Timothy O'Bryan

popular name: Allan Pinkerton

date_of_death: July 1, 1884

age: 64

cause_of_death: Gangrene (disputed)

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Allan Pinkerton was a Scottish cooper, abolitionist, detective, and spy, best known for creating the Pinkerton National Detective Agency during his time in the United States. When the Civil War began, Pinkerton served as head of the Union Intelligence Service during the first two years, heading off an alleged assassination plot in Baltimore, Maryland while guarding Abraham Lincoln on his way to Washington, D.C. as well as identifying troop numbers in military campaigns. His agents often worked undercover as Confederate soldiers and sympathizers to gather military intelligence. Pinkerton himself served on several undercover missions as a Confederate soldier using the alias Major E.J. Allen. Following Pinkerton's service with the Union Army, he continued his pursuit of train robbers, including the Reno Gang. He was hired by the railroad express companies to track outlaw Jesse James, but after Pinkerton failed to capture him, the railroad withdrew their financial support and Pinkerton continued to track James at his own expense.

popular name: Stanford White

date_of_death: June 25, 1906

age: 52

cause_of_death: Gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Stanford White was a celebrated American architect and a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms at the turn of the 20th century. White designed many houses for the wealthy, in addition to numerous civic, institutional and religious buildings. When White was 25 years old, he embarked on a year-long tour of Europe, gaining inspiration and honing his techniques. Upon his return to New York in 1879, White entered into an architectural partnership with Charles Follen McKim and William Rutherford Mead to form “McKim, Mead & White.” The firm would go on to produce such iconic structures as the Washington Square Arch (1892), the Brooklyn Museum (1895), the Morgan Library (1903), the Rosecliff Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island and the original Madison Square Garden where he would suddenly and violently lose his life. The grave of Stanford White can be found at St James Episcopal Cemetery in St. James, New York.

popular name: Ludlow Skinner

date_of_death: February 21, 1903

age: 32

cause_of_death: Murdered - gunshot wounds

claim_to_fame: Crime and their Victims

best_know_for: Ludlow Skinner was a quiet, soft-spoken young man who was the son of one of the most respected ministers in the southern region. The murder of Ludlow Skinner begins with Mrs. Gertrude Tucker, Skinner's sister-in-law and one of the most beautiful women in all of North Carolina at the time. Seems while doing work for Mrs. Tucker, her attorney Ernest Haywood had a thing for the beautiful widow and they began a secret affair (which in 1903, was a very big deal). And while there was ample evidence to their marriage, Haywood refused to acknowledge the legality of their marriage or the bastard son born out of wedlock. On February 21, 1903, Saturday afternoon, the young lawyer Haywood met Ludlow Skinner, his mistress's brother-in-law, on the steps of the Fayetteville Street Post Office. After a brief argument Haywood pulled out a pistol and shot at Skinner one time and missed. He then chased Skinner briefly and shot him dead in the street with 100 witness. The murder and subsequent trial achieved nationwide attention and rocked the foundations of turn-of-the-century Raleigh society. As a lawyer and founding member of the Raleigh Bar Association, he was found innocent by a jury of his peers after only 15 minutes of deliberation.