10 August

The real Martin, serving with Spanish forces, loses a leg at the battle of St Quentin.

Martin Guerre Executed

In 1556 a man walked into a Pyrenean village claiming to be its missing husband. His wife accepted him for three years, until the real one came home.

She marries Charles Pouch-Lafarge in Paris after an engagement arranged through a marriage broker.

Marie Lafarge Convicted

A Parisian bride, a crumbling former monastery in Corrèze, a husband dead of 'cholera', and the Marsh test that made toxicology a courtroom science.

Maria returns to O'Connor's lodgings at Mile End and removes more of his property.

Frederick and Maria Manning Executed

In 1849 a Swiss lady's maid and her husband buried their dinner guest under the kitchen floor, then each tried to cheat the other of his fortune.

Joseph Romano is attacked in his home and dies two days later.

Axeman of New Orleans Unsolved

In 1918-19 an intruder with an axe terrorized New Orleans, above all its Italian grocers. He was never caught, and his famous jazz letter may be a hoax.

Grocer Steve Boca is attacked and survives.

Axeman of New Orleans Unsolved

In 1918-19 an intruder with an axe terrorized New Orleans, above all its Italian grocers. He was never caught, and his famous jazz letter may be a hoax.

Her fiancé, Major Matthew Gordon, dies in an air crash in India.

Black Dahlia Unsolved

Elizabeth Short, 22, was murdered in Los Angeles in January 1947. Hundreds confessed, dozens were suspected, and no one was ever charged.