Francis Gary Powers
On July 8, 1960, CIA pilot Francis Gary Powers is charged with espionage by the Soviet Union. Powers' indictment signaled a massive setback in the peace process between the United States and the Soviet Union.
Mary Surratt
On July 7, 1865, Mary Surratt is executed by the U.S. government for her role as a conspirator in Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Surratt, who owned a tavern in Surrattsville, Maryland, had to convert her row house in Washington, D.C., into a boardinghouse as a result of financial difficulties. Located a few blocks from Ford's Theatre, where Lincoln was murdered, this house served as the place where a group of Confederate supporters, including John Wilkes Booth, conspired to assassinate the president. It was Surratt's association with Booth that ultimately led to her conviction, though debate continues as to the extent of her involvement and whether it really warranted so harsh a sentence.
George "Bugs" Moran
On July 6, 1946, FBI agents arrest George "Bugs" Moran in Ohio for robbing a bank messenger. Moran was at one point, one of the biggest organized crime figures in America, by the time of his arrest he had been reduced to small bank robberies.
The Black Sox
On July 5, 1921, Judge Hugo Friend denies a motion to quash the indictments against eight members of the Chicago White Sox, who were accused of throwing the 1919 World Series, and their trial begins with jury selection. The players, including stars Shoeless Joe Jackson, Buck Weaver, and Eddie Cicotte, subsequently became known as the "Black Sox" after the scandal was revealed.
Martha Ann Johnson
On July 3, 1989, Martha Ann Johnson is arrested in Georgia for the 1982 murder of her oldest child, Jennyann Wright, after an Atlanta newspaper initiated a new investigation into her suspicious death. Johnson's three other children had also mysteriously died between 1977 and 1982.
The assassination of President James Garfield
On July 2, 1881, only four months into his administration, President James Garfield is shot as he walks through a railroad waiting room in Washington, D.C. His assailant, Charles J. Guiteau, was a disgruntled office seeker who had unsuccessfully sought an appointment to the U.S. consul in Paris.
Glen Godwin
On June 30, 1981, Glen Godwin is convicted of murder in Riverside County, California, and sentenced to 26-years-to-life in prison. According to his roommate's testimony, Godwin stomped on, choked, and then stabbed Kim LeValley, an acquaintance and local drug dealer, 28 times before using homemade explosives to blow up his body in the desert near Palm Springs. Godwin, who had no previous record, eventually found his way onto the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List.
On the night of November 29, 1988, near the impoverished Marlborough neighborhood in south Kansas City, an explosion at a construction site killed six of the city’s firefighters. It was a clear case of arson, and five people from Marlborough were duly convicted of the crime. But for veteran crime writer and crusading editor J. Patrick O’Connor, the facts—or a lack of them—didn’t add up. Justice on Fire is OConnor’s detailed account of the terrible explosion that led to the firefighters’ deaths and the terrible injustice that followed. Also available from Amazon
