Uncle John’s True Crime Read Online Free Page A

arrested after allegedly ordering a stranger to fix his truck at gunpoint.”
    • “The mother of an adult man called police, concerned he was running with the wrong crowd.”
    • “Clinton Police responded quickly to an accident in the parking lot of a Dunkin’ Donuts. The prompt response time is accredited to there being a squad car waiting in line at the drive-up window.”
    • “A woman reported that someone entered her condo, tied her shoelaces together, tilted pictures on the walls, and removed the snaps from her clothing.”
    • “At 11:50 p.m. police talked to four nude people seen running down Lincoln Street, and advised them not to be nude in public again.”
    • “A woman said she suspected someone had sabotaged her washing machine. A police investigation concluded that an unbalanced laundry load had caused the shaking.”
    • “Teens who dialed 9-1-1 to report that ‘everything is fine’ were checked on and found to be in possession of alcohol.”
    • “A resident called police after finding a 12-pack of toilet paper on her doorstep on Greenridge Drive, not for the first time.”
    The song “Midnight Rambler” by the Rolling Stones was inspired by the Boston Strangler .

THE LUDDITES: RAGE
AGAINST THE MACHINE
    If someone hates technology, we call him or her a Luddite. Why? Because of a 19th-century group of machine-smashing rebels .
    O H, WHAT A TANGLED WEB
    The weavers and lace makers of Nottingham, England, were once some of the most respected artisans in the world. But the invention of the power loom in the late 1700s—which produced fabric much more quickly and cheaply than the hand-weavers—threatened to put them out of business. In order to survive, most of the weavers started working for miserly wages at the factories that were producing the inferior cloth that was making them obsolete. Day after day, the former weavers simmered with rage at the factory owners who appropriated their life’s work...and at the machines that had helped them do it.
    All of a sudden, factory looms started to mysteriously break down. At first, just a couple here and there. Then a few more. When asked what had happened, the workers would just shrug and say, “Ned Ludd did it.”
    BETTER OFF NED
    Who was Ned Ludd? Not much is known for certain about him because most of his deeds were stretched beyond belief, but records prove that he was a real weaver who (if the accounts are true) became so angry after he received a whipping that he smashed up two knitting frames. Word spread of his revolt and before too long, other weavers followed suit.
    And then the disgruntled workers got organized—they gathered late at night in private to really start plotting their revenge. In early 1811, they began sending menacing letters to Nottingham factory owners—signed by “General Ned Ludd”—warning of dire consequences if factory conditions and wages didn’t improve. Some of the bolder Luddites, as they came to be called, even showed up in person to make their demands. Intimidated, most factory owners complied and raised wages. Those who didn’t found their expensive machines smashed, by the dozens, in after-hours Luddite attacks.
    FBI agents must undergo firearms testing four times per year .
    APRIL SHOWERS
    As the growing rebellion leaked to nearby British regions, it grew more intense. The first Luddites had been strictly nonviolent, only venting their anger on the hated machines. But in Yorkshire, the owner of Rawfolds Mill, aware of worker unrest at his factory, feared for his life. Hearing rumors about a planned attack on April 11, 1812, he hired a team of private guards. Two former weavers were killed in the clash. Seven days later, the Luddites did kill a mill owner in the region, William Horsfall.
    Then it was all-out war: On April 20, an angry mob of thousands attacked Burton’s Mill in Manchester. Like the Rawfolds mill owner, Burton knew trouble was coming and hired guards. They fired on the crowd and