Upcoming Events

From the duel on Bloody Island to the "Missouri Miracle” kidnapping and recovery of Shawn Hornbeck, Missouri has seen its share of notorious crimes. The Show-Me State was home to the first Western gunfight on the town square between Wild Bill Hickok and Dave Tutt. The three trials of the alleged murderer of Colonel Thomas Swope, the founder of Kansas City's Swope Park, enveloped the state. Residents also saw the killings within a few blocks of each other that inspired the songs "Stagger Lee” and "Frankie and Johnny.”

James W. Erwin and Vicki Berger Erwin explore crimes, criminals, and victims from the violent history of the last two hundred years in the Show-Me State.

Must RSVP to [email protected] by June 25th to attend.

The scene of myriad grisly deaths, late 19th-century St. Louis was a hotbed for homicide, suicide, alcoholism, abortion and workplace accidents. The role of the city’s Gilded Age coroners has not been fully examined, contextualized or interrogated until now. Former William E. Foley Research Fellow Sarah E. Lirley investigates the process in which these outcomes were determined, finding coroners’ rulings were not uniform, but rather varied by who was conducting the inquest. These fascinating case studies explore the lives of the deceased, as well as their families, communities, press coverage of the events and the coroners themselves. Lirley’s book highlights the stories of ordinary men and women whose lives were tragically cut short, and the injustice they received even after death.