Wicked Women of Detroit

by Tobin T. Buhk

Overview

Author Tobin T. Buhk recounts the thrilling tales of Detroit's most violent, clever and misunderstood female criminals.

"Queen of the Underworld" Sophie Lyons faced off with detective Teresa Lewis in court three times, and twice in the street, rendering both women battered and bloodied. Nellie Pope goaded her lover to axe her husband in what the press called "one of the most atrocious, cold-blooded, and deliberately-planned murders" in city history. Mother Elinor L. Mason, "High Priestess of the Flying Roller Colony," was no holy roller but a criminal chameleon who changed personas as easily as some people change clothes. And a feud between Delray madams Julia Toth and Annie Smith exposed widespread graft in the thriving red-light industry and led to one of the worst police scandals in Motor City history. These stories and more await in this deliciously entertaining collection.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781467138451
Publisher:	Arcadia Publishing SC
Publication date:	10/08/2018
Series:	Wicked
Pages:	192
Sales rank:	1,110,327
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

A connoisseur of crime, a gourmet of the ghastly, an aficionado of the atrocious, a fanatic of the felonious and a maven of misdeeds, author and researcher Tobin T. Buhk enjoys exploring the back alleys of Michigan history and shining a light on the contemptible characters and dastardly deeds hiding in its darkest corners. Wicked Women of Detroit is his tenth published book. To research his first book, he spent a year as a volunteer in the Kent County Morgue. Find his speaking schedule at www.tobinbuhk.com or take a walk on the dark side of history at his blog, www.darkcornersofhistory.com.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Something Wicked This Way Comes 5

1 All in the Family (1870) 21

2 Blood Feud: The Lewis-Lyons "Go-As-You-Please Match" (1882) 29

3 Arsenic and Old Rosa (1885) 48

4 Nellie's Ghosts (1895) 54

5 Incredible Isma, the Camera-Shy Con Artist (1897) 66

6 The Detroit Borgia (1905) 76

7 Crystal Balls: "Mother Elinor" and the Flying Roller Colony (1907) 86

8 The Great Bordello Scandal (1908) 95

9 A Lump of Coal: The Murder of Frances Bomholt (1914) 107

10 Bluebeard's Women (1918) 116

11 The Women of Wet Detroit (1919-32) 130

12 Hell Hath No Fury (1921) 134

13 'Til Death Do Us Part (1922) 147

14 Wicked Woman's Will (1924) 158

15 The Hidden Cemetery (1924) 165

16 The Femme Fatale (1930) 174

17 If She Can't Have Him… (1944) 181

For Further Thought and Discussion 187

Bibliography 189

About the Author 191