TODAY IN CRIME: August 31

 

1778 British soldiers massacred 17 members of the Stockbridge militia in the Bronx during the American Revolution. The militia consisted of mostly Mahican, Wappinger, and Munsee Native Americans who sided with the colonists.

1888 London police found Mary Ann Nichols, a prostitute, dead in the East End. She is considered to be Jack the Ripper's first victim.

1894 In New Zealand, the Liberal government of Richard Seddon passed the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, making New Zealand the first country in the world to outlaw strikes and force arbitration.

1911 The "Sullivan Act" came into effect, requiring New Yorkers to possess licenses for firearms small enough to be concealed.

1935 President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed an act prohibiting the export of U.S. arms to belligerents.

1959 A parcel bomb sent by Ngô Đình Nhu, younger brother and chief adviser of South Vietnamese President Ngô Đình Diệm, failed to kill King Norodom Sihanouk of neighboring Cambodia. The king’s chief of protocol, Prince Norodom Vakrivan, opened the box supposedly containing a gift from American friends and was killed instantly, along with a servant.

1970 A Connecticut jury convicted Black Panther activist Lonnie McLucas to 12-15 years for the murder of Black Panther Alex Rackley, a suspected FBI informant.

1970 33 Dutch extremists fighting for Moluccan autonomy in Indonesia (formerly Dutch East Indies) invaded the home of the Indonesian ambassador in Wassenaar, a suburb of The Hague, to protest the proposed visit of Indonesian dictator Suharto to the Netherlands. A policeman, Officer Molenaar, was killed but no one was ever arrested.

1974 John Lennon testified in U.S. federal court that the administration of U.S. President Nixon tried to have him deported because of his involvement with the anti-war demonstrations at the 1972 Republican convention in Miami, FL. Lennon finally got his green card in 1976.

1976 A New York judge ruled Beatle George Harrison guilty of plagiarizing the song "He’s So Fine" (composed by Ronald Mack and recorded by the Chiffons) in his hit “My Sweet Lord.”

1980 Poland's Solidarity labor movement began when the government and trade unions signed an agreement ending a 17-day strike in Gdansk. Solidarity grew to include 25% of the country's population and was thus able to become a lobby for national reform.

1985 Residents of an East Los Angeles neighborhood captured California's "Night Stalker" killer Richard Ramirez.

1988 Arbitrator George Nicolau ruled the owners of Major League Baseball teams colluded to restrict bidding for free agents. On the same day a year later, arbitrator Thomas T. Roberts ordered owners to pay $105 million for the collusion; in 1990, management finally agreed with the players' union to pay those players affected $280 million.

1990 East and West Germany signed a treaty to join legal and political systems.

1992 White separatist Randy Weaver surrendered to authorities in Idaho, ending an 11-day siege. Weaver's wife and son and a deputy U.S. marshal were killed during the siege.

1997 Britain's Princess Diana, her companion Dodi Fayed, and driver Henri Paul died in a car crash in Paris.

1999 The first in the “9/99” bombings in Moscow occurred at the shopping mall on Manezhnaya Square. One person died and 40 others were wounded. The bombings, blamed variously on the Federal Security Service and GRU or Arab militants fighting on the side of Chechen insurgents, continued until September 16 and killed 367 and injured more than 1,000.

2005 953 people died following a stampede on the Al-Aaimmah bridge across the Tigres River in Baghdad. A million Shia pilgrims were making their way to the Musa al-Kazi shrine when rumors of a suicide bomber ran rampant through the crowd, causing hundreds to rush to the bridge. (Hours before, an Al-Qaeda insurgent group killed seven and wounded dozens more in a mortar attack on the crowd.) Hundreds were trampled and suffocated trying to get to the other end of the bridge, which was closed off. Many fell into the river and drowned. Members of the public blamed Defense Ministers for improperly securing the area but no one resigned or received any punishment.

2006 Norwegian police recovered Edvard Munch's famous painting The Scream in a raid. Stolen two years before, the painting was said to be in a better-than-expected condition.

2006 Iran defied a U.N. deadline to stop enriching uranium. The U.N. council stipulated, however, that it would not impose sanctions without further negotiations.

2012 Armenia severed diplomatic relations with Hungary, after Hungary pardoned Ramil Safarov. Safarov had been convicted of killing an Armenian soldier in 2004.

2012 A Tokyo court ruled Samsung's Galaxy smartphones and tablets did not violate Apple patents and awarded legal costs to Samsung.

2016 The Brazilian Senate found President Dilma Rousseff guilty of violating Brazil's federal budget laws and voted 61-20 to remove her from office.

2019 Oil worker Seth Aaron Ator, fired from his job, went on a shooting spree with an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle in Midland and Odessa, Texas, killing seven and injuring 22 more. Ator bought the rifle privately, having failed a background check because of a "mental health issue." When police caught up with him at a movie complex in Odessa, he opened fire and wounded two officers before officers shot him dead.

Flo Stanton Mini-Mystery #2

Sisters

It is not presumptuous to call on Peggy Clegg-Reagan without invitation—she assumes that when those in her circle are not in her immediate presence they are talking about her, or thinking about her, or aching to see her and will naturally drop in unannounced on occasion. As the family attorney and executor of her father’s estate I am granted audience anytime. This visit, however, was precipitated by a message from Charlotte, Peggy’s personal maid, who for a small pourboire keeps me apprised of all things Clegg-Reagan.

Probate concluded less than a month ago and, according to Charlotte, the daughters of the late Reginald Clegg-Reagan applied themselves assiduously to spending their inheritance as rapidly as possible. Winifred, the older sister, having exhausted several wealthy husbands, had a ways to go before depleting hers.

Some wag advised Peggy to invest in a collection, so she settled on the acquisition of Royal memorabilia. In three weeks she had become an expert on all things Windsor and with typical American cheek called the Royals by their Christian names. She purchased a riding crop that once belonged to “Anne,” a book of Byron inscribed to a Cambridge classmate by “Eddie,” and a piece of “Wills and Kate”’s wedding fruitcake.

With a nod Charlotte ushered me to the living room where Peggy hovered over a pink cell phone. “What do you think of Victoria’s silk bloomers?” she asked. She had always been small, even petite, except for a melon-sized bulge at her middle.

“I think they would be too large on you,” I said.

“No, silly,” she said, “for my collection. They’re available again. So is one of Diana’s dresses.”

“Could be a good investment.” I tread lightly. The Clegg-Reagans remit our fees on time.

“Already done. Something came up today, too. I got this from Alec this morning.” She showed me her phone. Alec Redwing was the dealer in Reading who “facilitated” some of her European acquisitions, reported Charlotte. They were fast becoming the best of friends. “Here.” She was a bit breathless. “This—”she zoomed up the image—“has just been found. Very exciting. A letter from Elizabeth—Elizabeth the first, mind you—to her sister Mary. It’s not Windsor, it’s Tudor, Alec says.” I saw a yellowed manuscript in close handwriting and could make out a date of 1554. “You went to Oxford, what do you think?”

She didn’t wait for my reply. “Alec’s note says, ‘there’s a few punctures, some wear to right margin, general light speckling.’ Zoom in on it. Look, you can’t tell the difference between the esses and the effs. And look at the swirls under her name, coming off the ‘z’ and the ‘R’.”

“What is he asking for it?”

“Five thousand pounds. To start.”

I raised an eyebrow.

“There is another interested party.”

“Of course.”

“No, seriously. Winifred.” She sighed. The ever-present older sister. I was well acquainted with the ancient rivalry between the two daughters of a very absent father in addition to their financial status. Winifred could buy and sell Peggy a dozen times over.

“I found out she started collecting the Royals, too. After I did, of course.” Her phone trilled. “It’s Alec. He says, ‘The other party is ready’—what do you think?”

After a moment’s thought, I said, “Bid on it.”

“What?”

“Go ahead. Make your bid.”

She punched her phone. After a few moments she said, “Oh, she’s gone up to seven!”

“Go eight.”

She did. “Now it’s nine!”

“Keep going.”

“Eleven!”

She tapped again.

“She’s jumped to thirteen!”

“All right, stop.”

She clicked off the phone and slumped back on the settee.

“She’ll always outbid you, Peggy. She has the resources to do it.”

Charlotte came in with tea. I poured. “Your sister is now the proud owner of a letter from Elizabeth the first to her sister Mary.”

“I know!” She snatched a scone and tore into it with sharp teeth. “Why did you take Winifred’s side of it?”

I ignored that remark. “Princess Elizabeth.”

“Yes, so?”

“Princess Elizabeth. At the time.”

“Yes, so?”

“Princess Elizabeth to her sister the queen.”

“I wish you would make your point.”

What is the sticking point?



See you in the Comments for the solution!