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The Pirate
- Bloodlands collection
- Narrated by: Steven Weber
- Length: 1 hr and 28 mins
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Publisher's summary
In 1860, a sloop drifted into New York Harbor. Not a soul on board - just blood from cabin to deck. Looted coins led to Bowery thug Albert Hicks, the ax slayer who turned his shipmates into chum.
His crimes were absolutely fiendish. His execution was pure ballyhoo. It drew nearly ten thousand bloodthirsty sightseers to the city - including the enterprising showman P. T. Barnum. Refreshments were served as the most notorious and unrepentant mass murderer of the era made history as one of America’s first celebrity killers.
The Pirate is part of Bloodlands, a chilling collection of short addictive historical narratives from bestselling true-crime master Harold Schechter. Spanning a century in our nation’s murderous past, Schechter resurrects nearly forgotten tales of madmen and thrill-killers that dominated the most sensational headlines of their day.
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Story
They called it Satan's Circus, a square mile of Midtown Manhattan where vice ruled, sin flourished, and depravity danced in every doorway. At the turn of the 20th century, murder was so common in the vice district that few people were surprised when the loudmouthed owner of a shabby casino was gunned down on the steps of its best hotel.
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New York, N.Y
- By Robert on 07-11-07
By: Mike Dash
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Backstage at the Lincoln Assassination
- The Untold Story of the Actors and Stagehands at Ford's Theatre
- By: Thomas A. Bogar
- Narrated by: R.C. Bray
- Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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April 14, 1865. A famous actor pulls a trigger in the presidential balcony, leaps to the stage, and escapes, as the president lies fatally wounded. In the panic that follows, forty-six terrified people scatter in and around Ford's Theater as soldiers take up stations by the doors and the audience surges into the streets chanting, "Burn the place down!" This is the untold story of Lincoln's assassination: The forty-six stage hands, actors, and theater workers on hand for the bewildering events in the theater that night.
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Stars of an Unrehearsed Impromptu Drama
- By William G. Stuart on 08-17-15
By: Thomas A. Bogar
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The Invention of Murder
- How the Victorians Revelled in Death and Detection and Created Modern Crime
- By: Judith Flanders
- Narrated by: Jennifer M. Dixon
- Length: 19 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
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Murder in the 19th century was rare. But murder as sensation and entertainment became ubiquitous, with cold-blooded killings transformed into novels, broadsides, ballads, opera, and melodrama - even into puppet shows and performing-dog acts. Detective fiction and the new police force developed in parallel, each imitating the other - the founders of Scotland Yard gave rise to Dickens's Inspector Bucket, the first fictional police detective, who in turn influenced Sherlock Holmes and, ultimately, even P. D. James and Patricia Cornwell.
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Excellent, awesome and educational!
- By Janalyn on 03-14-20
By: Judith Flanders
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In the Wake of Madness
- The Murderous Voyage of the Whaleship Sharon
- By: Joan Druett
- Narrated by: Dennis Boutsikaris
- Length: 6 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
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Commanded by Captain Howes Norris, the Sharon headed for the whaling grounds of the northwestern Pacific. At Pohnpei Island, 12 men from the Sharon deserted the ship, leaving her critically shorthanded. After steering for New Zealand to recruit more crew, the men on lookout raised a school of sperm whales. Two boats gave chase, each with a crew of six. Five men were left on board the Sharon: Norris, three pacific Islanders, and a Portuguese boy named Manuel.
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Love this author.
- By David H. on 07-15-17
By: Joan Druett
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The Suspicions of Mr. Whicher
- The Undoing of a Great Victorian Detective
- By: Kate Summerscale
- Narrated by: Simon Vance
- Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In June of 1860 three-year-old Saville Kent was found at the bottom of an outdoor privy with his throat slit. The crime horrified all England and led to a national obsession with detection. At the time, the detective was a relatively new invention; there were only eight detectives in all of England and rarely were they called out of London, but this crime was so shocking that Scotland Yard sent its best man to investigate, Inspector Jonathan Whicher.
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Tragic Murder at dawn of detective bureau
- By Kindle Customer on 08-20-14
By: Kate Summerscale
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The Pirate Hunter
- By: Richard Zacks
- Narrated by: Michael Prichard
- Length: 18 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
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Captain Kidd has gone down in history as America's most ruthless buccaneer. However, Captain William Kidd was no career cut-throat; he was a tough, successful New York sea captain who was hired to chase pirates. Across the oceans of the world, the pirate hunter, Kidd, pursued the pirate, Culliford. One man would hang in the harbor; the other would walk away with the treasure. The Pirate Hunter is both a masterpiece of historical detective work and a page-turner.
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Aaaargh Matey, Listen to this tale!
- By Karen on 04-20-04
By: Richard Zacks
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Murder, Misadventure and Miserable Ends
- By: Dr. Catie Gilchrist
- Narrated by: Emma Grant Williams
- Length: 12 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Most of us today rarely see a dead body. In 19th-century Sydney, when health was precarious and workplaces and the busy city streets were often dangerous, witnessing a death was rather common. And any death that was sudden or suspicious would be investigated by the coroner. Henry Shiell was the Sydney city coroner from 1866 to 1889. In the course of his unusually long career, he delved into the lives, loves, crimes, homes, and workplaces of colonial Sydneysiders.
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very interesting and enlightening
- By Barbara J Allison on 08-29-19
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Blood on the Moon: The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
- By: Edward Steers Jr.
- Narrated by: William Coon
- Length: 14 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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The assassination of Abraham Lincoln is usually told as a tale of a lone deranged actor who struck from a twisted lust for revenge. This is not only too simple an explanation; Blood on the Moon reveals that it is completely wrong. John Wilkes Booth was neither mad nor alone in his act of murder. He received the help of many, not the least of whom was Dr. Samuel Alexander Mudd, the Charles County physician who has been portrayed as the innocent victim of a vengeful government.
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Thrilling and informative
- By Sean on 06-21-12
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American Brutus
- John Wilkes Booth and the Lincoln Conspiracies
- By: Michael Kauffman
- Narrated by: Nelson Runger
- Length: 21 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In American Brutus, popular historian Michael W. Kauffman delivers a history that reads more like a best-selling novel. This definitive masterwork dispels commonly held myths and reveals the truth about John Wilkes Booth. Luring Southern sympathizers into a “noble” presidential kidnapping, Booth stunned his puzzled pawns by murdering Lincoln. From Booth’s early life and acting career to his escape and death, this meticulously researched book re-examines it all using a wealth of primary sources.
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informative
- By Sue Ogle on 11-27-20
By: Michael Kauffman
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The Vigilantes of Montana
- Popular Justice in the Rocky Mountains
- By: Thomas J. Dimsdale
- Narrated by: Steve Coulter
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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In the gold rush era of Virginia City, Montana, crime was afoot and justice shaky. Lawlessness ran amok in the form of gamblers, saloonkeepers, miners, dance hall girls, and road agents - outlaws who ambushed travelers on the road for a chance to steal precious gold. Of all the road agents, Henry Plummer was their king and elected sheriff. Plummer’s notorious road-agent band terrorized the highways until a group of ordinary citizens resolved to take the responsibility of social governance into their hands.
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Brutal violence in a lawless territory
- By Norm on 03-24-20
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Killers of the Flower Moon
- The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI
- By: David Grann
- Narrated by: Will Patton, Ann Marie Lee, Danny Campbell
- Length: 9 hrs and 4 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 1920s, the richest people per capita in the world were members of the Osage Nation in Oklahoma. After oil was discovered beneath their land, the Osage rode in chauffeured automobiles, built mansions, and sent their children to study in Europe.
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An outstanding story, highly recommended
- By S. Blakely on 06-22-17
By: David Grann
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Old Sparky
- The Electric Chair and the History of the Death Penalty
- By: Anthony Galvin
- Narrated by: Jack Reynolds
- Length: 8 hrs and 30 mins
- Unabridged
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Old Sparky covers the history of capital punishment in America and the "current wars" between Edison and Westinghouse, which led to the development of the electric chair. It examines how the electric chair became the most popular method of execution in America before being superseded by lethal injection. Famous executions are explored alongside quirky last meals and poignant last words.
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Information not a sermon.
- By Jakk on 10-24-16
By: Anthony Galvin
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What listeners say about The Pirate
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall
- Mud D. Farmer
- 04-03-20
Sew K.
Fell asleep towards the end, again & again...
Well, it was free now that's a change, Amazon...
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1 person found this helpful
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- Jordan
- 11-27-19
Good
A nice, interesting and quick read that gets right down to brass tacks but in a captivating way.
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- CARLOS A DA FONSECA
- 02-15-22
Great short story to be listened on a comute
There should be more short stories available for commuters to listen back and forth trips
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- Kindle Customer
- 10-01-18
it was a great listen.
I liked the narrator, it was an I testing story. I'll listen to it again I'm sure.
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- Commoncent$
- 07-03-18
The last pirate
Bloodlands collection – 6 books The Pirate, Little Slaughterhouse on the Prairie, Brick Slayer, Panic, Pied Piper, Rampage
Crime stories, whether in movies, TV or books always reflect the morality and mortality of humans – as cautionary tales to warn us…me especially. The bigger the human flaws or outsized characters; the villain(s) or defenseless victim(s), the press (broadsheet & tabloid), psychiatrists, police, and/or lawyers the more I gawk...
Note: all the ebooks were tricked out with Kindle in motion special effects. Bumped up the ante to the sensationalism...can’t tell if that’s a shot at the press or not…
***The Pirate – 1860’s murder by Albert Hicks who has been swallowed up by the passage of time, tho was a media circus at the time. Noteworthy was an odd tie-in with PT Barnum (which really isn’t that odd today) & the fact Hicks was the last American hung for piracy.
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1 person found this helpful
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- FMCA
- 10-03-19
CSI NY - A century ago
Historical and very graphic story about an American serial killer, which at times is a bit confusing with numerous other historical accounts intersecting. Crime scene investigation on a boat and great investigating brings the lowlife to justice, despite loopholes in the system. Great performance!
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- Mortons
- 08-06-18
Not too bad but slower than I thought it would be.
If they can take something as entertaining and exhilarating as murder and pirates and make it sound clinical and detached, that’s what they’ve done here. That said, this is a very good story and I completely plan to listen to all of the others. I wouldn’t waste a credit on it but as it’s free with kindle unlimited it was totally worth the time. Story’s great, narrator is dull.
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- Big Joe
- 11-16-20
Easy listening good story
I enjoyed the story line and the narrator was good also fun to listen to I kept my interest
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4 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous User
- 12-08-18
short and sweet
A short, informative, well narrated story about Pure Evil. it seems that twisted Psychopaths I've been with us all throughout history.
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- Amazon Customer
- 08-03-18
dark history
nice inside look into some of Americas darkest murders and the people that committed them!
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