Interesting Clippings #9: Jimmy Logue - Infamous Thief and a Murder Mystery

Read the rest of the
Paterson Daily Press
article from Oct 19, 1893 at
Google News Archives.

Jimmy Logue was born around 1837 in Philadelphia and began stealing when he was only 17. In his own words, thievery was "born in him" and he "couldn't help it." It's believed that over the course of his criminal career, he stole an accumulative of over $300,000. He began by sneaking into homes where he found himself adapt at finding the owner's most valuable possessions quickly, and eventually graduated to bank robberies. He spent time in and out of jail but got away with many of his robberies.

In 1860, Jimmy married a widow with a son by the name of Alphonso Cutaiar, though he had never formally divorced from his first wife, Mary Jane Andrews (I guess bigamy is no worse than theft). After the death of his second wife, he married her sister, Joanna (her maiden name is cited by different sources as Gantz, and Gahan so it's unclear which is accurate), in 1871 and thus making him both Alphonso's stepfather and uncle. Alphonso was a barber and Jimmy had set him up with a barber shop and with Jimmy as the legal owner, it provided a partial cover for his stolen income, though it was obvious he spent above what the shop made. Immediately after marrying Joanna, Jimmy was tried for one of his burglary jobs and sent to jail. Released in 1877, he could finally be with his bride.

Read the rest of the
Baltimore American
article from Apr 29, 1895 at
Google News Archive.

Only a couple years later in 1879, Joanna disappeared. 14 years go by and in this time, Jimmy became so distraught over her disappearance that he eventually left their home at 1250 N 11th Street and gave it to Alphonso. Alphonso wound up selling the place and when the new owners were having some floor boards fixed in 1893, a skeleton was found. It was confirmed to be Joanna by the personal artifacts left with the body, particularly her wedding ring with a specific inscription.

At first, Jimmy was the prime suspect, his motive being to steal Joanna's diamonds. But these were diamonds he bought her himself and when he turned himself in, his alibi was proved, in a bizarre twist, that he had actually been involved in a burglary at the time of Joanna's disappearance. Suspicion turned to Alphonso. Initially denying it, Alphonso was faced with the fact that he was the only one with access to the house at the time and he began to confess - multiple times. Multiple stories. Most were spun to make Joanna's death look like an accident and his improper disposal of her body done out of fear but Joanna's missing jewelry and bonds were likely his motive. And so the mystery was finally mostly solved.

Alphonso went to jail in the Eastern State Penitentiary and in 1904, a pardon for him was attempted but thankfully denied. The judge who denied it said that Alphonso should be considered lucky to have not received the death plenty. (The Philadelphia Record, Jan 7, 1904 - Google News Archives). In 1910, he can be found on the census still in prison but by 1920, he had apparently been released and living with his family again. He eventually died in 1940 at the ripe old age of about 80 (Find A Grave).

Read the rest of the
Philadelphia Record
article from Oct 5, 1899 at
Google News Archive.

Jimmy had lost his appetite for stealing and died penniless in an almshouse on Oct 4, 1899 after repenting his sins. He seems to have genuinely loved Joanna and grieved her disappearance and death greatly. He held onto his anger for his stepson/nephew and never believed it to be an accident.

One article, which is not available for free, suggested that Jimmy's real name was William Casey. This would explain why Jimmy seemingly can't be found on any census record, even prior to his criminal carrier, under the name Jimmy or James Logue.

For more details on this story, check out the clippings and links. The articles were too big to clip fully and there were too many to clip all of them but you can read the articles in their entirety for free if you follow all the URLs. I was so intrigued by this story that I even created a Wikipedia page for it. Maybe others will continue to add more details.

Many years later, in 1951, a paper in Milwaukee picked up the Logue story as one of their weekly "mystery" true stories. It's the longest article but therefore included the most details, however embellished they might be (some of the information conflicts with the other articles). It was printed in the Milwaukee Sentinel on April 1, though it's no April Fool's joke. Below is a clipping but if this story interests you, definitely click through the link to read the full article. It is broken up over a few pages so I will link to each one, just in case:

Page 1
Page 2
Page 3

Interesting Clippings #8: Temporary Insanity as a defense has a long history

Ambler Gazette, April 25, 1895, Page 2

My morbid side is coming out. I love a good historical mystery novel so it's not surprising that I go looking for true crime in history. I came across this 1895 clipping to the right from the Ambler Gazette (Ambler, PA) about a professor who murdered his wife in Media, PA. It appears he was deemed insane and put in a mental hospital but the article is discussing his release.

NY Times, Oct 11, 1900

Wanting to know more about this, I went Googling and found his full name was Professor Swithin C. Shortlidge and that he had founded the Media Academy for Young Men. He murdered his second wife on Dec 31, 1893 and interestingly, some time after his release from the hospital, began pursuing insurance money on his wife, as detailed in an article from the New York Times, Oct 11, 1900  (left). 

I also found an earlier article at the time of the murder (below, right) which claims Shortlidge's was suffering from "the grip", which supposedly caused his insanity. The grip is an old term for the flu but as we know today, influenza does not last as long as what this article from the New York Times is claiming. Supposedly, he'd been suffering from it before his wedding in November and then killed his wife the night of December 31. The flu can cause pneumonia which may extend the illness but someone suffering that long from pneumonia would not have the strength to be walking about and murdering someone. Furthermore, neither influenza or pneumonia are not known to cause insanity as far as I'm aware!

NY Times, Jan 1, 1894

If he was suffering from a physical illness that caused a mental illness, and not just using it as a get out of jail free card (the family of Shortlidge's wife contested that there were any signs of insanity), it was likely something else, though I don't know of anything that conveniently presents itself during the murder of your wife and then goes away for the next 30+ years (Shortlidge apparently died in 1931). It's not like treatment of mental illness was very advanced during this time period so it seems unlikely that he was "cured," as was claimed by Dr. Richardson, detailed in the Reading Eagle article below.

Reading Eagle May 6, 1895, Page 1

Shortlidge had been treated at the Norristown insane asylum and released in early May of 1895. What is interesting about this article is that is mentions Shortlidge's brother is mayor of Wilmington, DE. I wonder if any political strings were pulled to both keep Shortlidge out of jail and get him released from an insane asylum having been "cured" only two years later. Though Shortlidge was ordered to pay the mother and brother of his victim $5,000 to "keep the peace", they strongly objected to Shortlidge's release regardless. They claimed their own lives to be in danger but obviously the court didn't buy it and indeed, there is no record of harm falling to them after his release.

Only weeks after his release, Shortlidge applied for a passport. Though he remained a resident of Pennsylvania for some years, he eventually moved to England for some time (he can found on the 1911 Census) with his son, who was married there in 1906. Shortlidge left England and returned to New York in 1914, where he was also living by 1930.

A very interesting case that might warrant further investigation for those interested in the history of mental illness and/or crime.