill the pages of this book. The stories will hold your attention and chill you to the bone. The Last Days of Cleveland is well worth the read. -- Book Reviewer Crime Shadow News Bellamy does not merely recount twice-told stories. He writes like newspapermen used to write before journalists were trained to write formulaic, AP-style abomination. He writes as if his supper depended on the evening's headline . . . When Bellamy sticks to the subject, he is unimpeachable. And it's not just his knowledge. More than anything it hi -- Book Reviewer New-Herald There are half a dozen murders, several suicides, a shipwreck and the story of a persistent Roaring Twenties holdup man whose prison career was as engrossing as his crime spree. As Bellamy's other books are replete with tragedy on an epic scale, these tales of woe, a phrase he likes to use, seem somehow intimate. That is, if a beheading can be in -- Book Reviewer Akron Beacon Journal Bellamy does not merely recount twice-told stories. He writes like newspapermen used to write before journalists were trained to write formulaic, AP-style abomination. He writes as if his supper depended on the evening's headline . . . When Bellamy sticks to the subject, he is unimpeachable. And it's not just his knowledge. More than anything it his enthusiasm and affection for his subjects (and their city) that makes Bellamy so compelling.--Jason Lea Newsherald.com (11/10/2010) There are half a dozen murders, several suicides, a shipwreck and the story of a persistent Roaring Twenties holdup man whose prison career was as engrossing as his crime spree. As Bellamy's other books are replete with tragedy on an epic scale, these tales of woe, a phrase he likes to use, seem somehow intimate. That is, if a beheading can be intimate. The bloodless stories are just as interesting--Barbara McIntyre Akron Beacon Journal (12/14/2010) A must for fans of local crime and disaster stories. . . The stories are at times amusing, at other times heart-wrenching . . . and always engaging.--April Helms Hudson Hub-Times (12/15/2010)
A must for fans of local crime and disaster stories. . . The stories are at times amusing, at other times heart-wrenching . . . and always engaging.--April Helms Hudson Hub-Times (12/15/2010)
There are half a dozen murders, several suicides, a shipwreck and the story of a persistent Roaring Twenties holdup man whose prison career was as engrossing as his crime spree. As Bellamy's other books are replete with tragedy on an epic scale, these tales of woe, a phrase he likes to use, seem somehow intimate. That is, if a beheading can be in -- Book Reviewer Akron Beacon Journal
Author Information
John Stark Bellamy II is the author of six books and two anthologies about Cleveland crime and disaster. The former history specialist for the Cuyahoga County Public Library, he comes by his taste for the sensational honestly, having grown up reading stories about Cleveland crime and disaster written by his grandfather, Paul, who was editor of the Plain Dealer, and his father, Peter, who wrote for the Cleveland News and the Plain Dealer.
