THEY DIED CRAWLING: AND OTHER TALES OF CLEVELAND WOE

The foulest crimes and worst disasters in Cleveland history are recounted in these 15 incredible-but-true tales, including:

• A no-holds-barred account of the infamous and sensational Sam Sheppard murder trial;
• The apocalyptic East Ohio Gas Company explosion and fire of 1944 that destroyed the entire east-side Norwood–St. Clair neighborhood;
• The chilling 1919 Dan Kaber murder, in which three generations of Lakewood women—mother, daughter, and grandmother—conspired to dispose of an inoffensive husband with arsenic and knife-wielding hired killers;
• Genius inventor Garrett A. Morgan’s dramatic gas-masked rescue efforts during the gruesome 1916 waterworks collapse;
• Cleveland Electric Railway Car 642’s horrifying plunge off the Central Viaduct into the Cuyahoga River in the Flats;
• The weird tale of industrialist Joe Gogan’s trial for murdering his wife—by hitting her in the face with a bag of rat poison;

These gripping narratives deliver high drama and dark comedy, heroes and villains, obsession, courage, treachery, deceit, fear, and guilt—all from the streets of Cleveland.

“A rollicking, no-holds-barred account of the facts (and continued speculation) about some of the darkest events and weirdest people in Cleveland’s history.” — Youngstown Vindicator

John Stark Bellamy II is the author of six books and two anthologies about Cleveland crime and disaster. The former history specialist for the Cuyahoga County Public Library, he comes by his taste for the sensational honestly, having grown up reading stories about Cleveland crime and disaster written by his grandfather, Paul, who was editor of the Plain Dealer, and his father, Peter, who wrote for the Cleveland News and the Plain Dealer.