Journalist chronicles murder and mayhem on Ohio’s rails
When we think of 19th-century train robberies, we think of the Old West, or at least the frontier. Ohio was plagued by train bandits, too, and some of them were shockingly violent. Journalist Jane Ann Turzillo has researched 10 interesting cases for her book Murder & Mayhem on Ohio’s Rails.
One 1887 event, the robbery of a Cleveland furrier by a career criminal named “Blinky” Morgan, proceeded without incident, but the efforts to capture Morgan and his gang resulted in the death of a Michigan sheriff and an intense trial.
Twenty years later, a group of bandits shot a conductor in front of his 12-year-old son as the train passed Berea. Turzillo details the exhaustive efforts the local and railroad police took to find the killers: The boy was asked many times to identify suspects, including five arrested in Hudson, but no one was ever convicted.
Turzillo saves her biggest story for the end: Public Enemy No. 1 Alvin “Creepy” Karpis, known as one of the most intelligent and methodical criminals of the 1930s. He studied the route of the delivery of the Republic Steel payroll from Cleveland to the Warren mill, and boarded the train at Garrettsville with his gang for the heist. Karpis escaped, but only temporarily.
Murder & Mayhem on Ohio’s Rails (126 pages, softcover) costs $19.99 from History Press, which also published Turzillo’s previous book, Wicked Women of Northeast Ohio.
‘Legends and Lost Treasure’
In February, the story broke that a couple had found gold coins valued at least $10 million on their California property. Could something like that happen here? In Legends and Lost Treasure of Northern Ohio, author Wendy Koile tells of the persistent rumors of gold and silver from the French and Indian War, buried on a farm near Minerva, and of “Mad Anthony” Wayne’s gold bars, buried on the banks of Turkeyfoot Creek.
Some of the treasure was real. An 83-year-old resident of the Portage Hotel in downtown Akron died in 1949, leaving no close relatives. When her room was opened, it was found to contain more than a million dollars’ worth of bonds and jewels.
Is it true that a fortune is buried in Boston, now part of Cuyahoga Valley National Park, or at the bottom of Meyers Lake in Canton, site of the former amusement park? For every fool’s tale of a jackpot, there is another of a poor soul robbed or murdered for his savings. Maps and metal detectors are not included.
Legends and Treasure of Northern Ohio (127 pages, softcover) costs $19.99 from History Press. Wendy Koile teaches at Zane State College in Zanesville and also is the author of Geneva on the Lake: A History of Ohio’s First Summer Resort.
Events
Cuyahoga County Public Library (South Euclid-Lyndhurst branch, 4645 Mayfield Road, South Euclid) — The Local Author Book Club discusses Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, The Creators of Superman, from 2 to 3 p.m. today; at 3 p.m., the author, Brad Ricca, joins the group to answer questions.
Avon Lake Public Library (32649 Electric Blvd.) — Frank Rocco Satullo, author of author of Here I Thought I Was Normal: Micro Memoirs of Mischief, talks about growing up in Northeast Ohio, 2 p.m. today.
Something Different Gallery (1899 W. 25th St., Cleveland) — Kylie Logan launches A Tale of Two Biddies, second in her League of Literary Ladies mystery series and her 50th published novel (including those under the name Casey Daniels), noon to 5 p.m. today.
Books A Million (335 Howe Ave., Cuyahoga Falls) — Doug Cooper talks about and signs his debut novel Outside In, about a jobless teacher losing his grip during a summer on Put-in-Bay, 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Wednesday.
M&P Bargain Books (35101 Euclid Ave., Willoughby) — Alissa Nutting signs her controversial novel Tampa, noon Saturday.
The Bookseller (39 Westgate Circle, Akron) — James I. Prior II signs Akron Aviation from noon to 2 p.m. Saturday.
Learned Owl Book Shop (204 N. Main St., Hudson) — Peninsula resident Susan Ellison Busch signs Yearning for Normal: My Son’s Life with Deletion 22q.11 and discusses the genetic syndrome, 1 to 3 p.m. Saturday.
Barnes & Noble (Great Lakes Mall, 7900 Mentor Ave., Mentor) — Alan F. Dutka, author of Cleveland Calamities: A History of Storm, Fire and Pestilence, talks about his book at 1 p.m. Saturday.
Akron-Summit County Public Library (Maple Valley branch, 1187 Copley Road) — Marchelle Marsh discusses and signs her memoir Thrown In and Treated Like Trash, 2 to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Cleveland Public Library (325 Superior Ave. NE) — Jesamyn Ward, whose Salvage the Bones won the 2011 National Book Award for fiction, joins the Writers and Readers Series, speaking at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Visible Voice (1023 Kenilworth Ave., Cleveland) — Amy L. Boukair signs her romantic suspense novel Indigo, 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday.
Mac’s Backs (1820 Coventry Road, Cleveland Heights) — Judy Fitch signs her memoir Wildflowers, about her 30 years as a Cleveland inner-city schoolteacher, 7 p.m. Saturday.
— Barbara McIntyre
Special to the Beacon Journal
Send information about books of local interest to Lynne Sherwin, Features Department, Akron Beacon Journal, P.O. Box 640, Akron, OH 44309 or lsherwin@thebeaconjournal.com. Event notices should be sent at least two weeks in advance.