King David Gray was originally from Virginia but moved to Hollywood, California as a young man to work in the burgeoning movie business in the early years of the 20th century. Starting as a lighting technician, King eventually became a cinematographer; his first credit in that profession was the 1915 film The College Orphan. He … More King D. Gray

It was the cold winter evening of February 7th, 1906 in Brussels, Belgium, and eight-year-old Jeanne Van Calck set out from her grandparents’ house at about six-thirty p.m. to visit her mother, as she did for a few hours every evening. Jeanne had lived with her grandparents for some time, since her father had abandoned … More Jeanne Van Calck

Twenty-seven-year-old Evelyn Foster, a popular fixture in the community and the daughter of a garage owner in Otterburn, Northumberland, England, was a taxi driver by trade, and January 6th, 1931 seemed as though it was going to be just another routine day on the job. But unbeknownst to Evelyn, this day was to be her … More Evelyn Foster

On May 16th, 1937, twenty-nine-year-old Laetitia Toureaux was found murdered in a carriage on the Paris Métro at the Porte Dorée station. The cause of death was a single stab wound to the neck. Significantly, Laetitia was the first person to ever be killed on the Métro, undoubtedly a tragic claim to fame. One of … More Laetitia Toureaux

In 1925, Arthur Schumacher, better known as Buddy, was eight years old and lived with his parents and older sister in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin. At around nine o’clock on the morning of July 25th, Buddy and three other boys from the neighborhood hopped a freight train to ride to a local swimming hole they frequented. Shortly … More Arthur “Buddy” Schumacher

James Douglas Edgar was born in 1884 in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, and by the time he became an adult, he was well on his way to a successful career as a professional golfer. He won the French Open in 1914, and five years later, emigrated to the United States, where he settled in Atlanta, … More James Douglas Edgar

In the summer of 1919, Mabel Greenwood lived in a comfortable house in Kidwelly, Carmarthenshire, in southwest Wales. Her husband Harold was a solicitor, originally from Yorkshire, and the couple had four children. On June 16th, Mabel was feeling under the weather and started complaining of stomach pains after eating gooseberry pie and a glass … More Mabel Greenwood

Twenty-one-year-old Billy Stone worked the night shift as a telegraph operator at the Whitby Junction railroad station in Whitby, Ontario, Canada. Just after midnight on December 11th, 1914, Billy extinguished nearly all the lights in the station, as he usually did, leaving only his desk lamp burning. Suddenly, at around twelve-thirty-seven a.m., a single gunshot … More Billy Stone

It was the summer of 1909 in New York City, and twenty-year-old Elsie Sigel left her family’s apartment to visit her grandmother not far away. Elsie, who was the granddaughter of famed Civil War general Franz Sigel, was herself a missionary who worked in Chinatown, helping young women who had become involved in drugs and … More Elsie Sigel

It was New Year’s Day of 1902 in a rural town called Towitta, in South Australia. Thirteen-year-old Bertha Schippan and her twenty-four-year-old sister Mary were spending the evening at the family farm alone. Their parents, Matthes and Johanne, were visiting relatives, and their three brothers were away working on other nearby farms. Sometime around ten … More Bertha Schippan