James W. Erwin Livres

From the duel on Bloody Island to the Missouri Miracle kidnapping and recovery of Shawn Hornbeck, Missouri has seen its share of notorious crimes. It 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. Vicki Berger Erwin and James W. Erwin explore crimes, criminals and victims from the violent history of the last two hundred years in the Show Me State.

Louis Blanchette came to Les Petites Côtes (the Little Hills) in 1769. The little village, later dubbed San Carlos del Misury by the Spanish and St. Charles by the Americans, played a major role in the early history of Missouri. It launched Lewis and Clark's expedition, as well as countless other westbound settlers. It served as the first capital of the new state. Important politicians, judges, soldiers, businesspersons, educators and even a saint all called St. Charles home. Despite its rapid growth from a sleepy French village into a dynamic city amid one of the fastest-growing regions in the country, St. Charles never forgot its history. Author James Erwin tells the story of its fascinating heritage.

Over one thousand Civil War engagements were fought in Missouri, and the conflict could not be quarantined from civilian life. In the countryside, the wives and mothers of absent soldiers had to cope with marauders from both sides. Children saw their fathers and brothers beaten, hanged or shot. In the cities, a cheer for Jeff Davis could land a young boy in jail, and a letter to a sweetheart in the Confederate army could get a girl banished from the state. Women volunteered to care for the flood of wounded and sick soldiers. Slavery crumbled and created new opportunities for black men to serve in the Union army but left their families vulnerable to retaliation at home. The turbulence and bitterness of guerrilla war was everywhere.