Two Hundred Years of Notorious Crimes in the Show-Me State
Join us at the Jefferson County Library-Windsor Branch on Saturday, June 19, 2021 at 1pm for Two Hundred Years of Notorious Crimes in the Show-Me State. Historian and author James Erwin looks back over the past two hundred years of crimes in Missouri that excited the public’s interest in this virtual presentation. He describes, among others, an infamous duel on Bloody Island, the origin of the Western gunfight, the real-life story behind the folk songs “Stagger Lee” and “Frankie and Johnnie,” the (alleged) murder of the founder of Swope Park, mysterious unsolved murders in Mexico and St. Joseph, serial killers Bertha Gifford and Ray and Faye Copeland, and the “Missouri Miracle” of the kidnapping and recovery of Shawn Hornbeck.
Killing Quantrill: The Hunt for Missouri’s Most Notorious Civil War Guerrilla
Join us on May 22, 2021, at 1pm for Killing Quantrill: The Hunt for Missouri’s Most Notorious Civil War Guerrilla. This lecture — which is based on primary research, firsthand exploration of important sites, and interviews with descendants of involved parties — narrates Quantrill’s career as a guerrilla chieftain, his flight into Kentucky, and his eventual death. The Jefferson County Library is sponsoring this free virtual presentation by Matthew Hulbert, of Hampden-Sidney College.