Murder in the Night

October 19, 1907

Troubled in mind, Fritz Kraftner left Patrick’s Tavern, the oldest Irish pub in the city, and made his way through the sleeping streets of Pigtown, a district named for the livestock that was sometimes herded through the streets from the B&O yards to the slaughterhouses and butcher shops. Narrow row houses provided homes for German meatworkers and Irish railroad workers who lived in the district. Kraftner headed toward his home, though he&...

A Disruptive Breakfast at Jillian’s

Jonathan Abercrombie III picked up his copy of the Baltimore Sun from the white marble stoop, shook off the raindrops and went inside to for breakfast with his sister, Jillian, and her ladies’companion, Maggie McCabe. He sat down and looked at the front page. “Pigtown Family Murdered,” read the headline.

Seated at the table, Jillian’s eyes drooped. She looked half asleep. Worry shot through Jack for a m...

6:25 a.m. in a bar in Dundalk

A husky man in stained and wrinkled work clothes moved through the streets of Dundalk as if in a daze. He had walked until all strength left him. He stumbled and felt as if he might fall to the sidewalk. Seeing the lights of a bar room that looked open, he all but fell inside. He saw no one, but stumbled across a freshly-scrubbed floor and took a seat, resting his elbows on the bar and his chin in his hands.

The man almost put his head down and we...

Invasion of the Body-Guards

Jill had taken the blue pill and slept through the morning, but woke when she heard voices in the downstairs hall. She put on her silk wrapper and looked out her bedroom door to see Maggie greeting Harry and Barry Griggs at the front door. They were accompanied by two younger men who also looked like brothers, both heavily muscled boxer types. All carried overnight bags.

“Sure we brought an extra man along, just in case one of us is needed at ...