Murdered By A Maniac

The Dastardly Crime

The Hartnett family lived at number 25 Walker street, near where sycamore street wound up to Mount Auburn. Patrick Hartnett (38) and his wife Mary (34) shared five children and Mary was expecting their 6th. Patrick, a laborer and alcoholic. Being more alcoholic than laborer, he decided that he didn’t want to work in the winter. He’d worked in the summer and it was somebody else’s turn. To try to close the gap, Mary took in laundry and the couple’s oldest son, John (14), got a job.

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Raised in the House of Refuge

The Request*

My maternal grandpa was Thomas Cliff born in 1891 in Kentucky and died in 1959 in Cincinnati, Ohio. His mother was Minnie Coop born in 1874 Allen, Kentucky and died in 1924 in Cincinnati. I found a newspaper article that said Thomas lived at an orphanage called the Cincinnati House of Refuge because his parents divorced. Minnie remarried to a man named Joseph Bech.

Thomas was 35 years older than his wife, my grandma Betty. I know Thomas was a bootlegger, what I can’t figure out is his father. A marriage certificate lists his dad as William Cliff but I don’t know which William Cliff. I’d like information on him.

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Bloodiest Murder Ever Recorded In Stark County

Mr. Tony Panella and Mrs. Clara Pizzano fell in love. Unfortunately for them, they were married to other people. Doubly unfortunately for them, one of those other people strenuously objected to being part of a love quadrangle.

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Verdict of Self Destruction

The Request*

My great great grandfather, Wilbur L-, lived in Newport. He supposedly committed suicide (I think by exhaust fumes) I have also heard he was a bookie of the mob. I have always wondered what his involvement in the mob truly was (if any) and whether it related to his death.

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Killed With Her Paramour

On August 26^th, 1906, five shots rang out in the early evening on a dark Chillicothe, Ohio street. The crowd that gathered found a “man cold in death and his woman companion writhing unconscious with a bullet wound in the breast” (Chillicothe Gazette, 27 Aug 1906). The shooter ran away into the darkness, knocking into several pedestrians in the process before disappearing. The victims were identified as Mrs. Flora H- and Mr. John B-. John died at the scene. There was an attempt to save Flora, but she died in the ambulance as she reached City Hospital.

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Killed In Action

Richard Linde was born on December 20, 1940 to Elmer Linde and Geraldine Pittillo. Richard had three siblings Pearl, Barbara, and Gary. The family lived in Miamitown, Ohio. Richard attended Miamitown High School until 1956 and then worked as an auto mechanic and truck driver until joining the military in January of 1966. A member of his family reached out to learn more about his life, and with their permission, this is what I was able to find.

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Supposed Suicide

In late September 1879, at nearly one in the morning, a young woman died suddenly on Price’s Hill (now the Cincinnati neighborhood of Price Hill).

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Thrown From a Buggy

On September 26, 1879 Mrs. Olive B- and Mrs. Mollie W- were driving down Findlay Street when their horse’s harness broke. The break spooked the horse, which took off running. If you’re unfamiliar, harnesses are fairly instrumental in convincing giant animals to do what you want.

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John Tucker Did Die

The year is 1885, it’s 10 years after the first Kentucky Derby and 100 years before REO Speedwagon decided they couldn’t fight that feeling anymore. John and Mary Belle Tucker live in Robertson County, Kentucky. The population of the county in 2010 was 2,300. In 1880, it was double that, which still isn’t very many people. It is the least populated county in the state and the smallest by area.

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Engulfed in Sawdust

William H. Vitt was born in Mount Healthy, Ohio on October 13, 1896 to Katherine Vitt. His short life involves a few mysteries. Katherine, a single mother, was 34 years old at the time of the birth.

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