The Elusive Boston Corbett

thalecha000 Uncategorized November 5, 2020booth, boston, criminals, Culture, escape, insane 0 Comment

The Elusive Boston Corbett
Thomas H. “ Boston “ Corbett, the killer of John Wilkes Booth, Lincolns killer, an escapee of a mental institution, never to be seen again.

Life in the states
Thomas Corbett was born in England in 1832 and immigrated to America at age seven. He lived in Troy New York, and soon pursued the great profession of being a Hatter, he then moved to Danbury Connecticut, where he found a lovely wife who tragically died in childbirth. This destroyed Corbett, he was so distraught, he turned to the bottle for solace. He was wandering around England, drunk, and one day when he was walking, he found a sidewalk church, and he felt a call from God to join. After which he got his famous nickname, Boston, he got this name when he was on Boston Corner after he joined the church that saved him from the bottle, and his “rebirth” after baptism, he re-named himself, Boston Corbett. That’s what compelled him to join the army in the first place. He wasn’t a model solder, he was rebellious because of his religion, he never put country before God, and that didn’t make him extra popular.

Time in the Cavalry
Boston fought in the Civil War, the bloodiest war in our history, he was in the New York 16th Cavalry, and fought for four years. On the fated April 15th John Wilkes Booth shot our president, Abraham Lincon. While jumping off the balcony yelling “Sic Semper Tyrannis!” The clear meaning of the Latin statement is unknown, but it loosely translates to “thus always to tyrants”. Booth jumped about twelve feet down to the stage, breaking his leg. And whilst we were all keeping a vigil over our dear president, Booths made his escape south. After the president passed away, the country looks the New York 16th Calvery to bring Booth’s justice. The troop left on April 24 via steamer and headed about fifty miles down the Potomac. Then made landfall at Belle Plain Virginia, the searched all day but had no leads until a fisher and his wife called in a tip about a man who matched Harrold, one of Booths accomplices, they said that he had crossed the Rapanhok river. And the search started anew. They crossed the river and found themselves in Caroline County, where they knocked on doors until they found a soldier who had been said to help Booth and Harrold. His name was Wille Jett, and he wasn’t about to give up Booth and Harrold, but he eventually caved when they threatened his life, he led them roughly twelve miles to land near Port Royal, to the barn owned by Mr. Garret and his wife. Where Jett had left the men two days prior. They were told that Boothe was still in the barn, fate had finally caught up with him. The calvary surrounded Booth, and unsuccessfully tried to draw him out. Once his comrades were done waiting, one of them lit some dry hay and threw it into the barn where it quickly caught and the barn started burning. Booth then made his choice to fight his way out of the barn, when he raised his gun, he was shot. Corbett had shot him through a small crack in the wall, defying his orders to get him alive. But in Corbett’s eyes, justice had been served.

The Aftermath
After Booth had been shot, Lafayette Baker pulled him up and brought him to the house so they could deal with later. He was fortunate enough not to get a court marshal, he instead was declared a patriot. He was then known as “Lincon’s Avenger” he collected his small fortune and began the hatting business once more. But his story isn’t close to over yet. They believe that he went crazy from a mix of mercury poisoning and paranoia. He was getting dozens of hate letters each day, some saying that Booth was still alive and coming for him and others just letting him know what’s coming his way. He was terrified to the point where he ran away, he was getting old anyway, so he saddled up on his favorite horse Billy and rode off. He made himself a dugout in the West. Where his paranoia took on a more violent role, he never left the house without a pistol, the only time he ever went out was to go to church on Sundays, after the sermon he always said “The Lord wants me to say a few words.” Then he’d remove a pistol from each boot, place the guns on either side of the Bible, and hold forth.” That was from the Washingtonian. Anyone who came near his small home was threatened to leave, and if the children got too close, he would fire shots to scare them off. As the years went on, he stopped making money of any kind but his pension, so he demanded more. He was getting far too old to work and his mental condition was slowly falling away, they were getting very concerned about him.

The life after with
The government took pity on Corbett and gave him a job as an assistant doorkeeper’s post at the Kansas State Legislature in Topeka. His employment didn’t last long, after a dispute of some kind Corbett brandished it, and just like that, he was sent off to a mental asylum in Topeka. But that isn’t the end of the wild tale of Boston Corbett, one day when the inmates were exercising, he made his great escape, he watched as the mail-man tethered his horse, went inside and that was the moment to strike. He ran out got on the horse and sped out like a bullet from a gun. The Washingtonian states ¨ Corbett rode to Neodesha, Kansas, to the home of fellow Andersonville inmate Richard Thatcher. There he tied a note to his “borrowed” horse, explaining who its rightful owner was, and set it free. Then a relative of Thatcher’s took him to Brooks station, a train stop on the St. Louis-San Francisco Railway. He said he was going to Mexico, but no witnesses remembered anyone matching Corbett’s description boarding the train.¨
Where was Corbett, nobody knows for sure, there are many theories, the most promising of which was from a survivor of the Great Hinckley Fire, who said who in 1954 wrote an account of the conflagration and recalled an older Boston man named Tom Corbett, who was good with a rifle and was hired to hunt game for the crew at Gus Sexton’s Minnesota logging camp in 1890. In this version of his demise, the real Corbett wasn’t able to keep up with the younger men who escaped the flames by foot.) After he was thought to be dead, there was one man who claimed that he was the Boston Corbett that killed Booth, but he was a fraud. So where is Thomas H Boston Corbett? Nobody knows.

Three People or Groups of People Who’ve Escaped From Prison

memmotay000 Uncategorized February 28, 2020crime, criminal, criminals, escape, historic crime, History, prison, prisoner 0 Comment

3: Yoshie Shiratori

Yoshie Shiratori is famous for four escaping prison four times in his life. He was born on July 31, 1907 and died on February 24, 1979. He was born in Japan and became an anti-hero in Japanese culture. He was also called “the man that no prison could hold”.

Yoshie was first accused of murder and robbery and was sent to Aomori Prison. Three years later he picked the lock of his handcuffs with a short wire he found in a bathing bucket and escaped. Three days later he was recaptured and sentenced to life in prison for escaping prison and supposedly stealing supplies from a hospital.

He was eventually transferred to Akita Prison in 1914. He then managed to escape Akita Prison by climbing the walls of his cell reaching an air vent and left. He went to the home of a police officer from his old prison asking for help. The police officer did what most police officers would do and turned him in.

Yoshie was transferred for the second time to Abashiri Prison. This prison was for the worst of the worst of Japan’s criminals and because the police wanted Yoshie to stay put this seems like the perfect place. Well not exactly because he escapes again. Every morning he would pit miso soup on his handcuffs and his cell. The salt and moisture weakened the cuffs and the cell. When the wartime blackout of August 26, 1944, happened, he dislocated his shoulders and squeezed himself through an inspection hole where they gave him food.

Yoshie Shiratori was caught and taken to court and was sentenced to death. He was then sent to Sapporo Prison where he had a special cell that made it so that he couldn’t escape through the vents or ceiling. While waiting for his execution day he needed to escape so he unlocked the bolts of the wooden floor and dug his way out with a bowl.

He was turned in by a cop because he told him that he was an escaped convict and went to court again. His death sentence was revoked and he went to jail for 20 years in Fuchu Prison till 1961 when he was put on parole

2: John Dillinger

John was an American gangster during the great depression. He was born on June 22, 1903, in Indianapolis Indiana and died on July 22, 1934, in Chicago Illinois. His gang was known as “Dillinger Gang” or “The Terror Gang”. His gang was in the midwest robbing banks and police arsenals and staging prison breakouts.

Early in his life, he was always getting in trouble and his father noticing this and thinking the temptations of the city were getting to him, left Indianapolis and they moved to a farm near Mooresville, Indiana.

There he began doing the same thing, getting into trouble. Breaking the law and having trouble with his father he joined the navy. When their boat docked in Boston he left it and went back to Mooresville. There he got married and went to Indianapolis. When he got there it was hard to find a job so he joined Ed Singleton and his search for easy money.

The first time they tried, they tried robbing a Mooresville grocery store which didn’t work out so well. They were arrested and taken to court. Singleton pleaded not guilty and was sentenced to two years of prison. John Dillinger, doing what his father taught him as a child, told the truth about what he did and was sentenced to twenty years in prison.

After being in jail for eight years he was put on parole. Almost immediately after this, he robbed a bank in Bluffton, Ohio on May 10. On September 22 he was found and was taken to a county jail in Lima, Ohio. While searching him they found a plan to break out of prison, but he denied everything they asked about it. Four days later his friends used the same plan to escape from prison with guns they smuggled in.

Three of them and a parolee went to Lima Prison where Dillinger was being held and broke him out. After this Dillinger and his gang robbed banks and stole guns, ammo, and bulletproof vests from police stations. While they were staying in a hotel that lit on fire, the firemen recognized two of the gang members and the cops arrested them and eventually arrested Dillinger. They were put in the county jail that was said to be escape-proof. Dillinger and his gang members escaped by threatening the guards with a wooden gun he carved.

He then makes the worst mistake ever. He steals the sheriff’s car and then crosses state borders with it which is breaking the National Motor Vehicle Theft Act which is a federal offense which then the grand jury had to talk about which brought in the FBI(Federal Bureau of Investigation).

This all ends in John Dillinger getting shot in the end when he tried to pull his pistol out.

1: Texas Seven

On December 13, 2000, the Texas seven broke out of John B Connally Unit. They had a plan to get out and it worked. The group restrained 16 people and took their clothes, ID, and credit cards. Four of them stayed behind to distract the tower guards by calling them. Once distracted they raided the tower and stole weapons and a truck.

Once this happened a massive manhunt broke out. This lasted for six weeks until they were finally caught. The group though had switched away vehicles. The vehicle was provided by the dad of one of the criminals. They then robbed a radio shack and left with money and police scanners.

Next, they robbed a sporting goods store. They got a lot of money and more weapons. There they also killed the police officer shooting him multiple times and running him over. With all their money they fled to colorado where they bought a motorhome, told people they were Christian missionaries and stayed at an RV park.

On January 22, 2001, four of the fugitives were taken captive. The other fifth one committed suicide not wanting to go back to jail. The other two were found at a hotel in Colorado, trying to explain themselves saying they were protesting against Texas’ criminal justice system. They have turned themselves in eventually and sentenced to death

In the end, you could say all of them got what they deserved. Some of them doing things worse than others. All in all, this is three people or groups of people who have escaped prison.