Michael Thomas Barry's blog

President Bill Clinton & Monica Lewinsky

by Michael Thomas Barry

On December 19, 1998, the House of Representatives approves two articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, charging him with lying under oath to a federal grand jury and obstructing justice. Clinton, the second president in American history to be impeached, vowed to finish his term.

John Kehoe

by Michael Thomas Barry

On December 18, 1878, the last of the Molly Maguires, John Kehoe is executed in Pennsylvania. The Molly Maguires, an Irish secret society that had allegedly been responsible for some incidences of vigilante justice in the coalfields of eastern Pennsylvania, defended their actions as attempts to protect exploited Irish-American workers. In fact, they are often regarded as one of the first organized labor groups.

Barbara Jane Mackle

by Michael Thomas Barry

On December 17, 1968, Barbara Jane Mackle, a student at Emory College and the 20-year-old daughter of a millionaire real-estate developer is kidnapped from the Rodeway Inn in Decatur, Georgia.

Thelma Todd

by Michael Thomas Barry

On December 15, 1935, comedic actress Thelma Todd is found dead. Todd was a popular actress of the late 1920s and early 1930s and was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts in 1905. Appearing in over 40 movies between 1926 and 1935, she is best remembered for her comedic roles in films such as Monkey Business and Horse Feathers.

Edward Green

by Michael Thomas Barry

Edward Green was the 32 year old postmaster of Malden, Massachusetts. He is commonly believed to have committed the first (non-war related) armed bank robbery in American history. Green had a bad drinking habit and was heavily in debt, when on December 15, 1863, he robbed the local bank.

Artists rendering of Charley Ross

by Michael Thomas Barry

On December 14, 1874, a botched burglary attempt at the home of wealthy New Yorker Holmes Van Brunt leads to the possible perpetrators of notorious child kidnapping. On July 1, 1874, Charley (then four years old) and his older brother Walter Lewis (aged five) were playing in the front yard of their family's home in Germantown, a well-to-do section of Philadelphia. A horse-drawn carriage pulled up and they were approached by two men who offered the boys candy and fireworks if they would take a ride with them.

Clerkenwell Bombing

by Michael Thomas Barry

On December 13, 1867, Irish terrorist, Michael Barrett plants a bomb at Clerkenwell Prison in London in an attempt to free fellow Irish political prisoners. The bombing killed 12 bystanders and severely injured many more. Barrett had positioned the bomb in a wheelbarrow outside the external wall of of the jail in the belief that it would bring down the prison wall and allow the prisoners to escape.